Page 66 of Beasts of Briar
I had no idea how I was doing this. How I was commanding the starlight to help me fly. That wasn’t something I should be able to do. Wasn’t something my father ever prepared me for. But I’d worry about that later.
For now, I was with my brothers, and I was alive.
I kicked my feet and moved my arms like I was swimming. My body waded through the air like it would water. We soared together over the jungle in perfect formation. The moonlight bounced off the black water in the distance. The breeze rustled the trees. We’d have to go deeper into the jungle to find the nettle weed, but that could wait.
Right now, I just wanted to soar.
The starlight glowed over me, bathing me in its light as I swooped and dove over the trees, all the swans following me.
The wind pushed against my face, my hair whipping around me in a frenzy. When I’d flown with Kairoth a few weeks ago, I’d been so caught up with the feel of his strong arms, his chest, his scent. But now, I could just focus on the feeling of complete freedom as I rose and dipped through the night sky. I felt so close to the stars, even though they were still impossibly far away. I’d never used my magic like this, and the exhilaration of it filled me until I was brimming with it. The swans around me started to hiss, deviating from the V we’d formed.
I looked around, trying to understand what was happening when I felt it. The starlight that was shining on me darkened, and I looked up to see clouds moving over the stars, blotting them out.
My pulse spiked as my magic bled from me. It happened in an instant. I dropped straight through the sky. My brothers squawked and whirled around me, but I would be too heavy for any of them to catch. If they tried, I’d just end up bringing them down with me, so I just shook my head at them as they darted forward.
I came closer to the jungle canopies and curled my body in a tight ball, bracing for the hard impact.
My brothers stayed with me, flying around me, trying to protect me like they always had, but when my body hit, they curved upward in sharp arcs. I hurtled through the leaves, my back cracking on a branch, then I bounced off and rammed into the hard tree trunk. I grappled for anything I could grasp onto, my hands on fire as they scraped the bark and branches. I recoiled, falling again until I hit the jungle ground with a hard thwack.
My ribs cracked in my side, and every breath hurt. I touched my head, my fingers coming away with sticky dark blood. I pushed myself up, trying to stand but instantly yelled out in pain and collapsed back down. I reached out and yanked off my boot, my ankle swollen and red. My entire body felt bruised and broken, but I managed to drag myself to the nearest tree so I could lean against it.
Shadows lurked under the tree canopies, flying in lazy circles, their red eyes trained on me.
This was a complete mess, one I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage to get myself out of.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
KAIROTH
Iawoke knowing something was wrong. The feeling of dread settled over me like a net. I rose from my bed and shrugged on a shirt and a pair of black pants. I wrenched open the doors to my bedroom, stalking down the hallway, looking for any signs of trouble. If there was trouble, I could only think of one thing causing it.
A pair of boots pounded on the floor below me. I looked over the railing, seeing Bellamy’s two friends running for the stairs, followed by Wesley, Jerome, and Goji. A rock settled in my stomach, and cold dread crept over me.
No Bellamy, though.
What had that foolish woman done now?
I met them on the stairs. “What happened?” I snapped.
The red-haired woman stared at me with an open mouth while the tall, lanky man froze, staring at the shadows whirling around me.
I huffed impatiently. “Somebody better tell me what’s going on.”
Goji looked at the taller man. Driscoll was his name. Yes, that’s what Bellamy had called him. “Well,” the pixie said. “Go on. Tell him what you told us.”
“The east wing,” Driscoll burst out. “I think I saw Bellamy disappear into there earlier, and she hasn’t returned.”
My entire body went cold, my shadows lashing out and hissing. Driscoll winced, and Leoni just looked at me in horror. I wanted to flee from the terror on their faces, the fear in their eyes that reminded me all too well of the monster I was, why Bellamy had stopped coming to see me.
I stepped closer. “What do you mean you ‘think’?”
Driscoll swallowed, the sound audible.
“We saw her,” Leoni said more firmly, an odd expression flashing across her face, but before I could decipher it, it was gone. “We tried to call for her, but she ignored us and disappeared through that curtain.”
No. If she went too far, too deep into east wing... she’d run intoher.
I whipped around, racing down the stairs to the second floor. Shouts rang behind me, questions from the pixies, warnings from the elementals, but I didn’t stop, tearing open the curtain and stalking into the dark. I was darkness myself, so I always felt at ease here where no light shone. My vision adjusted, and I could easily see the hallway that stretched on, floorboards busted and cracked, wallpaper shredded and hanging in tatters. Broken glass littered the floor, all the sconces that once hanged destroyed. I didn’t see Bellamy anywhere. My gaze trailed to the stairwell next to me that led down into the dungeons below.
