Page 61 of Enchanted Crown
“It will come,” he assured me. “Again.”
So for the third time, I took off running, jumped into the air, and willed my wings to appear. This time they actually did, and I shoved my shoulder blades back as Malachi had instructed me.
Immediately, as if I’d had them my whole life, they began to beat, lifting me higher and higher. I was getting used to how to hold my neck so that my head didn’t snap backward with the force of them.
“Well done,” Malachi said from the ground beneath me.
Before bonding to Esta, I loved flying with the shifters in Dra Skor. The rush of it similar to what drew me to wave riding so often. Maybe it was the adrenaline high, maybe it was the change of perspective. Things were way less overwhelming when you knew you could rise above them. To realize that I could fly myself now, all on my own?
It was a gift I was never going to take for granted. Ever. I doubted this was ever going to get old either.
“Take another lap around the meadow and let’s work on that landing.”
I did as he said. Normally, I wouldn’t like taking orders like this. I hadn’t taken orders like this in a very long time. But this gift was something that I could not squander. I needed to learn it and learn it quickly. So despite my royal upbringing, my royal bratness, I listened and focused, letting Malachi teach.
Did I like people telling me what to do? No. But I did trust Malachi.
This time I came in lower and didn’t need to tuck and roll, but I had tucked my wings in too early again, and the result was that I had to think fast and make myself a step down with my magic.
“Better, but that’s cheating,” Malachi laughed.
“At least I didn’t need to roll this time,” I countered.
“One more time, Prince,” Malachi urged.
“What is it with all this ‘prince’ talk all of a sudden?”
“You are soul bound to our queen, you will become king consort, thus have the official title of a prince in Dra Skor. You’ll be a Dra Skor prince as well as a Wylan one. I figured I should just get used to saying it.”
I cocked my head. “You know I don’t care what you call me, Malachi.”
He grinned. “Yes, but I also know how I refer to you will set the tone.”
I gave him a nod of understanding and shifted my weight from foot to foot. I had yet to be fully alone since sprouting wings, and all I wanted to do was stand butt naked in front of a mirror and see what they looked like. I felt the constant urge to move them side to side and touch them. I also wanted to feel water on them, should there be a shower big enough.
I was obsessed. There was no other way to put it.
“Once more?” I repeated.
He gave me a nod.
It took me a full minute to concentrate hard enough, but they were soon gone, like a candlelight I put out, they were there one minute, gone the next.
I inhaled deeply and took off at a run, calling my wings back out.
This time as I landed in the meadow, I fell to a crouch, but it was still an improvement. I wasn’t nearly ready enough to go flying patrols with the shifters in Dra Skor, but at a painstakingly slow rate, I was making improvements.
Training was second nature at this point, either with my body or my Enchantment, so learning my second Enchantment was the first thing in, I couldn’t remember how long, that I truly had to work at. Even wave riding had come naturally to me.
I had to admit that the challenge was a welcome one. One I knew I would give both my time and effort to. Not for the people of Dra Skor and their opinions of the Prince of Wylan having dragon wings, butfor me.
“How do you feel?” Malachi asked as we finished up.
“My shoulder blades hurt like hell,” I admitted.
“Your human body has to carry the weight of your wings,” Malachi offered. “While I do not know what that feels like personally, I can imagine that it will take a while for your human body to strengthen all the proper musc?—”
He cut off because my head snapped to the side.
