Page 89 of Serpent and Shadow

Seconds after the blue cloud floated up to the window and passed through the glass, a light turned on that illuminated all of the windows around that floor.

Then I heard the screech of the metal hinge and looked up.

Luc popped his head out the window, his long red hair whipping in the wind. I saw him look around, maybe expecting a drakai with a message, until he finally looked down, and did a double-take. His facial expression, which I could only just make out in the distance, abruptly changed, right before he froze.

He stared at me, eyes wide, his mouth ajar.

By then, I had pulled myself up from my face-down position on the roof. I sat gingerly on the arched peak instead of lying on it, and looked up at Luc, so he could better see my face. Still gripping the stone tightly in one hand to counteract the strong gusts of wind, I waved up at him, doing my best to smile in a semi-normal way.

Luc waved back, but I didn’t see him smile.

His dark red head disappeared back through the dark opening, and I shivered.

By the time he reappeared, wings strapped to his back, gripping the iron edge of the window for balance, my teeth were chattering.

He swooped down on where I was, and alighted unsteadily on the slanted sides of the arch. I watched him struggle to keep his balance, flapping the large, black wings he must have found in Bones’s closet. Once he’d steadied his feet and upper body, he held out his arms, motioning for me to come closer.

I climbed gingerly to my feet and walked carefully over the top of the tiles.

He grabbed me when I got close enough, and took off at once.

I thought he’d take me down to the balcony outside the northern corridor.

Instead, he flew me up to the window, where Alaric, Jolie, and Nyx were waiting, holding out their arms and hands to catch hold of me and pull me over the window sill and back into the room.

I was relieved, honestly.

By then, all of the adrenaline had drained out of me.

I was cold, exhausted, shaking, and I just wanted to get inside. My teeth were chattering so hard it actually hurt, and my legs wobbled once my feet were firmly planted on the floor. I think climbing up all of those stairs might have killed me.

I had already found my way to the couch by the time Luc was climbing through the window after me. His face was flushed with wind and cold, but his mouth was hard, and he looked like he was caught between relief and the strong urge to strangle me.

He was still taking off the wings when he turned a glare in my direction.

“You are fucking insane,” he growled, waving Nyx off when she tried to help him with the wings. “I mean it, Leda. You’re gods-damned certifiable…”

He finished shouldering off the wings, and stomped over to the kitchen, where he immediately put on a kettle, and a small saucepan. I watched numbly as he filled the saucepan with milk. He added chocolate a few minutes later, and didn’t look at me as he stirred. I was still staring in the direction of Bones’s small kitchen when someone cleared their throat next to me.

I turned and found myself facing Alaric.

“Where did you go, sweetling?” he asked.

His voice was cautious, despite the endearment, almost like he was restraining himself from saying anything, maybe because Luc had said it for all of them.

I reached over unthinkingly, and wrapped my hand around Alaric’s larger one. I squeezed his fingers in apology, and looked at Nyx, then Jolie.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and meant it. “I shouldn’t have done it like that.”

“You think?” Luc grumbled from the kitchen.

“Leda!” Jolie gasped then. “Your neck… you’ve got a cut…”

“It’s nothing,” I said, waving her off.

She blinked at me, then frowned, her lips pursed.

“I still need to see to it,” she said briskly next. “One moment. Let me at least make sure it doesn’t get infected and bandage it.”