Page 112 of Under Restless Skies

“I’m so sorry,” I say.

“What happened?” Nelly asks.

Celine takes a deep breath. “I don’t know if it’s true, but I hope it’s not. The rumor is that she balked.”

Based on her tone, I’m assuming that’s the worst thing that can happen to someone, and yet I’m not sure what that entails. “What do you mean?” I ask.

“If you’re picked to fly, you take a glider and you line up. It’s rare, but, sometimes, recruits, or even sentinels, don’t jump. Don’t fly. When you die in battle, they take your body to Auranius, so he’ll cremate it. When you balk, they take you to Auranius, but to be burned alive.”

I blink, horrified.

Nelly shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s true. It sounds like too much trouble to transport people alive to his lair. What if they run? If they fight?”

Celine presses her lips together. “That’s a good point.”

I remember seeing the acolytes taking the fallen sentinels. “Do you know how they take the bodies? To his lair?”

“It’s a mystery.” Celine shakes her head.

Nelly then frowns. “Can the dragon even cremate that many people? I paid attention to class today. If he can only blast fire for a few seconds, and then has to stop, how can he deal with dozens of bodies?”

“His fire is extremely hot,” Celine says. “It’s instant.”

I’ve never seen anything being burned instantly, but then, I only ever saw regular fire, not dragon fire. For a moment, I question if it’s truly Auranius who burns the bodies, but I don’t want to lead this conversation to even darker paths, so I keep the thought to myself.

We cross the tunnel to the Outer Beach in silence. Night has not yet fallen, so some streaks of pink and purple line the cloudy sky. On the beach, a few bonfires spread apart mark the places where people will meet for celebrations. Today, our ceremony is on the second bonfire, closer to the tunnel than last time.

Like before, Celine has to give a guard a password, and we approach the center, where a caldron holds the star nectar. I have a bag with a small waterskin filled with water, just in case I get thirsty, so that I won’t be tempted into taking any of that dreadful drink.

Few people are here, and nobody that I know. Celine and Nelly grab wooden cups and fill them with star nectar, while I find a place for us to sit and watch the ocean changing color as darkness settles in. The sky is too cloudy for the stars to appear, but the darkness makes the lumos algae more visible.

A second-year male recruit whose name I don’t know sits by Nelly, and they soon walk away from the fire into the wild bushes before the hills.

“Who’s that?” I ask Celine.

“Sam,” she mutters.

“It seems that he and Nelly…”

She looks in the direction they went, her brows contracted. “I don’t like him much. Anyway, she’s having fun.”

“Why don’t you like him?”

Celine stares at her cup, her face thoughtful. “Maybe it’s nothing. It’s just… he’s very… flirty. But if she doesn’t mind it...”

“She seems happy.”

“At the end of the day, that’s what matters.” Celine takes a long chug of her cup and closes her eyes.

I wonder if she’s imagining walking among the stars, like I did, and if it’s why she likes this drink so much. For my part, I don’t want to risk memory—or judgment—lapses, so I’d rather keep drinking my boring but trustworthy water.

The fresh evening air is unblocking my nose, as I notice Auranius’ smell before I see him coming from behind the hills and flying over the ocean, then back to the city. He hasn’t noticed me—again—and now I have no doubt that he approached me that time because I smelled like Ava and Vos, and I don’t blame him. I’d want to find them too, if I was a lonely dragon.

Another scent hits my nose, a scent so wonderfully inebriating that it makes me shiver in anticipation for his touch. Alayel is close. I turn back, and see a small group of people approaching our bonfire. Among them, Alayel—walking beside Silvia.

My heart pauses, my stomach chills, and the shiver coating my skin is now a completely different one. I must be seeing things. In fact, I hadn’t seen Alayel’s ex whatever since that day when Mallor sent her to prison.

Now she’s walking beside Alayel. As they approach the light of the fire, I notice he’s even giving her that heart-stopping smile.