I hadn’t confessed my doubt to Lucas that she was going to be in any shape to Jump us out of here, and I was pretty sure he knew, anyway. His awareness was in every desperate beat of his jet-black wings.
I did my best to prove us both wrong. My hands were tucked beneath the hem of her tee shirt, resting on bare skin, and I attempted to pump my currently feeble healing talent into her.
She shivered again, and a qualm shot through me. This seemed more than just exhaustion—her skin was burning hot beneath my touch, and sweat beaded her forehead. Why was she so sick?
I closed my eyes and tried to find the cause. Riley’s body was in chaos—it was almost as though she had more than one thing going wrong. Perhaps I was just unable to track it properly.
It was all I could do to soothe away her pain.
When Lucas banked and dropped, pushing me against his neck spikes, my eyes shot open. We flew level with the clouds, the vapor trailing around us. Lit with pinks and oranges by the rising sun, they were beautiful.
And suddenly, just like that, with the clouds, my hair flying in the cold wind, and the woman I held in my arms, I was filled with joy. It struck me out of nowhere, a deep visceral kind of thing. So foreign, it took me a moment to assess it.
Isobel had spent my lifetime hammering home the concept of fate. That I was destined to help her save the realms once my power matured. I had taken great pride in that. That I would use my powers to serve a higher purpose.
Things had not spun out quite as I’d anticipated. And now, of course, I knew why.
Because it had all been a lie.
Now, flying on the back of an undersized Dragon, and pursued by a Sorceress determined to own my talent, Fate reached out and seized hold of my heart. And it told me that my destiny lay in my arms.
I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. And it wasn’t just Riley, either. Havoc and Marcus were tied into it, as well.
I was hardly free—Isobel pursued with vengeance in her heart—but I was where I belonged.
The problem was, Fate was lying to me too.
It was simple, really. Riley wasn’t a Liberi. And as a result, I could never be her mate. Because my love killed anyone who couldn’t pull from life essences to sustain themselves.
If I tried to mate Riley, I’d kill her. I’d fight to stop it from happening, of course. But in the end, my inner fiend would have its way.
I was both damaged and dangerous, and I had a Sorceress who would do anything to reclaim me. The best thing for Riley, was for me to walk away.
The concept took hold. If I did so, Isobel would come after me, not her.
My grip on Riley tightened. For this moment in time, holding her unconscious body against my own was a balm to my tortured soul.
Lucas dropped us lower. His wings flapped hard to keep us in the air—his Dragon was barely large enough to carry one rider, let alone two. When he turned his head, I saw that his eyes were flashing like mad.
I leaned forward. “You are mated?”
He snorted steam. “My mates wants tos come fors us.” The wind whipped the words by me.
I hesitated, unsure of what he meant. “How would they do that?”
“One ofs my mates cans builds gates.”
It surprised me. “One of your mates is a Watcher?”
“Ones of my mates is the Perditor. He’s trying tos gets a good enoughs image froms me to do its.” He straightened his head, and added, “He can’ts comes here.”
Lucas was mated to the Perditor? I knew what that entity could do. If he came here, and faced off against Isobel—
There would be nothing left standing.
“Don’t let him come,” I said urgently.
“Exactly.” Lucas’s eyes flashed. As he banked again, his black scales gleamed metallic in the first rays of breaking dawn.
