His mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear over the roar of her storm. No rain yet. But the thunder, lightning, and high winds were damaging enough without the slickness of water.
Another hand joined Graves.
Tharen took her other elbow, yanking so hard she wheezed. They didn’t let her go. Not once. Not even as her arm sockets strained. She’d rather they rip her arms clean off than suffer whatever thatthingwanted with her.
She slipped off the side of the cliff, legs dangling. Her wings fluttered, trying to catch the air. It was futile.
The mass of shadows was like a frozen lake against her slippered feet. Teasing her. She struggled on the ground, trying to rip her feet away and up—anything not to touch the shadowed mass.
Fire cut through the darkness.
"Move!" Tharen roared so loud that Luella jolted. She heard it in her ears and in her mind. It bounced around in her head, hitting the inside of her skull with savage intensity.
Tharen raised his fire-tipped hands.
Luella made herself as small as she could, tucking her face against the rocks.
Roaring and crackling, a heat scorched over her wings, a hair’s breadth from touching her.
All at once, the shadows backed away. Their icy cold left her from the heat of Tharen’s fire.
No longer held captive by the shadows, Luella dropped. The strain on her arms was indescribable as Tharen and Graves hoisted her up. The stone dug into her stomach, ripping her gown. Her wings fluttered, trying to help them.
She gasped in relief as she was pulled over the edge and fell into their arms.
Az took her, then, and held her. She cried into his chest.
"Luella, angel," Az gasped. "You’re not hurt?" He rocked her softly. She trembled—couldn’t stop.
She thought she shook her head.
She was hurting everywhere. They didn’t have time to care for her hurts.
A shattering roar echoed in tune with a reverberating clap—dragon wings.
An onyx dragon spewed fire from its mouth overhead. Through the smoke and ash left in its wake, green slitted eyes peered down upon her, where she sat bundled and shaking in Az’s arms on the edge of the cliff. The dragon roared a call of violence.
One word pierced through her mind:
Mine.
Just this once, Luella welcomed the dragon’s obsession. He would keep her safe.
She stared up at the dragon flying overhead and thought back,Keep them all safe.She hoped he heard.
Fire still burned hotly in Tharen’s palms. The glow cast shadows on his severe features as he spoke. "Graves, get her out of here—now."
Az kissed her brow. "Go with him, angel." His tone turned hard. "He’ll take you somewhere safe."
She wanted to stay, but knew truly there was nothing she could do here. She was a weakness to them all.
Az helped her to stand, and she took Graves’s hand. His dark wings snapped out. Her own shivered in answer, a burning sensation radiating from the underside, where the fire had nearly touched.
His arms wrapped around her, and before she could speak, he shot upward.
She gasped and held him tightly. He kept her bundled close to his chest, as if afraid to let one breath of space come between them. He flew so swiftly through the smoke-filled skies that she grew dizzy. She had no idea he could fly so fast.
Graves cut around the palace, and as the burning fires and sounds of pain receded, she realized where he was taking her. The sound of the ocean grew louder. Waves lapped against the jagged, towering stone.
