“Don’t you dare!” I thrust an armored finger at him. “You’re taking me with you!”
“He’d sooner eat you than carry you!” Ronan snarled, buckling the stirrups around his calves with sharp, efficient tugs.
His dragon clung to the Andeluith, talons gouging stone. Eyes gleamed like molten coin in the dark, agreement clear in the tilt of that massive head.
I wouldnotbe left behind.
Beneath the sweep of a black belly, heat rolled over me in waves scented with oil and smoke. I ducked and ran toward the nearest plateau. Dragonless. Unclaimed. Only one beast tolerated my presence, and even that felt like a fragile truce.
By Elohios’ light, if Nienna was calling, I would answer.
Grass bent under my boots as I reached the open ground. The sky loomed wide and merciless above. I scanned the darkness, throat raw.
“Tsunami!”
The name ripped from me, carried thin on the wind.
It was a fool’s hope. A wild dragon would never bear someone who was not her rider. Instinct ran deeper than loyalty. Yet I had to try. Had to pull on whatever fragile thread bound us. WithoutNienna, no other dragon would have me. That truth lodged under my ribs.
The sky shifted.
Tsunami dropped from the moonlit dark, her scales catching silver light as she fell. Air buckled around her wings. She struck the ground hard enough to tremble the plateau, claws carving trenches through soil and stone. Dirt sprayed against my shins.
Her neck shot forward, roar hot against my face, making her annoyance known. Fangs hovered a handspan from my skin. The heat of her breath smelled of char and metal.
I slapped my palm against her muzzle.
Teeth snapped, grazing my fingertips. She recoiled with a hiss, neck arching high, oil dripping in thick, glistening strands.
“Save it for Nienna.” My voice steadied despite the tremor in my legs.
I darted for her paw. Climbing onto that broad surface would be simple enough. The leg above rose like a tower, smooth scales offering little mercy to searching hands.
She swung back toward me, teeth bared, hiss low and dangerous.
I whirled and leveled my spear at her nose. “Take me to our girl.”
She smacked her lips, and that golden eye swirled, light shifting within it as if something deep inside considered my demand.
Silence stretched.
Her head snapped upward, jerking side to side like a hound hearing its master’s call.
It was now or never.
I heaved myself up her leg, boots scraping, gauntlets grinding against ridges and seams in the scales. Muscles screamed as I climbed. Steel fingers found narrow crevices. I hauled myself over her back and swung a leg across her spine.
She lurched.
My grip slipped. I flattened against her neck as she pivoted, leading with her head, spinning to face Vellos. The world reeled beneath us.
My spear clattered against her scales, the vibration running through my arms. Wingbeats thundered, each downstroke jolting my bones. My stomach flipped, dinner rising sharp in my throat as she leapt.
We launched skyward.
She banked hard, dodging another dragon in a rush of wind and shadow. I drove my heels into her sides and clamped my knees against her to keep my seat, desperate for purchase.
The wind tore at my hair, threatening to rip me from her back. My fingers wedged between overlapping scales. My knees locked tight. Beneath me, muscle bunched and flexed, each movement powerful enough to shatter stone. I rode that strength like a leaf clinging to a storm.
