Page 183 of Ash and Feather

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long before Karys returned.

I sensed her approaching, and my own magic rose in reply, brightening and helping to guide her in.

A fiery wind swirled as she entered the realm, gathering bits of dry grass and other debris toward it as it built. The embers in the center of the whirlwind began to shift into the shape of her body, and seconds later she stepped from the fire, shaking sparks and ashes from her hair as she came.

Moth leapt from my arms and bounded toward her, snapping and swatting at the stray bits of fire, tumbling through the grass and making a predictable spectacle of himself.

“You’ve gotten good at that,” I told Karys as she finished materializing and the last of the smoke and fire that had carried her faded away.

She lifted her attention away from Moth, smiling a bit as our eyes met. “It’s easier when you’re more certain about where you want to go, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I agreed as she drew nearer.

Her expression turned strange as we came together—though I had little chance to study it before she was closing all of the remaining space between us and lifting onto her tiptoes, pressing her lips to mine.

Her arms circled around my neck. My hands gripped her waist, steadying and lifting her higher, deeper into the kiss.

We remained locked in this embrace for a full minute, at least, until I finally pulled away—only because of the uneasy weight growing in my chest.

“Wildfire…” I said softly, “why does it feel like you’re kissing me goodbye rather than hello?”

Her eyes were distant, unwilling to meet mine.

Moth curled at our feet, sniffing her boots, the fur along his back standing on end.

Now that I wasn’t distracted by the feel of Karys’s hands and the taste of her kiss, I realized what was making Moth so uneasy.

That powerful energy surrounding her, the scent of a far wilder, more powerful magic that didn’t belong to either of us…

“Where have you been?”

She finally met my concerned gaze. “We…we need to talk.”

The words made my balance sway.

“You should check on your sister first,” I said—because, apparently, I was a coward who wasn’t truly prepared to talk about where she’d been. “She’s awake, now. She was asking for you.”

She hesitated only a moment before agreeing.

I followed her into the house but lingered outside of her sister’s room, granting them privacy. Their conversation continued until well past sunset, while I steeled myself for whatever would follow it.

I already knew the answer to my question from earlier—she’d been to Valla. The upper-heavens. I’d only visited that realm a handful of times myself, but it was impossible to forget the feel and smell of the magical energy that filled it.

I could guess at her reason for going, too—she had likely demanded an audience with one of the gods who dwelled there. Admiration swelled in my chest at the thought, but beneath it lay fear.

What had she talked to the Moraki about?

What was she planning to do?

I grew restless waiting inside, so I went back to patrolling the yard and beyond. I checked in with Valas and Mairu countless times. I spent much of the time soaring above it all, twisting and turning through the sky, the embers shearing from my wings sizzling as they passed through the low-lying clouds that were heavy with the promise of rain.

I was sitting on a stone bench in the center of the yard, head bowed in thought, when Karys finally emerged from the house.

Moth flew from his perch on the roof to greet her. His tail and ears drooped when she didn’t immediately gather him up in her arms as she usually did; she was too distracted to see him—she nearly walked right past me as well, until I cleared my throat, making her jump.

“Is everything all right?” I asked.

She shook her head. Moth made a pitiful mewling sound, and she finally crouched down and opened her arms to him. She hugged him tightly as she straightened, her eyes darting around the yard. “Valas and Mairu, are they…”

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