“Don’t need them,” she stated, her voice much higher pitched at that size.
I sighed. Yes. Yes, I did. I followed her into the building. Maybe she could glamor us up to the fifth floor?
Don’t think Faeries can do that,Caliel commented.Which, considering their quick tempers, is likely a good thing. We would have people regularly dropped into quicksand.
I sighed. Where was Riley and her Jumping talents when I really needed them?
Turned out we didn’t need Riley or a glamor. The Faerie fluttered me to a set of elevators. Adilyn sent a burst of sparkles to the button, and the door opened immediately.
With a sigh of relief, I tumbled in. It showed clear evidence of recent heavy traffic, but we were the only ones using it now. When it opened on the fifth floor, the Faerie flew straight to our room. I used the facilities, contemplated, and dismissed, another shower, and staggered in her wake.
There was no sign of Adilyn when I entered—she was likely already out cold in her log home. I collapsed onto the bed. Closed my eyes…
And Caliel took us flying.
I relinquished control over to him and reveled in every tilt and flap of our wings. It was dawn in our dream, too. The sun’s breaking rays painted the clouds with pink and orange—breathtakingly beautiful. And for that moment, we were in perfect accord. He was in charge. And I was completely okay with it. What had changed? Why did I no longer fear it?
The answer was obvious. I trusted him.
I could retake the reins if I pushed hard, but I didn’t want that. It was enough to know that if I wished a say in what we were doing, he’d grant it. And that was because I’d return the favor if the situation was reversed.
He was no longer an entity trapped within me. We were now partners.
It filled a part of my heart that had become an aching hole since I’d left Victor and the others. But how did I really view Caliel?
He was so enraptured with the act of flying that he wasn’t answering my random thoughts. And the rush of wind over our wings was glorious, the sun lighting the vapor trailing off them. No gallop across the grasslands could match this.
But suddenly, we weren’t alone. We emerged from a cloudbank, and a huge shadow passed between us and the sun.
A Dragon. And not just any Dragon. This one was clothed in purple scales striped in black.
Razir.
The name dropped into my mind from Caliel, and he was right—because it was the Dragon prince that flew with us, not Riggs. The giant beast didn’t even glance our way as he paced us through the clouds, and at times, the sunlight shone straight through him.
A ghost Dragon. Connected to us, and yet, unaware.
What did it mean? Was this a figment of my imagination? Why was a disconnected, lost part of Riggs in my dream?
Ghost or not, it felt so right to have him there, flying with us. When we soared into a particularly dense cloud and emerged without him, my heart twisted at the loss. And as I looked for him, I saw the setting moons. Three of them, but only one shone brightly. The second was barely visible, and the third fogged with cloud.
Why did that bother me?
Rather than search for the Dragon, Caliel banked us away. I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t want to fight with him either. Our partnership was too fresh. Too new.
Too—valued? My mind struggled to define it.
Caliel dipped us low over the forest, and the trees thinned as we rose with the land below. The snowy peaks beckoned, and I sensed a pang—he’d been born in the mountains, and lived in them most of his life.
He missed his home.
It was a concept I’d not yet tackled. That he’d not only been ripped from his body, but also his life. I could give him freedom, by giving him my body. But nothing I could do would replace what had been taken from him.
It saddened me as he banked away from the mountains. The sun was no longer visible through the clouds, and as rain began to fall, the ground beneath us altered. Growing flat, with thick foliage interspersed with areas of water.
Why were we flying over a swamp? I didn’t think I’d ever been here before. And Caliel seemed oddly entranced, as though he were listening to something I couldn’t hear.
The rain increased, until it cascaded over our feathers. As we dropped below the clouds, we were joined by other winged forms—birds, of every size and description. A vast flock of feathered forms. We all seemed to be intent on the same goal.
