I dove after them, straining my wings to catch up. Salt spray stung my eyes, but I couldn’t see anyway as the world blurred around me.
The horizon loomed ahead, the black ridges of Dorea rising to greet us. Veskor skimmed the waterline, Perri clutched tightly to his chest. He rose sharply and cut toward the mountains, heading north.
I flattened my wings, slicing through the air, pushing with everything I had.
The gap closed between us, slowly and painfully, impossible inches at a time. He finally turned over his shoulder to glance at me, eyes narrowing in thought. He dipped lower, almost brushing the surface of the ocean. I tried to follow, but a rogue wave surged upward. I tucked my wing and tried to tilt to avoid it, but he didn’t slow at all, riding the spray like he’d been born in storms. The water clipped my wing and nearly sent me spiraling into the water. I flailed and slowed, forced to stop.
Veskor flew off, gaining distance by the second.
“COME BACK!” I roared at his retreating figure.
I couldn’t give up. I needed to prove myself to Benedict, Wren, and everyone else. I was more than a bookworm. I was worthy of Wren and my mateship.
I beat my wings harder, forcing myself forward. My muscles screamed and my lungs burned.
Perri shrieked once, but it wasn’t a distress cry at all—she was laughing! That little witchling was enjoying this!
I had to get her back. Everything else vanished, and only her voice mattered.
I pushed through the agony and angled upward, slowlygaining on him. I approached from above, hoping to dive down and force him to the ground when suddenly Veskor veered sharply toward the narrow spit of rock jutting out into the open ocean.
Another wave reared up and smacked me down. I crashed into the water, and he kept flying, laughing at me.
“NO!” My throat shredded on the word as I spit out salt water, stuck now until I could crawl to land like a defeated, drowned rat.
The wind screamed around me. My stomach lurched. My wings folded tight against my sides as I struggled in the water.
“GIVE! HER! BACK!” My voice echoed off the waves.
Veskor didn’t even look at me. He disappeared over land, Perri’s cries fading along with their forms, drifting beyond reach and safety.
You failed. You proved Benedict right.
I sputtered and coughed, forcing myself to swim to land. Another wave slammed into me. Light exploded behind my eyes. My wings snapped outward in instinctive self-preservation as I ricocheted backward, spinning through the water until I surfaced and stole a breath above the waves.
Pain lanced down my spine.
Worthless.
No! I hurled myself forward again, punching the wards with my fists, my claws, my shoulder, my whole damn body.
Finally I broke through the surface as the waves calmed, sucking down air.
“Easy draken, we have you.” An unfamiliar seawitch grabbed my arm, holding me up and hauling me to shore. I couldn’t even thank her, too busy just trying to breathe.
Fog rolled around me as the world narrowed to her cool hands on my arms and my own ragged breathing.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please … he took her.”
“Easy, draken. Benedict said there might be trouble.”
I pressed my forehead to the ground as she dragged me onto the sand.
She eyed me warily. “Do I need to send word, or?—”
“No! Don’t! I mean–” I shook my head, trying not to appear like a crazed lunatic. “I will get her. Just tell him that.”
Before she could answer, I was already shaking my wings off and jumping back into the air. I searched desperately, finally catching one last glimpse of a dark silhouette disappearing into the night, due north.
