“Before I bec-came Marcus, son of Emmanuel, the armorer,” I growled, “I was William Stormswift.”
Havoc’s eyes widened. “Yous ares a Stormswift? Buts they were all killed…” he trailed off, and then he snorted. “Guess nots.”
“The assassin sent to k-kill me had a change of heart.” I clacked my beak. “But I hate Brock-k almost as much as I hated his mother.”
His long head nodded. I wasn’t surprised that revenge was something he understood. “I wants a piece of him, too. But your claim is older than mine. He’s yours,” he promised.
He didn’t seem to notice the fine trickle of blood from one nostril. Ice traveled down my spine. We needed the Deranger, but it was busy enough keeping the red Dragon alive.
What are you up to, Marcus? A Gryphon can’t take on Brock as a Dragon. And look at Havoc. He’s dying by degrees.
The words twisted something inside me. Getting to Rafael wasn’t just about rescuing Riley.
I turned to Vali. “I need K-Kiko to ride me.”
The Satyr’s eyes widened. “You can carry me?”
“Yes.” Then, I asked.Can we carry her?
Yes. But only her.
I thrust my chin at Vali. “How fast c-can you fly?”
The yellow Dragon arched her neck. “I cans outflys any male Dragon.”
“That’s ex-cellent-t,” I said. “Be-cause I need you to be bait-t.”
34
Havoc
Over the years, the Deranger had been shredded, stabbed, sliced, and diced in a million different ways.
But it had never skated closer to the edge, than right now.
As I hovered in the clouds, pain lanced through me from my gut and my chest. I tasted blood in my mouth, and it trickled from my nose and ears. I wanted to cough, but wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Because once I started, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop.
The most disturbing thing, though, was as I lurked here, waiting to pounce, my human was firmly in control. The Deranger was there, and eager, but with a kind of desperation I’d never sensed before. Because it was taking all of its reserves just to keep me alive.
Which meant that relying on me to take out these Dragons was foolish in the extreme. But that was what we were doing. I mean, Marcus had a plan, but it all hinged on me. And if I failed—
If I failed, Isobel would reach Riley.
It was that, more than anything else, that kept me in the air. My beast and my monster would do anything to keep that from happening. And I had to admit that my human was on board as well.
A flash of brightness against the forest’s shadows—Vali, flying fast, ducking in and out of the low clouds to keep her pursuers guessing as to whether she had company. On her neck, Marcus and Kiko had strapped a cloak stuffed to look as though she carried a rider.
Isobel wasn’t worried about Vali. She was, however, worried about Marcus, and now I knew why. The Isobitch likely figured I was done for.
She was almost right.
Then the Dragons appeared. Flying hard after Vali, their Bellati riders crouched over their necks with dart guns in their hands. Did they think the parasites would work against the Storm Drake?
Maybe they would. The Drakes were related to Dragons, after all.
In the rear of his pinions, where it was safest, flew the bronze Dragon. Alone.
I tensed, and the Deranger in me screamed—it wanted their lives, no, itneededthem, with a hunger that I’d never before experienced. But I waited for my cue, like a fucking good soldier.
