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When finished, only Flora’s bag remained, containing the blank invites and cramped letters where I tried explaining everything to Dimitri. I wrote them before Lumi found me, when I did not know if I would be able to regain his trust. Even now, if something happened to me, hopefully he would find them and the few truths I was able to put to paper.
The leather creaked when I moved, the bones clanking as they hit each other. Playing dress-up like I had my whole life, poor or rich, it had all been an act until I no longer knew who I was. But when Dimitri’s eyes took me in, I knew he saw me.His Tempest.The clothes I wore, name I bore, did not matter anymore.
Be yourself, Vanya, my internal voice said, sounding like my mother when she tucked me into bed.Tomorrow will be a better day, you just see, sweet girl.Just be kind.
I wanted happy days. I wanted to help. I wanted to belong. Wanted all the things his shining eyes promised.
As two riders holding hands would draw attention, we made our way to Cherny, shoulders brushing and bones clinking together. Dimitri had left her in a small park on the edge of North’s Place. I could almost see the von Lemerch manor from here.
No one would dare approach a griffon. He could have left Cherny in the middle of the night market and everyone would have given her ample space.
She clicked her beak when she saw Dimitri approach but stayed put until he whistled twice.
In one smooth motion, seemingly defying the laws of nature, he swung up on Cherny’s high back and offered me his hand.
“I’ve never sat in a saddle,” I said, feeling like I was approaching a wall that might be too high to scale.
“Time to change that.”
A familiar glimmer awoke in his eyes as he offered me his hand. Swallowing my apprehension, I accepted it and leapt.
He caught me around the waist as if he had done it a thousand times before.Maybe he and Ekaterina had enjoyed riding together, my treacherous mind whispered as I settled against his armored chest.
He tucked me close and placed my hands on the leather straps attached to the saddle.
“Don’t let go. Lean into the wind. Cherny will take care of the rest.” He tightened one of the buckles around my rib cage and attached it to a hook on the saddle, then closed the button at my neck to draw the fur snug around me. His breath tickled my ear until he pulled up the hood and cowl, then lowered the goggles.
“Everyone deserves to fly,” he said, “you most of all.” And then we were off.
Cherny surged out from the trees, threw herself into the air, and flapped her black wings. They spread impossibly far on both sides, and with three beats, forced the wind under us.
I slid back, pressing against Dimitri. He guided me down and enveloped me with his arms. Like when he held me in his bed, his much larger body wrapped around mine, I felt safe in a way I could not remember.Precious.
Wind that had been welcome on the ground chilled as we climbed. I clung to the saddle, glad for the protection of Dimitri’s armson both sides, for as we gained altitude it was more like being thrown up and down in the air than the smooth glide I’d imagined.
The wind now blew like a winter storm, tearing the warmth from any exposed skin as the world below became smaller and smaller under Cherny’s feathers. I saw the theater roof where I’d slept. The familiar streets and rivers shrank, the indomitable palace and Women’s Tower stood out as black, unchanging monoliths as we circled Tal. On the other side, the Bone Grove and ziggurat temples sent a shiver through me as I remembered the undead and priestesses last night. Dimitri’s arms tightened as if he sensed my unease. This was not the time for worries. It was ours.
I had thought myself high up when climbing but then I had still been anchored to the earth. This was something else.
Opening a tiny hole in my mental wall, I reached for Dimitri. Instead of the calm I expected, I found exhilaration and fear, confusion and determination, all mixed with shame. Perhaps he also did not know what we were doing. Was he regretting bringing me up here, or was his mind still on the troubles below?
I reached for Cherny instead, letting the great creature who belonged in the sky center me.
We glided among the clouds, the flat grassland stretching in all directions below. In the prince’s arms, I let myself relax and enjoy the open expanse. I was not closing my eyes and missing a moment as we raced out of the city, the empty sky greeting us. For the first time in my life, I would see beyond the Ramparts.
Turning to look up at Dimitri, I found his eyes meeting mine a moment before he bent, pulled down our cowls, and, high above the world, kissed me—badly and perfectly.
He pulled away with a smirk that took years and burdens off his face. I could only smile in return.
Turning toward the horizon, I threw my magic out.Nothing. It was not the emptiness of closing myself off, but like we were alone in the world.
Emotions bubbled under the surface, memories of Mother and Lumi. Lana and Kirill. Normally, I would move to escape them, or find a new thrill to distract. Here, I sat and just felt them, completely and truly, without running away. I was safe. Accepted just as I was.
Even with the leathers and fur, after a bell only my back, pressed against Dimitri, retained any warmth and despite the speed pulling my stomach back and awakening my every sense, I was not disappointed when he somehow signaled for Cherny to land.
The sea of grass sped toward me as we dove, making the flight so far seem slow. I had fallen more times than I could count—as I climbed anything I found as a child, when I snuck into noble homes and the Royal Theater, when I climbed out of the princess’s chambers and when pushed off the balcony. I used to live for the moment of flight before gravity caught me. The mix of exhilaration and fear and being fully alive. For the first time, I had that together with someone else.
I was falling and flying. Free and caught. Too often, I did not know who Vanya was, but here, there were no doubts. I just was.
