Talakai accelerated, and Matt fell behind. His flying had improved, but still lacked speed.
Go Tasi,he said.Catch the arrogant bastard.
Talakai’s wings became a blur. I crouched low on his neck. Below us, the forest gave way to another grassland, and from between the trees appeared a sleek gray form. Sebastian ran flat out, so fast and hard that sparks shot from his hooves, and the grass beneath them smoked.
My heart clenched. That he would do that to get away from us—but Fate had spoken. We needed each other. And now that we moved closer, I sensed it—the rift within Sebastian’s life essence. More like a raw, bleeding fracture than the hole that existed within us.
He strove to heal something that could only be resolved by embracing us. He was just too stubborn to see it. To the extent that he was burning up, trying to outrun a Dragon.
A very fast Dragon.
Take us lower, Talakai.
He sensed my intent.Are you sure?
Take me down.
He folded his wings, and dove. Gravity took hold of him, and I had to bury my face against his warm neck in order to breathe. I used his eyes to see—Sebastian’s flying form growing ever closer, mane and tail whipping in the wind of his passage, horn glowing blue against the bright-green grasses.
Talakai knew what I needed, and he angled his wings by minute degrees as we descended.Have to time it just right,the Dragon said, sounding uneasy.
I sent a pulse of agreement—at this speed, a fall would kill me. Talakai made another minor adjustment, and then we were right over the Unicorn.
I pulled my legs up beneath me, teetering on the powerful neck.
Hold! Not yet.Talakai’s momentum carried us past the straining body.
I trusted him. If anyone knew how to complete this maneuver, it was Talakai.
Ready—he said.
I shifted my grip on his neck spikes, waiting.
Now!
I jumped, seemingly into thin air. But the Dragon knew his stuff—Sebastian galloped right into the space beneath me.
He’d so thoroughly blocked me that he hadn’t known what I was up to—through his surprise, I caught the Bellati’s thoughts. He’d assumed Talakai was about to try grabbing him.
My leap would have been a tragic effort if he’d wished to kill me. My legs fell onto him a bit askew, and as my hands reached for his thick mane, he could have easily evaded my falling body.
Instead, he moved to position himself beneath me. He wouldn’t let me fall, but even as he saved me from it, he screamed into the wind. A true, stallion sound of outrage.
I still scrambled for balance. He wasn’t oblivious to my issues—his speed had cut by at least half, an impression verified when Talakai’s form shot away from us. But he was enraged by my presence. I found my balance on his broad back, letting his body clench and extend beneath my hips as I leaned forward and placed my hands on each side of his neck.
I didn’t demand that he stop running. Instead, I unleashed the beast.
As the first tendrils wound into his energy, my heart ached at what I sensed from him. Our absence was a huge abyss within his life essence. How had he endured it all this time?
He’d handled it because, deep down, he didn’t believe he deserved to be whole.
Guilt was something both Matt and Talakai struggled with. Talakai was also tortured by the rift in his self-esteem, torn there by Xumi. But both had found new balance by embracing what Fate had decreed for us.
I was the hub, the one around which it all revolved. But we were wobbling without our fourth component—the most stubborn and arrogant of us. The one determined to fix himself.
He’d been trying. And failing.
Even now, as he ran, he worked to hamper my efforts, to stop me from what needed to be done. He fought my beast, pushing back on the tendrils as his hooves drummed against the hard ground. I persisted, backing it up with a link thrown wide open. Matt and Talakai fed me their energy as they circled overhead. They had faith in me. In what I could do.
