Page 16 of A World of Ruins

‘He would be proud of how great a big brother you have been to us all.’ My heart cracks open as I smile at him. ‘And even if you don’t believe it, you will be ready one day. Whoever that may be with.’

A strangled sigh comes out of him as he looks off to the side. He nods in thought before darting his gaze back to me. He doesn’t mention anything about what I have just said to him, but I understand this is his way of accepting it. ‘I forgot to tell you. When you have time, I have a gift waiting for you inside that chest box.’

I look behind me at where he points and I narrow my eyes suspiciously, heading towards it. ‘A gift? Another one?’

‘Consider it your late birthday gift.’

A gasp lodges in my throat as I pry the chest open to reveal a leather saddle. Tibith climbs up onto my shoulder as I lift the harness out of the box and run my hands over my name embossed on the side.

‘I know you are . . .’ He trails off as if he can’t quite grasp what I am. ‘But I thought you might need one, considering you have a close bond with almost every dragon here, especially Fernah.’

My eyes shoot up at Idris. I can’t stop myself from grinning. ‘You made this yourself, didn’t you?’

‘With the help of Illias and Iker.’ A note of soft laughter makes his chest shake. ‘It is the only time we did not butt heads.’

My voice cracks as I laugh too and take another look at the saddle. When I lost the dagger Idris gave me, because of Aurum, I thought he would never craft me anything else, but I should know better by now.

Too emotional to speak, I mouth ‘thank you’ to him.

‘Don’t thank me.’ He gives me a stern look. ‘Just go find Freya. I’ve already disappointed her once; don’t let another one of us Ambroses do the same.’

I don’t get another word in as he walks out the door.

CHAPTERSEVEN

I knock on Freya’s door a second time, only to be met with absolute silence. My gaze darts to Tibith standing beside me, wearing a curious expression as to why we are here. I purse my lips to the side and knock a third time.

‘Freya, are you in there?’ My voice sounds unusually fragile. When I don’t hear anything, I go to turn the doorknob, but I’m stopped before I can do so by Hira’s voice floating through the hallway. I mutter a curse word and step away from Freya’s door as Hira approaches me with the widest of smiles.

‘Hira.’ I bow my head and force a smile of my own towards her.

Her expression softens into something a lot like sympathy. ‘I heard what happened today.’

I would have imagined so.

Feeling uncomfortable, I clear my throat and apologise, but she shakes her head as if I shouldn’t have to.

Her long raven hair is tied back into plaits as she holds a wooden staff in her left hand. ‘Is there a reason you two fought?’

Tibith tugs on my leg, shying away from Hira as I look down at him. I exhale a tense breath, still not wishing to discuss what happened in front of him, but I know he partly understands something is not right.

‘Things are . . . rough around here,’ I tell her, making a poor attempt at a conversation with a phoenix leader, no less. ‘As you can imagine.’

Hira narrows her fire-stricken eyes as she hums in agreement. I almost open my mouth to speak again of something else but shut it when she says, ‘I have been meaning to show you something.’

Great.

I press my lips together in a tight line to hide my grimace. The timing cannot be more wrong and despite the fact I have not answered, Hira turns away from me and starts marching down the hallway.

‘Come along,’ she says. ‘We won’t be long.’

Tibith and I look at one another. He does one slow blink while I glance back at Freya’s door and sigh.

Who am I to turn Hira down?

When Hira said she had something to show me, I thought that meant within the Aerian palace walls. Not the campsites just north of Aeris. As Tibith and I jump off Hira’s phoenix form, I squint past the rosy glow of clouds settling above mountains. There’s a pull at my heart, knowing that over that horizon, across the sea, lies Emberwell.

Hira walks up ahead through stiff mountainous pathways. The higher we go, the colder I become. Wrapping my arms around myself, I let Tibith nestle his shivering body into my chest.

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