“And you didn't let her intimidate you,” Lia said as she walked up to us and enthusiastically shook my arm. “I’m so proud of you for standing your ground. And, as unfortunate as it is, that is how you will earn respect from her.”
I blew out a breath, not feeling even the tiniest ounce of relief from their words. They knew Zaela best, but I couldn’t help but feel awful still.
A loud screech erupted from the sky as the beat of wings pulsed through the air. Nox appeared in brief glimpses, his amethyst-reflective scales the only sign of him soaring through the clouds beneath the moonlight.
Lia lifted her hand to her lips and let out a sharp whistle to summon the wyvern.
He soared down towards us and leveled himself, sending steady beats of his wings to levitate just beyond the ship's rail—each pulse from them sent a wave of wind at us, blowing my hair straight back. The force of it would have knocked me down if Gage wasn’t directly behind me.
Lia approached him and reached out her hand, gently placing it on his snout. “I need you togentlyland on the ship. Can you do that?”
“Gods, he’s the size of the ship, Lia,” Jace said with an annoyed chuckle. She waved him off teasingly.
The wyvern’s golden gaze narrowed in on my sister, and no matter how often I had been around the beast in recent days, I couldn’t remove the lingering sense of fear from our previous encounter of him sending a blaze of flame aimed to kill me.
Nox carefully descended upon the deck of the ship, causing each of us to hold our breath in anticipation. The ship rocked as his hind legs touched down, causing us all to nearly lose our footing.
“I said gently!” Lia screeched, and he curled into a ball in the center of the deck, taking up most of its space.
Lia rubbed her temples. “This damn wyvern.”
“You’re the one who wanted to bring him,” Jace teased as he guided her to the stairs while she yawned.
“Listen, he can be useful,” she joked back. “Don’t kill anyone!” She shot over her shoulder at the beast, and he let out a disapproving huff.
Gage reached out and took my hand. “Now, how about we get back to learning everything?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks once more, and he led me below deck, following the footsteps of the others.
Chapter twenty-eight
Elianna
As we sailed fartheraway from the main continent of Velyra, the days at sea became a blur. Zaela's tormenting of Avery and Gage had ceased, and it appeared the two of them were getting to know each other…quite well. Veli and Zae could also be seen whispering to each other in the shadowy corners of the ship from time to time. The rest of us stayed busy by lending a hand to the crew as we sailed across the Vayr Sea.
I stood at the ship’s bow, my eyes narrowing in on The Elora Isles set off in the far distance as the crew lowered the anchor nearly two miles from shore.
“Are you sure we need to remain this far from the land?” I asked Veli with a sigh as I blocked the sun’s glare with my hand.
“We are already too close. They must not notice the ship or the wyv—”
“Wyvern, yes. Nox will stay out of sight,” I cut her off.
Footsteps echoed from behind us. “We will paddle a pinnace to shore,” Jace announced as he joined us and pointed to the small boat.
“Men are not welcome.” Veli’s voicedarkened.
Jace lifted his hands in a defensive gesture, but his eyes looked unamused. “Gage and I will remain on said pinnace…” He paused. “However, if you believe I will willingly sit back here and remain useless while Lia steps foot on those shores…you are out of your mind.”
Veli scoffed. “Witches are not the only creatures who roam those isles,boy.”
I took a step between them as a growl left Jace. Looking at Veli through deeply furrowed brows, I said, “They will not set foot on the land, but they will be accompanying us as far as your shores will allow. Do you understand?”
“Aye,” she answered after a few moments as her eyes drifted to the awaiting land. My stare wandered to her hip, where her hand tightly gripped her small woven bag that held her forbidden book. “If you will excuse me, the contents of this must never return from where it came.”
I watched her as she stalked to the stairs, shoving past Avery as she made her way to meet us, and then down the stairs that led below deck.
“What was that about?” Avery asked as she made a face at the witch’s back right before she disappeared from sight.
