The dragon locks on him and prepares to attack again, and Reave still refuses to move, to yield so much as a step.
Another dive. Another near miss. The dragon grows angrier, slamming down onto the hillside and sending deep cracks splitting out from where its feet strike the rocky ground.
Its shadow is so massive it's as though night has already overtaken this hilltop again. Power seems to roll off it intangible waves, raising the hairs along my arms. It works its jaws in threatening motions, flashing dagger-like teeth, and each time it opens its mouth fully, I’m hit with the nauseating scent of smoke and rotting meat.
Through it all, I can sense the current of Malachi's control running like a bolt through the beast’s twitching muscles, tightening and twisting and prodding it into motion.
I reach for that control and manage just enough interference to make the dragon hesitate one last time, tossing its head and rumbling in confusion, caught between conflicting pulls.
But I can already feel my hold slipping away with my next heartbeat.
Get up, comes a voice—mine, or Sesca's, or something older and deeper that’s driving me. I don't know where the command comes from, but my body obeys it, slipping free of the Mouren soldiers still trying to support me.
I scramble upright and position myself in front of Reave.
He says something to me—I can't focus enough to understand it—and I want nothing more than to turn around and meet his gaze, to let myself be steadied by it for just one moment.
There's no time.
The dragon lunges.
I roll out of its path, but its tail whips around, catching me across the side and sending me off my feet entirely. I close my eyes and brace for the impact of the ground.
It never comes.
Talons snag me out of the air before I land.
A second dragon has descended, catching me with a gripof iron and climbing skyward before I fully understand what's happened.
I hear Reave shout my name—a raw and ragged sound—and then the rush of wind takes his voice away, takeseverysound away as I'm carried up, up, up with a speed that steals the breath from my lungs and paralyzes my body.
Sesca. I push for her through the bond with everything I have left.Sesca!
I feel her turning toward me, the urgency spiking through our bond. But she's too far, too entangled in too many other battles. And the dragon carrying me is wickedly fast, frantic to obey Malachi's commands, driving north with single-minded purpose.
In no time at all, we're above the clouds. So high I can't see the valley anymore, can't see the battle or the two armies or the hill where Reave is still standing. My thoughts rush away with the wind. The world below seems less real with every passing second.
I fight for focus, for some thread of control I might be able to catch. I’m stronger than Malachi. He’s usingme. He can’t control this dragon without my magic, without the divine bond that lies within my body and soul.
I have to be stronger than him.
The dragon slows at this thought.
I see a chance, and I make myself take it, even though I just want to shut my eyes and give up.
You’re mine,I think.
It flounders in mid-air, wings beating furiously.
You obey me, not him.
Its grip on me shifts, talons loosening only to tighten again with so much force I can’t breathe. Darkness bleeds into my vision.
Stop.
It only grips tighter.
I push one last desperate thought outward, more of a plea than a command:Don't crush me.
