“I know you said you could break the chains yourself, but I wanted to do it for you. So, I made a deal for your release.”
Her tail twitches.More deals with the king?
“It’s becoming a habit, I’m afraid.”
She exhales more warmth that settles my shivering nerves. I close my eyes and bask in it for a moment, until I hear the king approaching, along with several others.
I sink toward the shadowy edges of the arena, keeping my distance from Reave. As I watch the chains fall away from my dragon, I replay my last extended visit and conversationwith her over and over in my mind, once again wondering how easily she could have broken them—and why she didn’t do it.
Because you have yet to break yours.
I force myself to take several more steadying breaths, hands fisted at my sides to keep them from shaking.
Once the job is done, the king saunters closer to me, though his eyes remain on Sesca, watching as she hops back onto her platform and gives her newly-freed body a hard shake.
We both watch her flare her wings out as wide as they'll go. My breath catches at the sight—at how large those wings truly are, how beautifully the moonlight catches the feathered tips, the articulated ridges of bone, the iridescent membranes stretched between it all.
She lifts her head, seeming to take a moment to chart a path up the various jutting platforms scattered along the walls of the arena. Then she leaps, giving one powerful pump of her wings before falling into a steady glide—though only as far as the next closest platform.
It's impressive to watch her soar even this short distance.
But it's a long way to the top, and as I look to the opening high above, a tinge of worry strikes; I can’t help thinking about the injuries she sustained before coming here. Her wings seem to have healed well enough, but they've also grown substantially…and she's had no real way of testing them since our arrival.
“Do you think she'll be able to fly properly once she's in the open sky?” I ask Reave. “She hasn't really been able to practice.”
He considers, tilting his face upward. “Let's watch hertake off from above,” he suggests. “Maybe your presence will inspire her.”
I'm not convinced I can inspire anyone at the moment—much less such a powerful divine creature—but he's already jogging for a door set into the far wall of the arena. And Sesca is moving more quickly as well, forcing me to make a decision.
I follow Reave into a stairwell that twists and turns up toward the rooftop. There are occasional openings cut into the stone that allow for a glimpse of the arena, for flashes of Sesca's lithe, bright body gliding from platform to platform.
Every glimpse of her fuels something fierce and ancient and insistent in my chest, a pull I can't fully separate from my own urgency. I take off my shoes, carrying them so I can run faster. After a few flights of stairs, I realize I'm feeling the dragon’s excitement as much as my own—and I think she's lending me some of her strength and speed, too, because I manage to pull ahead of Reave, navigating the steps easily even though the lighting is poor and my vision is worse.
I throw a taunt over my shoulder at him as I pass. I can't help myself. He rises to the challenge, giving chase. We forget ourselves entirely for a few moments—there is no king, no Flamebound, no uncertainty or fear or carefully maintained distance in this stairwell. Just two fools laughing and racing higher and higher, teasing one another to the point of breathlessness and something dangerously close to joy.
I break through the door to the roof first, tossing my shoes aside, still laughing, still running with reckless abandon all the way to the edge. Reave catches me before I come too close to toppling over, drawing me safely back against his chest?—
Just in time to see Sesca swoop upward, close enough that the air she displaces nearly knocks us off our feet.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We stumble back together, Reave's arms still locked around me, both of us struggling to stand as the wind from beating wings whooshes over us.
His heart thunders against my back as we watch Sesca soar higher and higher. My own is pounding even harder. I vaguely realize we're too close to one another again, but I can't get myself to move. My legs are still shaking from the climb, and from the sheer force of the creature ascending before us, this divine dragonthat has chosenmefor reasons I still can’t fathom.
She’s…incredible.
And my fears were unfounded, it turns out; she flies effortlessly, as if she’s been doing it for an eternity. Which I suppose she has, even if it was in different shapes, across different lifetimes.
She eventually glides out of sight, her silhouette swallowed up by the darkness beyond the palace walls. I finally exhale the breath I've been holding. Little by little, I becomeless aware of her and more aware of myself. Of Reave. Of how I could move—my legs feel more solid now.
Ishouldmove.
But I’m too focused on the way his hand is lazily trailing along one of the sheer panels of my dress, only the barest of fabric separating his touch from my skin.
We both continue watching the sky, catching the occasional glimpse of Sesca spinning, diving, twirling among the moonlit clouds, and the moment feels surreal and sacred and set apart from everything,everythingI’ve ever known and believed.
Eventually, Reave’s hand moves higher, sliding the waves of my hair to my opposite shoulder before he angles his mouth toward my ear and says, “I think she’s managing the flying part well enough.”
