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Elodie
Arulius lands us on a cliff face on the eastern mountains of Nesbrim.
I can see the High Court from here, but we’re so high up that everything looks miniature. The clouds are fluffy around us and the thick air leaves the question of an incoming storm.
We stand close to the edge of the onyx-colored rock and my stomach is curling in on itself.
“I can’t do this,” I mumble as I take a few steps back.
Arulius lets out a short laugh and grabs my arm. “Yes you can, and I’m not asking.” He pulls me back to the edge and I cling to his arm like my life depends on it.
“Why are you trying to teach me to fly anyway?” I glare at him. But he just smiles wickedly at me as he pushes me off the cliff.
I let out a scream as I try to stop my body from spiraling in the air. My feathers are tight against my body.
Arulius leaps after me and is at my side in seconds, a look of mischief in his gaze. “Open your wings, love.” He arcs his wings and the air catches him instantly. “Fly!”
I take a few steadying breaths and spread my wings. The shock that the air sends through me is exhilarating. I can feel the breath of this world whistling through my feathers and bones. All at once I’m suspended in the air. Arulius dips past me with pride in his eyes.
He motions his head toward the clouds and his beautiful golden wings are carrying him there before I can say anything. I flap my wings a few times to get a feel for it—it’s coming a lot more naturally to me than I thought it would. My short wing feels strong and it’s not throwing my balance off like I thought it might. Excitement surges through me and then I’m following Arulius higher into Tomorrow’s clouds.
I’m flying.
I hold my breath for all of a handful of seconds before we are breaching the clouds, soaring high into the sky. Arulius swoops up to me and holds my hand firmly as I steady myself in the clouds.
My wings feel so light and I instinctively know which way to angle them to shift through the sky. My mind might not remember this world, but my wings and body seem to.
The air spills into my lungs and I devour each and every delicate feeling of it.
Arulius’s golden wings shimmer in the light as he twirls and shows off his wingspan. It's at least double my own. His amethyst eyes study me as if he can’t get enough of my wings at work. I tense as the clouds we spotted from the cliff approach. They’re angry and gray, swollen with the snow they promise. I hesitate for a second, thinking twice about what I’m doing.
“You can do this, love.”
“I don’t think I can.” Goosebumps shiver up my skin and I give him a worried glance.
“You can,” he reassures as his eyes comfort me with an invisible caress, and just like that he swoops up and the wind pulls him into the dark storm.
He’s always left me to follow, and it works every damn time. He leads the way and I’m itching to chase after him.
I worry my lip and stare with fear. Doubt claws at my chest. I’m not sure why I thought I would be able to do this, or better yet,whyI would want to do this.
I give a hesitant glance at my beige wings. The feathers lift with the urge to follow my blood-bonded Eostrix. To follow my instincts.
Fuck it all, I decide to throw away everything holding me back.
I flap my wings and fly into the storm after him.
The cloud wall breaks against my face. Fresh, cold flakes powder on my skin like dust on a chilly morning.
I open my eyes and my breath is stolen from me.
Rays of sunlight pierce through the dark winter storm, the pink and orange light at the finish line of an endless tunnel of black and gray. The warmth of the suns touches my skin and the snow dances in tandem with it.
Arulius flies ahead of me and a soft smile spreads across his lips. My heart aches and I hold my tears back as I’m flooded with memories of him.
Memories ofus.
When he broke through to me and put in my mind a small sliver of the idea that Iamreal.
