Page 79 of A Clash of Embers

He leaned and kissed me, hard, sealing the promise that no matter where we ended up we would always find each other. And a small part of me laughed internally because Madok andI had made the same promise as children. It was ironic how sometimes promises were broken.

I moved away from Ev as I watched him sprint in the opposite direction with his wings spread behind him. He was majestic and I could understand why people were enthralled with him, with his title. He was a fantastic metaphor for beauty found within.

I walked toward Luke with a mindset that was stuck on ending this entire war. When I approached him, he pulled back slightly with a nervous expression upon his snout. His crystal blue eyes studied me, cautiously waiting for me to make my move. My hand slid over the black and blue iridescent scales that made him the most glorious creature in Darthium.

I spoke to him, but I didn't really need to. There was an innate part of me that knew how I was supposed to use him. Using him sounded wrong but it wasn't. My ancestors, the creators of the worlds, of the universe, had set me up in this position for a specific reason and I was going to complete it.

Luke, what would you like me to do? I don't want to hurt you, but I know that we need to get out of here so tell me how do I…how do I even—

You’ll need to wrap your legs around the back of my neck and hold on tightly. I am going to bring you to another location. Away from here. Eros can handle it. He will get all of your people together.

I nodded at him and slid my hands on the top of his back and pulled myself off the ground. Perched on the his back, I could feel his pulsing power in thrums that tangled around my legs, holding me securely on him.

“Don't let me fall off of you! It would be a really shitty way for me to go, don't you think?” I asked with a slight smile on my face, but it was mostly out of uncertainty.

I heard a huff come out of his mouth and then we were off. We were through the trees and into the crisp, cool air that wrapped around me and caused my skin to pebble.

High in the sky, it was calm, everything was quiet, and the only sound was the flap of his wings. As I turned my head to look around at his body, in this form, I knew he was magnificent. The memory of creatures ushered through my mind in waves. Parts that I knew, parts that Iwantedto know, but they weren't my memories. They were someone else's. They were Colette’s. The pieces of memory that I had been seeing, since I woke in this world.

Chapter 39

Ididn’t think I ever mentioned to Luke that I was terrified of being this high above the ground, but it felt like it might be the wrong time to bring it up because I was quite literally in the middle of the air. Just as I was getting comfortable with riding on his back, another sound pulled my attention away from the security of the skies.

When I looked to my left, I noticed a pair of black leather wings, smaller in size compared to Luke's magnificent creature's body, but I became more anxious as the wings got closer. The face that I saw was the only one that could make me smile even this high up in the sky. Callan.

“Luke? Is Callan supposed to be here? Because he's on our left.”

I saw Luke's head turn to notice Callan and all he did was nod in understanding that he was there and that apparently it was okay. Callan came very close to where I was behind Luke and I saw the smug expression across his face. I left them in that shack. Even though no one followed me, I left them. Howcould he smile at me knowing that I had abandoned him and my friends?

“Hey there, Clara, fancy seeing you here,” Cal said with a smile spread right across his face, like he never missed a beat. Like nothing affected him.

“Yeah. It's really fancy here. I'm loving it obviously.” I sighed, rolling my eyes and taking a deep breath before returning my gaze to him. “I don't know how you can do this all day because I want to vomit. This is horrible, nothing about this is enjoyable, and I want to be back on the ground.”

I watched Cal’s wings flap a few times to keep up with Luke in the sky, then he turned to look at me again. “I'm just glad that you're okay, Clara. I know that you had to leave and I'm glad that you did. Luke and I have been working together to find a way to join our allies together, but we needed to get you out and away from the rest of the group because we needed to talk to you.”

I laughed, “And you couldn't talk to me on the ground?”

“No, it needed to be here away from everyone. There are troops that are lined up in Avellino. Thousands and thousands of soldiers that are ready to march on every single Kingdom. Every single region in this world. Anyone who doesn't align with Athiana, they are going to tear down.”

The confused expression on my face matched every thought I had internally. I didn't have to say any words for Callan to understand that I hated this. I hated everything about it. Athiana hadn’t even shown her face to anyone. What type of leader could send people into battle for something that they believed in and they couldn’t even show their face?

“The reason we brought you up here is that Athiana is going to be here, on the ground. She is going to show up today. When we land, we're going to take you to a place where Eros is bringing the rest of your group. It’s also where our group is located.” He flickered his tongue over his teeth before saying his finalconfession, one that I already knew. “You have to be the one to bring peace to this joining between the two. You are the Queen of Bolzana, you're the goddess of the Stars, you are the one who people will listen to, Clara.”

I took a deep breath because having that type of title and that type of power wasn't something that Iwantedto have, but I was slowly starting to recognize just how important it was to have someone in power who didn't actually want it in the first place.

“All right, Callan, what do you need for me to do?”

“Well, I don't know yet, but we're going to find out, aren't we?” he said with a smirk and a head nod to Luke to follow him.

Hold on.

The dive down toward the ground was absolutely terrifying. The plummeting to the soil sent shrieks out of my mouth. I couldn't help it. Luke’s scaled body was shimmering with that iridescent light, with hues of blue reflecting off of him. Finally, when Luke started to calm down and slowly descend, my heart rate slowed as well.

When we landed, I felt the magic shroud that was over my legs start to dissipate and I was able to move off of Luke. I rubbed my hand over his scales, admiring their beauty. Luke’s large head swung to the side and nudged me enough that I was able to look into those same eyes. The crystal blue eyes that had always been there for me.

I tilted my head towards his and I felt the warmth of his embrace within seconds. He was in his regular form—without his clothes—and his smile was back.

“Not really how I wanted you to see me today for the first time, but it was necessary,” Luke said softly.

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