Page 55 of Feathers of Ash and Hope

Fewer runners and riders make it easier to get around without being seen, but being part of a group does not. I have never had the companionship of anyone apart from my family, so it’s comforting and irritating at the same time.

Screeching and the rustling of wings tell me the last patrol just returned. It’s already dark, but I still freeze and hold my breath.

There are no Night Ravens in this flight, and they don’t pass over me—the only reason I’m up here despite knowing they’ll come in. Strix and Rukh might not have the exceptional night vision Night Ravens do, but they’re still good at detecting movement.

My cheek rests against the cold stone shingles beneath me, but I can picture the perfect V-formation swooping down so synchronized that they seem like one creature. My lungs start to burn with the need to breathe, but I resist until creaking leather, steps, and voices confirm they have landed.I can’t help but wonder how long it will take until we become one entity like them.

The guard moves below, undisturbed by the arriving patrol. I take deep, even breaths, and my heartbeat slows.

In a few days, I’ll meet Sloan to supply her with new letters, and I have a plan for how I’ll get out of here unseen. I wait for the guard to wander out of my sight to check my timing. With nothing to occupy my thoughts, they wander back to my centurion.

Apart from our run-in a week ago, I haven’t seen him much, and while that should make it easier to push him out of my mind, it doesn’t. He acts as distant and cool as before the healing incident, making me question everything. Maybe I imagined his warmth?

The guard vanishes around the corner of the building, and I count under my breath until he returns. After nights of watching the guards, I found the perfect way to sneak out.

Our room’s window overlooks a small street following the borders of the academy, and because there is nothing to hide behind on this side of the building, the guards spend much more time monitoring the front. There is not enough time to sprint the distance from one corner to the next, but it’ll be ample time to slide down the rain pipe and climb over the fence. From there, I can melt into the shadows of the houses across the street, and nobody will be the wiser.

Scrambling back up could cut it close, but I’ll worry about that when I get there. I also hope they concentrate on the ground and don’t look at the building too closely.

I wait for the next turn before I climb back down and through the window. Thankfully, our room is still empty. The common room is much cozier than the sleeping quarters, so normally, everyone hangs out there.

I’m closing the window behind me when the door opens.

“There you are.” Mariel stands in the doorway and gives me an odd look. Okay, I have to admit standing alone in a dark room does look strange.

“Where were you? You simply vanished on us.”

“Oh, I only aired the room a little,” I say and step back from the window.

“For the last hour?” She sounds skeptical.

I laugh, shaking my head. “No, I took a walk before that.”

“You are not so into big groups, are you?” she asks.

“I’m just not used to it.” I shrug. “Sometimes it’s just—”

“It can be a bit much. I get it. No need to defend yourself.” She crosses over to me and puts the lamp she carried on the table in front of the windows instead of lighting the other lights. “I think it’s great that you can admit it. I’m not much of a peopleperson myself.” She smiles at me, and there is a moment of companionable silence.

“If you feel up to it, we’re about to start a game of cards…” She watches me, waiting for an answer.

“Why not?” I return her smile. Sitting close to a roaring fire for a game of cards sounds pretty good after the cold, and hanging out with my flight, too. Even the riders from Joel’s flight tend to join us.

Ever since our trip into the mountains, he seems to have taken a different approach—or maybe Kyronos talked to him, too. He hangs out with us whenever he’s around, probably to keep an eye on me, and he has stopped talking about sending me home. He’s more like the guy I used to know back home.

I follow Mariel down the corridor to the common room of our division; voices and laughter reach us despite the closed door. Now that my plans for visiting Sloan next weekend are set, I have nothing left to do but throw myself into classes and training and banish a certain centurion from my thoughts—not that it’s working. But I do have our first flight lesson to look forward to.

Chapter

Sixteen

TATE

Today isone of those days it sucks to be up in the air. Telos is located so far south that winter is hardly noticeable most days, but today, a sharp and icy north wind creeps into even the tiniest gap in our uniform, and the drizzle that accompanies us for the better part of two hours makes being up here simply miserable.

Since I have to draw on my body heat to warm up the air around me, I gave up on it ages ago. The damp, cold air leeches any warmth so quickly that it would send me into hypothermia in no time, defying the purpose.

We fly in the typical V-formation, rotating who takes point to distribute the strain evenly between our birds. A wind like today makes taking the lead over longer periods noticeably more tiring.

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