Page 72 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
“Help him, or I’m using my shadows to pin you here,” Kieran snarled. “And we’ll see how you fare against the gryphons.”
The man’s eyes widened. He glanced at the gryphons lurking around us. Nimue and Ben were in the middle of taking them out, but they couldn’t stop everyone. Not while Kieran and I weren’t assisting and Gareth and Aurelia were busy with evacuations. “Okay,” he mumbled and rushed over to the homeless man.
It was easy to see just why Kieran had his title as captain. His shadows swept through the village. Once he finished the sweep, he barked out orders at the civilians. Any gryphons he came across, he used his shadows to break their necks. Meanwhile Hesperos flew above and targeted any stragglers.
I shuffled. My heart hadn’t stopped racing as I trailed. “What should I do?” I felt so fucking useless.
Our eyes met. Kieran’s lips twitched downward. “Goto the skies. Just in case.”
My stomach churned. Just in case I was a gryphon magnet. I ran to Umara and flew up ahead. As much as I didn’t want to fight, I hated the thought of leaving my teammates to face the gryphons themselves. “Umara,” I murmured.
Umara flew down and roared, coating a lone gryphon in flames. Its beady red eyes looked at me as it screeched. Even when it turned to ash, I could’ve sworn I heard its cries in my ears. We kept up the attacks from the air. Umara killed the gryphons with a viciousness she was known for, a side of her I hadn’t seen before.
But then the gryphons stopped attacking the villagers. My breath caught as a dozen red eyes looked up at me. “Umara,” I whispered. “We—”
“TO THE SKIES!” Kieran roared. “NOW!”
All five dragons flew up in an instant. Kieran’s shadows swept through the sky, but the shadowy wisps were nowhere near as strong since the sun was still up. But he wasn’t weak. Kieran and his dragon were the deadliest pair, sweeping across the skies and taking out all nearby gryphons. The others rose up, and our dragons attacked with narrowminded focus. Umara let out a fierce roar. Since the others were too close for her to comfortably fire, she used her claws to disembowel the gryphons that dared get too close.
Aurelia and Gareth stayed low, taking out any stray gryphons. I tried to ignore the villagers’ terrified screams from below, but I couldn’t. My blood pounded in my eardrums. I felt like I was in a living nightmare.When would the nest be taken out? How many were here? In the chaos of the battle, I couldn’t focus on my friends and the cries and shouts around me.Please be okay. Please.
I whipped my blade around, stabbing any and all gryphons that got past Umara. I even managed to stab one in the throat. “Fuck,” I swore. It managed to claw my side before it died. Blood warmed my shirt. My pulseraced.This proved it. It wasn’t a fluke. The gryphons wanted me dead.
One by one, our dragons and Kieran took out the remaining gryphons. When no more attacked, we patrolled the area. It spoke volumes that both Kieran and Nimue never left my side the entire time. We stayed for the next hour to ensure we finished the job.
“We did it.” Gareth rubbed the sweat from his brow. After healing us all, he was unsteady on his feet.
“What the hell was that?” Aurelia glared at me. “That's not normal. They don't go after us. So why the hell would they go after her?”
Everyone looked at me. A lump formed in the back of my throat. Nothing good could come from this.
“Obviously her Gift manifested early.” Kieran was such a fucking liar. From his mocking tone to his confident words—he made her look like a moron for thinking otherwise. “Her proximity must attract gryphons.”
Kieran looked at me, the warning clear in his eyes. I wasn’t sure why he was covering for me, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to disagree with him. At least on this we were on the same page. I wanted to goback to the castle and put as much distance between me and the remnants of the nest as soon as possible. I straightened my shoulders. Kieran clearly didn’t believe this was my Gift. But if it wasn’t, then why the hell were the gryphons attacking me?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“We can use this.” Luther’s hungry gaze pinned me in place. His stare hadn’t left me since Aurelia blurted it out during the debrief.
“They almost killed me.” I folded my arms.
He waved me off. “But they didn’t. You wouldn’t be sent out alone, and your ability will prevent future villages from getting slaughtered. For centuries, we’ve had no way to truly combat the gryphons. Your ability could lead to their eradication.”
And it’s not actually a choice.Lovely. “All those plans are useless if I die on the job.” It was hard not to think about the potential bleaker consequences of my so-called Gift. If gryphons would always single me out, I’d never be able to take Clara and leave. Not only that, but I barely managed to survive the mission, and I had the rest of the dragonsguard backing me up.
“There will be safety measures, of course.” Luther grinned. “But this will help. And if we’re able to utilize this, Andova will be even more incentivized to back off. Gryphons threaten the entire continent, not just our country.”
I fought a frown. “What about my sister? You saidafter the mission—”
“I’ll grant your reward. You’ll see her in three weeks, once her and her guard have traveled to a neutral meeting location.”
We went to The Dragon’s Hearth afterward to celebrate not dying. I wasn’t in the mood to be around others, but at least I had the meeting with my sister to look forward to.Except it’s three fucking weeks from now.
I nursed my drink as I watched Kieran. None of us felt like sitting so we’d taken to standing in the corner of the bar. Gareth had clinked his drink against Kieran’s, murmuring something so quiet I couldn’t hear. I watched in surprise when Kieran laughed. That asshole shouldn’t be able to look so charming.
Why did he cover for me earlier? And what did this ‘Gift’ mean for my future?
“We did it!” Ben cheered and threw his arm around me. “Not bad for your first mission, huh?” The sudden movement nearly caused me to spill my ale, so I glared up at him. Ben only laughed it off. “Come on, Selena, celebrate with us. Even that stick in the mud Kieran is celebrating.”
