Page 33 of Demon Monster's Little Human

The wind rushes against my skin, pulling me up, dragging us both into the night.

Below, Rhogar shouts my name like a curse.

“Betrayer!”

The others take up the cry, their roars shaking the mountains, their rage a storm of hatred and bloodlust.

I don’t stop. I don’t look back.

Liora’s hands clutch at my shoulders, her breath uneven, her body trembling against mine.

I don’t let go.

The sky swallows us whole.

14

LIORA

Dain’s wings beat against the night, each stroke more strained than the last.

His breath comes sharp, ragged. The warmth of his blood seeps through my fingers where I clutch his side, the wound deeper than I first thought. He is struggling.

The wind howls past us, the mountain peaks stretching below in jagged, endless ridges. He flies, but not well.

He wobbles.

My stomach lurches as his body lists slightly to the left before he corrects it with a sharp growl. His grip on me is still iron-clad, as if he refuses to drop me even as his own strength fails.

My pulse slams against my ribs. This isn’t good.

I don’t even know where we’re going. We’re just fleeing.

Below, the world is a dark blur, shadowed valleys and twisting rock formations. No shelter. No safety. No time.

The others will come. They’ll hunt us. Him.

They want me dead. But him?

A betrayer. They will make him suffer.

He fought for me. He killed for me.

I grip the fabric of his torn leathers tighter, pressing against his chest, feeling the way his muscles lock in pain.

I did this to him.

The thought nearly suffocates me. I can’t just sit here, clinging to him, watching him break apart. I have to do something.

Magic.

The word echoes in my head.

I don’t understand it. I never have. But it listens to me.

It reacted before. It saved me.

I close my eyes and press my forehead against his shoulder, barely breathing.

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