Page 86 of A Witch and Her Dragon
But I’m not paying attention to the army anymore. Because Raelan is stretching out his glorious wings, turning his head toward the sky. I lean forward, taking hold of his glistening scales in my hands.
And I don’t even scream as his wings come down in a mighty gust and he lifts off the ground, buffeting everyone below and rising into the night.
Chapter 38
Alina
EVERYONE ON THE GROUND—MY grandfather, Sir Larsen, Tristan, all the assembled knights in their polished armor—shrinks as Raelan’s heavy wingbeats lift us higher and higher into the chill air. Even the tops of the tallest trees become but pinpricks below us, and the forest becomes a swath of dark across the land.
I should be afraid. I should beveryafraid. I’m on the back of a dragon, for goodness’ sake.
And yet I can’t bring myself to fear anything except the dizzying drop to the earth below.
This is just like that dream I had, the one I wished would come true. But I never thought it would. Even now, I almost wonder if I’m imagining this, imagining the kiss of cold air on my face, the roll of thunder in the distance.
I cease looking down, trying to quell the nausea twirling through my stomach from the sheer height. And as soon asI’m able to peel my eyes away from the ground and cast my gaze upon the sky, everything changes.
Up here, flying just beneath the clouds, I can see for miles. The distant Emberstone Mountains look smaller from so high up, rather than the towering giants they are when I look at them with my feet planted on the earth. It’s like I could reach out and drag my fingertips across their peaks, scoop a handful of their glittering snow into my palm and watch it melt across my skin.
Raelan’s wings beat the air again, sending the wind curling and cutting around us. I lean forward, gripping the edges of his glossy scales to hold myself tight to his back. Up he arcs, climbing higher, and I take a breath just before we cut through the cloud cover.
It feels like moving through a dense wet fog. Droplets of moisture cling to my hair, and I risk removing one hand from Raelan’s scales to adjust my cloak and pull it tight, warding off the cold in the air. For a moment, all I see is gray.
But as soon as we break through the clouds and into the air just above, I lose my breath.
With no fluffy gray clouds to impede my view, I’m bathed in silver light. It washes over me, twinkling and cold, and a shiver of awe goes through me.
I’ve never seen so many stars. They are a blanket above me, and they feel so close that I’m sure if I were to reach for one, I could pluck its glittering brilliance straight from the night sky and cradle it in my hand like a precious jewel.
This is . . . breathtaking.
Yet at the same time, I’m filled with deep sadness.
Becausethisis where Raelan belongs. His wings, glossy black with a subtle shimmer in the starlight, hold us aloft as we glide through the air, shifting ever so slightly as air currents wrap around and over us.
Now that he’s not pumping his wings anymore, the ride has become significantly smoother, and though my heart thrums and my hands shake, I challenge myself to sit up fully rather than leaning forward with a death grip on him.
Thin air caresses my cheeks and sends my hair flying out behind me. I shiver, though I imagine it’s more from adrenaline and awe than it is from the chill.
Slowly,slowly, with hands and fingers trembling, I dare to spread my arms out wide. And for a moment, I can almost pretend I’m the one with the wings, flying high over the earth, going where humans can only dream of.
Raelan shifts slightly, his long neck twisting so he can level one slitted black-gold eye at me. And somehow, I believe he’s smiling.
A few tears trickle from my eyes, but the wind whisks them away, leaving but a trail of cold down my cheeks. Then I laugh. The sound is stolen away, but I keep laughing. Then I let out a long scream, yelling into the sky for all the air beings to hear.
This freedom is... intoxicating. I don’t know how Raelan resists it, how he lives with that chain around his neck, weighing him down in more ways than one.
And I know I must not allow this part of him to continue to remain stifled and caged.
Raelan looks forward, then begins a gentle, steady diveback toward the clouds. The shift, though subtle, makes me gasp and grip his glossy scales once more.
And yet I know he’d never let me fall. I know this deep in my bones, a knowing that is both instinctual and magical.
I keep my eyes open as we dive back through the clouds, feeling the droplets of water gather upon my cheeks and along my eyelashes. Then we’re in the darkness again, flying through the sky with the moonlight veiled by the clouds above.
And in the distance, thunder rolls.
The air smells of an incoming storm, and I can feel an electric current starting to build upon my skin. Raelan must feel it too, for he dives even closer to the ground. We’re flying over the wildlands now, the places outside of Wysteria that have yet to be fully settled. Much of this land still firmly belongs to nature—the way it should be—but as such, I’ve not explored it, have not become at all familiar with the movement of the land or the whispers of the trees.
