Page 129 of Ashen Wings

“It’s gone. Destroyed. Now let’s fucking move.” Only the brutal, merciless warrior commands Isra’s tone. He’s a trained soldier, a fighter. I don’t know why I expected him to fall apart as easily as I, but the shift in his demeanor hits me like a shockwave as he hikes up Sera’s thigh without a second glance.

“You’re just going to leave him?” Roe throws her hands in the air.

“If we don’t go now, this will have all been for fucking nothing. So shut your mouth and mount up. That’s an order,” he hisses. The fists at my sides shake uncontrollably. “Nova, take Saphine to the hatching grounds. Roe and I will be right behind you, okay?”

“Okay,” I whisper and fight to master the tears blurring in my eyes.

Tenebris lowers himself for us to mount, and still I refuse to catch his gaze. The communication block in this form eases the protest in my legs, as I climb his thigh and settle into the saddle. Saphine, wary and hesitant, scampers up behind me.

“Quick flying lesson—don’t let go of me, keep your breathing stable when we ascend, and don’t lose your shit,” I say over my shoulder.

Stiff as a board, she nods and interlocks her fingers around my waist. Her lean-cut body against mine is utter betrayal, and I grit my teeth. It should be Jace’s chest pressed into me, Jace’s arms wrapped through mine.

“Ready?” I ask, battling another surge of tears.

“I guess so,” she replies.

With that, Tenebris launches into the air, the sheer force pinning me in place as the forest drops away in a rush of icy wind. Sera rises beside us, her wings beating in a powerful staccato.

We shoot through the cloud cover at a rampant speed, gaining altitude fast enough to squeeze my lungs. My eyes sting, but I don’t blink. I risk fracturing into thousands of pieces if I do. Jace’s face lingers behind my eyelids, our last kiss blazes on my lips. Now’s the time to shut this shit down and become the mercenary that died in those tunnels.

Get a fucking grip, Nova.

Because if I don’t, a whole lot more than my broken heart dangles over the pyre.

When we level out, only then do I relax my jaw. None of us speak. The sky is diminishing light, smeared with a periwinkle bruise as the day fades.

“The ward wouldn’t just fail like that. Not unless someone destroyed it,” Roe’s voice cuts through the wind.

“Or Morvayne is royally pissed off and rescinded his blessing,” Isra replies. “Regardless, if we don’t get to the egg we’re all fucked.”

Tenebris huffs up at me.

I don’t acknowledge him. I can’t. Not yet, anyways. If I’m to survive this, all I can do is cling to the impossible hope that Jace survived the ambush. There were so many lurkers, but I’ve seen him in combat. He's protected his borders this long. He can survive this, right?

Tenebris and Sera bank left and the vast air cools my sweat-glazed brow. I’ve lost so many in my life, the list of names is long enough to reach the cosmos, but I refuse to add Jace’s.

He will survive.

Death is a non-option.

Wrestling with the irrational is all I can do to keep myself together. I don’t speak to the others, even when they look to me for a response, even when Tenebris’s eye wanders back toward me.

Focus on the mission. I’ve done this before, too many times to count, but this time when I withdraw into myself I’m not so certain I’ll ever resurface.

When the hatching grounds come into view, Saphine’s grip around my waist loosens. The Blightfangs below are smudges of black as we begin our descent.

My stomach jumps when he drops us from the skies, locked in free fall for a moment, then hovering above the earth. The other dragons raise their heads expectantly, teeth bared and claws sharp.

Two hatchlings squirm under their mother’s wings and hide from the imposters in their sacred grounds. Not a moment before Tenebris’s claws sink into the mossy soil do I leap from the saddle and hold a hand out for Saphine. “Come on.”

Saphine slivers down Tenebris’s thigh and follows my lead. Any other day I’d probably have pissed myself by now, but the thought of losing Jace fuels each step with reckless courage as we weave through snarling Blightfangs.

Wind whips at my back as Sera lands with Isra and Roe locked into her saddle. Boots thud, but I barely hear the frantic conversations between my companions. The mission. Focus on the mission. Right now, that’s Saphine awakening the guardian and incinerating those fucking nightmares.

Niaxa growls as I approach, her large eyes rallying between Saphine and me.

“She’s the rider, please, let us see the egg,” I say, words wavering and wrenched.