Page 39 of The War of Wings
Court?
“Court?” I asked, furrowing my brows. Her gaze fell behind me. “Oh, is this my court?” I gestured to the group of people around me. “Yes. This is Cal, Miles, Whit, and Nell.”
Nell gasped and Whit jolted, his eyes widening. Miles’ posture straightened, and something like fear flashed across his features for a moment. Cal’s hand tore through his hair, shock on his handsome face. “What?”
“Are they in your mind?” I asked.
Everyone nodded, and I couldn’t help but smile at their responses. In fact, I threw my head back and laughed at the absurdity.
I felt Adorex in my mind again.Nesan. Now?
My eyes widened at her question. “Oh, um, no,” I stammered. “We have to prepare, we have to… I didn’t think you’d actually agree to this, so my plan didn’t account for that. I’m not even sure I can handle this.”
Adorex stared at me, and… Did she just roll her eyes at me? Did a driva just roll her eyes at me? She turned away, her wings rustling as she presented to me her side.Petra. Handle,she thought.
I almost scoffed. “How can you be so sure?”
Mother. Katia.
“Could I just try first? Maybe just take a few laps around the plain?”
Fine.
Adorex lowered her shoulders, a clear invitation to me. This couldn’t be real. There was no way I was walking toward a driva. There was no way I was carefully placing my hand against one of the concerningly large, opalescent scales near the top of one of her legs. There was no way I was climbing onto her back.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I called.
I swore the other drivas chuffed, as if they were laughing.
No. Hurt. Adorex. Strong.
I nodded, exhaling as I secured my foot in the crook of a scale and clambered ungraciously up her body to settle between her shoulder blades.Holy shit.“Where should I hold–”
Then we were airborne, a terrified scream leaving my throat as I scrambled to grab a hold of anything I could. “Adorex!” I shrieked, managing to grip one of the spikes protruding from the top of her spine.
Petra. Hold.
“Thanks for the advice!”
“Yeah, Petra!” I heard Cal scream from the ground, Nell and Whit whooping along with him. “That’s my girl!” The other drivas snorted with what I hoped was delight.
My stomach was in my throat and my heart along with it as we rose into the sky. “Wait!” I called, my legs still dangling behind me as I tried to find purchase on the back of the massive animal.
No. Wait. Fly. Now.
Her massive wings beat ferociously, propelling us forward just below the cloud cover. The wind whipped in my ears, myeyes watering in the cool air that assaulted them. And still my feet fought for any semblance of a foothold.
This was how I was going to die. I was going to fall off a fucking driva.
No. Die. Feet. Scales.
Carefully, I hitched each of my feet in between two of the scales on Adorex’s shoulders. Her head seemed to move in approval as I breathed a sigh of relief that my death was now just that much less imminent in this moment. Without warning though, she dove, tucking her wings and streamlining her body so we shot downward at a nauseating angle.
“Fuck!” I screamed. “Fuck, shit, fuck,stop!”
Fun.
Fun?! Adorex’s wings shot out at the last possible second, stopping us just feet away from the ground before she angled her body upward again.
