Page 139 of Heart Cradle
Cutting across the sky, a new voice entered the thread.“You’re flying like a drunk wyvern in heat, Brontis. You know what that does to me.”
Soren flinched at the sudden interruption, but Brontis rumbled with something dangerously close to satisfaction. “My dear Stormheart. Missing me already?”Brontis growled.
“Hmm, not even slightly,”Xelaini purred.“But if you were trying to get my attention, Brontis, you only had to groan a little louder. That turbulence nearly made me lose focus.”
“Maybe I just missed your voice. You always like it when I get… intense,”Brontis growled.
“If I wanted you breathless and spiralling, I’d twist your wings myself. I know you like that,”Xelaini chuckled.
“Are you threatening me or offering foreplay?”He said.
“Both,”she whispered, voice like silk.“And when I catch you, Brontis, I’ll drag you to the ground and make you beg like the beast you are.”
“Gods below,”Venleo snapped. “Could you not flirt while Calen is fucking dying?”
The thread snapped taut. “What?”Xelaini asked, her tone immediately razor-sharp.
“Calen,”Brontis answered. “He’s strapped to the saddle. Spear wound, bad angle. Soren’s buying time, but it’s running out fast. Stones are down and we’re too far out.”
“How far from Maelinar Ridge?”
“Five, maybe ten minutes,”Brontis replied.“I didn’t think there would be healers there yet.”
“Do it in five.” Her voice went cold with command. “I’ll have a healer waiting on the east platform. You land directly, no flare. Just get him there.”
“Understood, Xel.”Brontis replied sharply.
“Venleo, stay on their flank and scream if he slips. I’ll light the barracks myself.”
Almost instantly Venleo replied “Already watching and listening.”
There was a pause, brief, but weighty and Xelaini added, softer but still steeled,“Eiran is on his way. He’ll meet you on the platform.”
Soren didn’t answer, just pressed both hands over Calen again and focused on not falling apart.
“Hold him together, Soren,”Xelaini said. “You’re not alone in this.”
“We’re coming in fast,”Brontis said. “I’m burning everything between us and that landing pad. Meet me there, dear Stormheart.”
“Of course.”Xelaini then purred.“Threats and foreplay are waiting.”
Chapter Sixty-Four – The Cost
They stepped into warm afternoon light, Maeve blinked at the brightness. Elanthir Keep’s upper courtyard was bathed in the amber wash of mid-afternoon sun, long shadows stretching from the towers, spires and battlements across the flagstones. Wind stirred the high banners overhead, but something in the air felt wrong.
Branfil murmured beside her. “Home again.”
Maeve wasn’t listening, something twisted inside her, an ache of disappointment. She turned slowly, scanning the courtyard. Eiran wasn’t here, his presence, which usually whirred at the edge of her senses like gravity, was still distant.
She pressed a hand to her chest. “Where is he?”
Yendel had already started towards the door. “The prince should be in with the war council,” he said over his shoulder.
Maeve didn’t move, the bond still felt stretched but not broken. Pulled taut like a rope straining to hold.
“Jeipier”she called through the thread, her mental voice edged with alarm.
“Maeve!”The young dragon’s mind flared in response, bright, panicked. “I was going to find you. It’s Calen, he’s seriously hurt. Eiran’s gone to Maelinar Ridge, they were flying him in. Soren’s with him, spear wound. It’s bad, very bad.”
