Page 158 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

Her hips sway while she sashays up to me, and I have a hard time keeping my gaze locked on her face.

I swallow, trying to cool the fuck down before I spontaneously combust. When she draws closer, I hook my thumbs in my belt in an attempt to keep my hands off her.

“Do you mind if I say a few words before we start?” She smiles at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Should have seen it coming,” I murmur, allowing my eyes to wander over her once. I bite my lip, fighting the smile that wants to split my face, and shake my head at her, gesturing to go ahead.

She steps in front of me, facing our division. The rustling around us tells me she has the attention of the whole Aerie, but that doesn’t seem to bother her. My fingers itch with the urge to pull her into my chest, to claim her publicly as mine. But even though she spent the night in my bed, we haven’t even talked about that yet.

“Hey, everyone. I’m Ara. You knew me as Grayson before, and I thought I’d save you and myself the repetitive questions. I hid between you guys because it was easier to go unnoticed that way. My family didn’t want me to join the skyriders, and dressing as a man seemed the most practical way to keep them out of my hair until they couldn’t stop me anymore.” She smiles, letting her eyes wander over to her squadron, her flight. “Some of you have become very good friends, and I just wanted to say I’m still me. I just have a different cover, and I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

“Damn, Gray, you want to tell us we had…” Calix swept his gaze appreciatively up and down her body. “All of that under us while training on the mat and didn’t know?” He whistles. “That’s fucking cruel, girl.” I debated whether to kick his ass as an example, but I shouldn’t have worried.

“Well, at least I can tell you now that your moves have room for improvement.” Ara smirks, and everyone laughs. Calix clutches his chest theatrically as if she wounded him, but then his face splits into a smile.

She turns to me, and her smoldering look lets me know I’m not the only one fighting for control here. She winks, turns, andwalks to her place in formation. There is a beat of silence before the whispers start. Many eyes are glued to her on her way back.

I don’t know what Blackstone said to Legatus Janus, but while he welcomes the new riders in our ranks and even singles Ara out for being the first Phoenix rider in decades, he doesn’t mention her lying about her identity.

I slowly relax. Not that I thought they would execute her while being bonded to a phoenix but I feared repercussions nonetheless.

“I guess it does pay off having brothers in high positions, huh?” Jared nudges me while we make our way to the strategy meeting. I raise an eyebrow at him. “At least if you know how to wrap them around your finger. You have to work on that second part, you know. It would make your life much easier.”

“I’m not so sure about that. The easier part, I mean.”

“It works for Ara. Granted, you are lacking a few assets, very fine assets…”

“Jared,” I warn.

“What? I’m only saying that she has a very fine—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I growl.

“Alright, alright, relax.” He laughs, clearly enjoying winding me up. And I only now realize how effective those implications are concerning my…concerning Ara.

Ara sits only a few rows in front of us during the strategy meeting, joking and laughing with Mariel and Calix next to her. She bumps into Calix, her hair trailing over his arm that rests on the back of her chair. My fingers itch with the need to touch her.

I reach for her with my magic. A tendril of air slides up the side of her neck, then caresses her cheek. She shudders, and I suppress a grin when she shoots me a quick look over her shoulder.

“Claim her as yours and be done with it,”Daeva grumbles in my head, and damn do I want to follow her advice.

“We haven’t talked about it.”

“Then talk to her. This is insufferable,”she snaps.

I have to agree.Right now, I’m even jealous of the air I command, since it gets to touch her while I can’t.

She is mine, and I want everyone to know it.

Jared looks over at Ara and her friends and then at my twitching fingers.

“Relax, she kissed you in front of her brother,” he says. “And she didn’t take me up on my offer either, so it wasn’t only to piss him off.”

I grin at the memory.

The hours pass in what has to be the slowest countdown in history. I don’t even have the chance to get my hands on her under the pretense of sparring because the freshly bonded riders spend the whole day with their birds.

Ara

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