Page 7 of Fly to Fury
Pip remained petrified beneath his arm, not even breathing as she gaped wide-eyed at Dacha. Dacha gawked right back, also frozen.
The two of them were internally screaming so loudly that Fieran’s ears were ringing.
Then Dacha sucked in a breath, gathering himself. Perhaps Mama had prompted him through the heart bond they shared. Or maybe the practice he’d had over the years with such situations gave him a memorized pattern to fall back on.
Dacha managed an attempt at a smile as he nodded toPip. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mechanic Detmuk-Inawenys.”
Pip gave a wheezy squeak, her eyes still bugging.
Dacha swung his gaze back to Fieran. “Will you be free to join me for supper tonight?”
Fieran glanced over his squadron, then nodded. “Yes, I can.”
Everyone should be well settled by then, and he wouldn’t mind missing out on whatever the mess was serving for the far better food that the generals received.
Besides, he looked forward to actually talking with his dacha. They’d had so little time when he’d seen him at Bridgetown, and that brief meeting had been focused on the aftermath of the battle.
“Good.” Dacha gave another nod, then snapped around, his movements stiff in the aftermath of his panic.
Uncle Iyrinder stepped away from Merrik and joined Dacha. Then the two of them strode from the building.
A whooshing sound filled the space as everyone released the breath they’d been holding. Within moments, the drill sergeants returned to harrying the new recruits.
Beside Fieran, Pip made a sound like air leaking out of a dirigible’s balloons. She dropped her head into her hands. “Ugh! I didn’t even manage to say a word! I’ve planned out that conversation in my head for years, but then…nothing.”
Fieran dropped his arm from Pip’s shoulders, as much as he wanted to linger. “We’re stationed on the same base, and you’re assigned to my squadron. I’m sure we’ll run into my dacha plenty more times.”
Pip gave another wheezing, screaming sound into her hands.
Fieran grinned. War zone or not, he was going to enjoy his time here at Fort Defense.
Chapter
Three
Still in a daze, Pip strode toward the massive hangar on the bluff, the other mechanics trailing behind her.
She’d just metPrince Farrendel Laesornysh. She couldn’t help the internal scream, her chest filling with something between elation and utter embarrassment. She’d met her childhood hero and hadn’t even managed to say a single word. Instead she’d just stood there gaping like a dwarf who had spotted the world’s biggest iron deposit.
Worse, seeing Prince Farrendel had reminded her all over again that the elf prince was Fieran’sdacha. Fieran wasn’t just a captain in the Flying Corps. Back in Aldon and in Estyra, he was a prince. Way out of her league.
When she’d first met him at Fort Linder, they’d just been friends, despite the attraction growing between them. She could joke about his famous family members because she hadn’t even been thinking about a relationship beyond friendship. They had, after all, assumed they would go their separate ways once basic training was over.
Then they’d been sent to Dar Goranth together, andthings had deepened between them. Especially when they’d confessed that they liked each other.
Perhaps it was just as well that Fieran had put the brakes on forming a romantic relationship right now. Back there in the wilds of the far-flung island, courting Fieran had seemed possible.
Now? Here in Escarland, she remembered all the reasons that would be a bad idea and likely to get her heart broken. He was a prince who had grown up in wealth and privilege in two kingdoms.
While She hadn’t grown up poor by any means, she was far from elven or dwarven nobility. Her parents ran the western rail terminal, and her dacha’s previous career as a diplomat to the dwarves meant that the elf king at least knew him by name. Still, she wasn’t the kind of girl someone like Fieran brought home to his princess mother.
As she approached the hangar, Pip gave herself a firm, internal shake. The whole point of not having a romantic relationship right now was to prevent distraction. And here she was, utterly distracted by thoughts of Fieran and what probably couldn’t be.
With great effort, she shoved all thoughts of Fieran aside and marched through the nearest door in the side of the enormous metal building.
Her magic hummed through her veins at being surrounded by so much lovely metal, and she actually had to work to keep it contained rather than reaching for the nearest steel beam. The smells of grease and sun-baked metal filled the space, punctuated by the stench of sweat and body odor.
The hangar was an absolute maze of aeroplanes, aeroplane parts, and assorted tool carts and workbenches. The hangar itself seemed to be a series of smaller hangars, as ifthe building had been expanded in a haphazard fashion many times over the years. Human men, a few troll men and women, and the occasional elf bustled about in this space, causing a cacophony of footsteps and squeaking cart wheels.
