Page 98 of Heart Cradle
“That was fatherly affection…”Jeipier whispered, clearly scandalised.“I need to lie down.”
By the end of the week, Branfil declared a “mandatory morale break,” which apparently meant dragging everyone up to the high cliffs for what he insisted was a relaxing group flight. Maeve was not convinced. They were in tight formation again, climbing through updrafts while Xelaini raced overhead like a gods sent scythe, sleek, enormous, and unnervingly silent.
The wind whistled past, sharp as cut glass.“You're clenching,”Jeipier said lightly.“Relax. You’re not going to fall.”
“Easy for you to say,”Maeve muttered.“You have wings. I’m strapped to your spine like a bloody decorative panic attack.”
“And yet, you’re the scary one,”he replied with mock awe.
“What a world we live in,”Maeve said with an eyeroll.
Laughter rattled across the mind-talk, Calen’s loud and unbothered, Fenric’s more knife-edged. Above, Eiran turned in his saddle to glance down at her, grinning with infuriating ease.
“Edible and sarcastic,”he said through his mind.“How do I cope?”
“You cope by keeping both hands on your saddle!”she shot back.
“I’d rather use them to grab your arse in those leathers,”he said, voice maddeningly casual.
Soren made a gagging noise.“Please, gods,”he groaned.“Someone knock him off his dragon, for my morale.”
“Seconded,”said Fenric.
“Thirded,”Calen added.“Preferably into a pine tree. Maybe one with hornets.”
Maeve tried to laugh, but her gaze kept drifting to Xelaini. The way she moved, every wingbeat, every tilt of her body, was perfectly in sync with Eiran. They didn’t communicate so much as coexist, unbroken and seamless, the kind of bond you couldn’t replicate. The kind that had centuries behind it.“Chainling,”came Xelaini’s voice, curling into her mind like mist around moonlight.“Stop that.”
Maeve blinked.“Stop what?”
“The comparison. The worry. You are not late. You are only new. He is yours. And I am his because we must be, for you. For them all. That is our pairing.”A softer note followed, dry with affection.“My eyes are only on Brontis, and speaking of…”
A shriek tore through the link.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT,”Soren bellowed.“YOU FUCKING STUPID BASTARD, BRONTIS!”
Brontis came screaming down like a meteor, dark and massive, wings jagged like lightning forks, veins of electric blue pulsing along his frame. He tucked tight in freefall, then flared wide at the last second in a dramatic spiral. The resulting pressure wave rattled the entire formation and Brontis hovered above them with brutal ease and let out a low, thunderous rumble of satisfaction.
“Brontis,”Aeilanna snapped.“That was spectacular even for you.”
“He’s showing off,”Xelaini said flatly.“Because I’m watching.”
“Always, Stormheart”Brontis crooned.
“You nearly fucking killed me,”Soren growled. “I saw my life flash before my eyes.”
“Oh stop, it was mostly poor decisions, females and wine anyway.”Brontis said.
“At least you’re consistent,”Calen quipped.
“That wasn’t funny,”Soren muttered.
“It was a little funny,”Maeve offered, grinning.“You sounded like a strangled goose.”
“You’re all arseholes,”Soren declared.“I’d rather be in there with Davmon. I’m done.”
Brontis rumbled again and spiralled lazily above the rest, trailing wind like a banner.
“You always like to make an entrance,”Xelaini murmured, smooth as warm honey.
