Kestrel couldn’t get any air. Her chest was a tight knot, her ribcage collapsing with each strained breath. And the bodies—the bodies, they just kept bumping and slamming and crashing into her, tossing her around like a fragile seashell swept up by the tide.
A grey, swirling cloud engulfed her vision.
Kestrel’s nails dug into flesh, threatening to tear into her chest if it meant creating a hole for her to just breathe.
She needed air.
Needed space.
Then something warm wrapped around her bicep. An arm slipped around her waist and Kestrel was dragged out of the crowd the way Thom had dragged her out of that oasis all those years ago.
It took her a moment to realize what was happening—herlungs still gasping, her head still spinning—but once she realized someone was saving her, she put every ounce of energy she had into helping them succeed. Kestrel kicked at the ground, using the heels of her feet to scoot her body along as much as she could until she was out of the chaos.
The person didn’t stop dragging her once she was safe though. They kept going, her body being lugged into an empty alleyway nestled between two sandstone buildings.
Every cautionary tale Thom had ever told her screamed into her mind.
The people of the Wilds can’t be trusted.
They’re all thieves.
Kidnappers.
Murderers.
Slavers.
Cannibals.
Once they were well inside the alleyway, the formerly-deemedsaviorpropped Kestrel up against a wall in the shade.
Bleary-eyed, she craned her neck to get a look at the person. She prepared herself to find a hideous, monstruous man, with a face smashed-in from one too many brawls and covered in fresh blood from a recent kill.
Instead, heat rose to her cheeks, her stomach fluttering.
The young man before her looked as if he could’ve been conjured from a dream—she honestly wasn’t sure he hadn’t been. Maybe she had been knocked unconscious by the crowd and now she was drifting into one of her many fantasies. It wasn’t rare for her to dream about handsome men and beautiful women. After all, the books she read had their fair share of romance in them, and Kestrel often found herself longing to experience what entangling with some of the morally grey characters she had read about would be like.
But this man wasn’t one of those characters.
He wasn’t the tall, dark, and handsome type featured in her latest read. In fact, there wasn’t a single shadow or crevice upon the dashing face that hovered over her.
Even despite his drab robe and raggedy trousers, he was shining. Luminescent, really.
The sun haloed behind his head, its radiance casting his short, blond locks in a gilded glow that made him gleam like gold and treasure. Not that Kestrel had seen many faces, but as this young man smiled down at her, she could’ve sworn that every inch of him was flawless, bordering divine perfection. If the Sky-Blessed still bestowed their magic upon humans, he had surely been a recipient.
He was radiant and regal.
Gleaming and gallant.
And for a moment, Kestrel forgot that he had just hoisted her by the waist and taken her into an alleyway…away from everyone.
She tried putting herself on guard, though his smile was disarming.
“It looked like you were about to drown in that crowd,” he said in a voice just as charming as he looked. That gleaming, half-cocked smile of his barely faltering as he knelt down next to her and examined her missing trouser leg. “Are you alright?”
Their gazes locked, and she noticed his eyes were the same sky-blue color as the ring she wore. Staring into them made her feel as if she were falling through the clouds, her stomach twisting and tumbling after her.
He had saved her.
