Another battering wave; another chaotic bank. Through it all, I glimpse Veya struggling to crawl toward Kyzari, body pressed against the rocky plateau that’s void of snow oranythingloose.
She surges forward with teeth-gritted effort, face muscles strained, her hair a brown streak threatening to rip from her scalp. She makes a foot of progress, silently roaring at the tumult—
Another blast sends her skidding, and my heart mimics the motion, feeling as though it’s about to explode from my chest by the time she finds purchase again—farther back than where she started.
A smear of vibrancy draws my gaze to a jagged gray stone that’s slowly crumbling. To a small, colorfully dressed miskunn bundled in its waning shelter.
Uno …
We lock eyes, just long enough for me to realize she’sforeseen this. Hopefully she’salsoseen us all survive.
If we can get close enough, perhaps I can ask for instructions?
A brief gap in the undulations has me urging Líri down again. She tucks her wings so flat against her frame she’s a luminous arrow plummeting almost directly for Uno’s dwindling shelter,nearlythere before another ripple strikes.
Líri skids sideways. Gouges her claws so deep into the ground we come to an abrupt halt. Only my cramping grip on her reins keeps me from being torn off and tossed through the sky.
She drops low, her mane, tail, and tendrils whipping in the gusting bellows as I edge down her side, into the nook of shelter created by her arched body—gulping big blows of much-easier breath.
I peer into the turbulent surrounds, noting that Uno is as far away as Kyzari and her doting companion.
It’s not going to be efficient for me to crawl across to her first and ask for helpful tips, dammit.
Guess I’m going in blind.
I’m just about to edge into the raging open when Veya comes skidding toward us, screaming. I snatch her wrist moments before she can shoot off the cliff, then jerk her into my arms.
She crumples, releasing a heaved sob that speaks a thousand words.
“I can’t get to her!”She looks at me through bloodshot eyes, hair windblown, cheeks slapped red from the cold. “I’m so sorry, Raeve. I—”
“Helped get my daughter out of that fucking cell,” I holler, dragging her farther into the shelter.
She blanches, eyes widening, her lips shaping two quiet words I can’t hear over the clamor:
“You know.”
I nod.
“I’m going to fix this,”I belt out with more confidence than I feel, unsteady in this unfamiliar terrain. Fearful thatKyzariwas the one who tore Nee in two. That she doesn’t need or evenwantme.
Not anymore.
Either way, we have to stop the moons from falling before there’s nothing left to save.
“Stay here!”
I edge past Veya, open myself to Clode, and begin to sing a sturdy tune. The most flawless fucking song that’s ever graced my lips.
She abides, forging into a shield to soften the destructive force radiating from Kyzari, her responses spoken through gritted teeth. Like an adamant but slightly pissed-off charge into the worst of it.
I step out behind her,awayfrom the shelter of Líri’s crouched form, squinting into the icy blast.
The tumult is a hundred fisted blows beating me over and over and over again, threatening to rip out my hair, almost tossing me to the ground despite Clode’s help. But by some miracle, I manage to push forward a single victorious step.
Shifting a mountain would feel like less of a conquest.
I pause, breathing hard, mapping out my next step as I regather my gusto. Punch my other foot forward—fast so I don’t risk toppling over. All the while, I gust Clode with tales of her beauty and prowess. Marvel at her fierce strength and poise. Beg her tohold; toget me there.
