Page 124 of Feralheart

And in his look I found everything we couldn’t say in front of the crowd, Don’t die.

A knot formed in my chest.

Lady Severine yanked Heartsbrim’s reins hard enough the ruby dragon’s head snapped back. Her voice carried across the water. “Fenian, what the fuck? Your dragon’s unbound! Grab the reins!”

Aristus wove through the mist without triggering it. His wings caught air differently without his rider directing every movement. Whatever had been catching was finally free to work as it should.

The silver-gray parted around him.

Drawn to fear, Selira said. Magic.

With the reins loose, it found nothing but a dragon moving with his rider.

They made it halfway across before pulling up, circling, showing a way across existed for those willing to find it.

My chest had unlocked a door I’d been holding shut since the garden when he’d killed for me and the kitchen when he’d packed my supplies and almost kissed me. I’d stopped being able to pretend he was just another elite I could hate from a safe distance.

Feeling anything for this man was dangerous, a cliff edge I’d been avoiding since he’d stood with the water I’d spilled near his boots.

Last night, he’d been close enough I’d felt his heartbeat under my palm. I’d seen his pupils dilate when our fingers touched. And I’d wondered what his kiss would taste like.

I was still wondering.

And now he was succeeding where others had failed.

He urged Aristus to continue across the water, making it to the other side, where he circled, watching us waiting on the opposite shore.

I couldn’t breathe.

He’d just proven what Selira had been trying to tell me. He’d discovered what real trust looked like. And he’d chosen to listen for both himself and Aristus. In front of his team, his court. In front of everyone watching on the viewing screens.

And his eyes—those gray eyes that had looked at me like I was worth killing for—held something that made my stomach flip.

I still wanted to survive the race and win the wish for Tolross. But underneath that, I wanted to reach the other side where Fenian would be waiting. I needed to see what happened when we stopped pretending distance was safer than getting closer.

He’d shown everyone that mist wasn’t just a blind nightmare eager to kill. It reacted to the magic binding the dragons, and it reacted to fear.

The horror of it all blasted through me, making me shake.

I spun in my seat, lifting my voice, hoping someone—anyone—would listen. “Drop your reins! Let your dragons fly free.”

Reece’s head jerked toward me, confusion creasing his face.

“The mist is hunting the magic in the tack.” My voice cracked from the strain of projecting over the water. “Fenian crossed because he let Aristus choose the path.”

Lyndie’s gaze snapped to Fenian and Aristus, still circling on the other side of the lake, and her eyes narrowed. Understanding flickered across her face before she turned back to me. “That’s…actually brilliant.”

But Kerrel wasn’t listening. His dragon flew higher, pulling away from the shore, away from us. His hands had blanched on the reins, and he was yanking them tighter instead of releasing them.

Seeing that their prince had made it across, most of those waiting on the shore urged their dragons into flight.

“No reins,” I cried out. “Let your dragon fly free!”

When had the elite ever listened to a commons?

They flew out over the water, jerking on the reins, kicking the beasts to make them go faster.

Mist rose, picking them off one by one, yanking them down. Their shrieks bit off to gurgles, followed by silence.