Page 142 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

“I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce you. This is Tempest, my Rukh.” She laughs at that incredulously. “My Rukh, can you believe it?” She turns back to the bird. “Yes, beautiful, I’m yours too. Of course, I’m yours.” And again, she’s lost to the rest of the world.

“Okay then, I guess Myrsky wasn’t joking when he said we would be distracted for the first few days,” Calix rumbles nextto me, watching Mariel and Tempest with an expression I can’t quite decipher.

“Get out of here, you two,” I tell Mariel.

“Huh?” She looks at me and obviously hasn’t heard a word I said.

“I said get out of here, enjoy the next hours in peace, and we’ll see you back at the gathering place,” I tell her. Calix nods next to me.

“You don’t mind?” she asks, but I can see she wants nothing more than to get going.

“Of course not.” I roll my eyes. “We all knew this would happen.”

The two don’t waste another minute, and Tempest is airborne as soon as Mariel sits on her back.

They will head back to the same camp we are headed to but will reach it in minutes instead of hours or days. They won’t have anything to do but get acquainted until Picking is over.

Calix and I wave after them until they are out of sight.

“So it’s just us now,” Calix sighs. “Let’s hope we have that in the next few days as well.”

“Of course we will,” I tell him in a cheery voice. I’m sure a bird will pick him, but I doubt the same is true for me. There have still been no attempts to contact me.

“Calix, I really am sorry.” I address the other problem, pangs of guilt flipping through my stomach. “I would have told you earlier, but you like to flirt, and I just wasn’t sure you could treat me like a guy after you knew,” I say. He looks at me for a moment before he bursts out laughing.

“You’re right,” he says. “I probably would have flirted with you at one point, and that would have started all kinds of rumors, wouldn’t it?” He’s still chuckling.

“So we’re good?” I ask.

“Yes, Gray, as long as you’re still the same and still my friend, we’re good.”

“Of course I am,” I tell him while a massive weight slides off my shoulders.

Chapter

Forty-One

ARA

The followingday brings what I predicted, a bond mate for my best friend. It was a little different from Mariel’s bonding yesterday, just like Myrsky says. Every species has its rituals. Now Calix stands in front of me, the sunlight accentuating the frown lines on his brow.

“Are you sure?” Calix looks at me and back at Aella, his newly bonded Strix, torn.

It is normal for newly bonded riders and their birds to be lost to the world around them for a few hours.Your souls will intertwine. It’s like suddenly there is this new part of you, and it’s completely normal to explore it. You’ll need this time to solidify your bond.Professor Myrsky’s words come back to me, and I remember the distracted way Mariel behaved.

“I’ll be fine.” I wave him off. Thankfully, I feel much better today. “See you at the gathering point.” I smile, but I doubt I will reach it on wings.

Maybe birds steer clear of cursed ones.

“Here.” Calix hands me his waterskin. “Be careful, okay?” He hugs me before he rushes back to Aella like a kid on the solstice. I’m happy for him.

They take off and spiral higher and higher until they are gone from sight. Only then do I let my shoulders slump.

I failed.

It’s the last day of Picking, and not one bird has shown interest in me. What now? Is going along with my family’s plans even an option? The thought of not marrying a stranger is pure relief, but leaving all of this behind, leaving Tate, makes me sick.

Even if you had bonded, it would have come to this.

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