Hael’s hand lightly grazed the small of my back, and I tried to ignore the fact that it sent shivers through me. I kept thinking about the way it felt to have them roam everywhere…
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale—I do NOT need to be thinking about that right now.
When we finally reached her neck, I nestled between the spikes he gestured to, startled when I felt Aura breathing beneath me.
My mind raced, trying to figure out how I was going to keep from falling off before I felt Hael slide in behind me. His thighs rested against mine and the heat of his chest scorched my back. His breaths were calm and measured, while mine still felt ragged—her claw was sounding really enticing at the moment.
Hael’s hand reached around me, grabbing onto the spike.
We shifted, my muscles tightening to keep myself upright as his dragon rose on her hind legs to stand.
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.
I barely had time to blink before Aura stretched her legs, roared, then pushed off the pad. My back immediately crashed into Hael’s chest as my neck flung backward and wind tore at my face. My eyes snapped shut, my lungs constricting as all breath left me. Pressure hit me everywhere, trapping me down like chains encompassing my body.
It wasn’t until we stopped shooting skyward that I relaxed a fraction. The pressure around me loosened, but didn’t go away, and I realized it was Hael’s air magic keeping me secure between the spikes.
I opened my eyes and gasped, no longer terrified that I was going to fall. His dragon had leveled out, flying straight above the clouds,and giving way to the stars and moons peppering the sky. They looked so much bigger, so much brighter, that it made me wonder why anyone ever said night brought darkness. Even with the Ater, Ferro, and Crepito moons slightly more dull than the other elemental three, they were all so luminescent.
I smiled—really, truly smiled as we soared through the night clouds. I knew this moment wouldn’t last, knew it was fleeting, but I didn’t care. It was the most freeing, liberating thing I had ever felt in my life.
Two hours later,the suns poked through the horizon.
I honestly wasn’t sure where I expected Hael to bring me, but it wasn’t this. We were near a small home by a beach at the northern tip of the Grigg—the Second Province above Elion’s castle. Behind us was the Drakin Mountain pass and in front was all crystal clear water—the Drattini Ocean. It was the most breathtaking view I’d ever seen. The Adrian Sea in Moriann was nothing like this. The water was darker, the constant smokey mist surrounding it casting it in a murky haze. But the Drattini waters were lighter, clear, almost iridescent, and without the fog, you could actually see the exact spot the horizon started.
Both suns were cresting over the water as they began to rise, casting hues of orange and yellow onto the sky.
The water itself was calm, the winds almost nonexistent, and all I could hear was the soft lap of waves against the sandy shore, and Hael’s dragon further down the beach.
She flew us here, and I wasn’t dangling in her claw, but pressed against Hael’s chest the entire flight, and it wasn’t even the first time it happened.
I rode on a dragon’s back.
I still couldn’t believe it, and what surprised me more was that Iloved it. Once she leveled out, it was the most exhilarating moment of my life. My mind had become so quiet that I didn’t think about anything. I didn’t even worry about the fact that I should have been asking Hael questions. I just existed.
No worries. No stress. No looming fear of death.
Just the breeze on my face, the early morning sky as it began to wake up, and miles of fog-less air.
“I have a shield over the cabin,” Hael said as he came up behind me. I was staring out at the water, wishing I could live here. I never wanted to leave. If I had to pick a place to describe serenity, it would be this.
I hated that at any moment, Dahes could rip me away. I hated even more that I’d have to tell him about it and ruin it.
“You can go up the length of the beach and all the way to the range, but don’t go any further. Dragons fly over this area a lot and if you step out of the shield, they’ll be able to see you.”
I could just glimpse the shimmer around the borders, but it looked different than the one he used to stop Elion’s lightning from hitting me.
“Is the shield a physical barrier?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Just invisibility. Air magic can’t maintain physical barriers for long periods of time, but don’t worry, no one comes out this far.”
My heart sank as any sliver of hope disintegrated. It meant Dahes could still enter my mind.
“How long am I supposed to stay here?” I knew his answer didn’t matter. If Dahes could still get inside my head, my time was limited, but I was curious what Hael intended. Was he planning on just leaving me here alone forever?
It honestly didn’t sound like a terrible idea. I was already alone, and the idea of staying here sounded like a dream. But that was all it ever would be. This wasn’t my reality, and I was about to make it Hael’s nightmare.
“Just for a little while,” he said.“You’ll be safe here. You just need to wait until everything blows over and then you can decide to live in either the Fourth or Third Province.”
