“Yes.” I walked out of the kitchens.
I climbed the stairs until I reached Asha, the most beautiful girl I could find. “You stayed?” I whispered, slowly approaching her. She had a clean shelter once more, and I was glad she hadn’t left me yet. “I know you can’t be here forever, but I’ll take one more night.”
I buried my hands in her fur as she purred in my ear. The sound was like a song. One filled with sorrow, forgiveness and a kindred spirit. There was just something about her that made me feel whole. Like half of me hadn’t died. I stood for a long time nuzzling her, letting her long, soft mane glide between my feathers.
“Can we fly, girl?” I asked. “I’m hurt, so you’ll have to take it easy on me, but would you take me to the skies?”
She stood and stretched her neck high, then walked to the open rooftop and extended a feathered wing to me. I crawled to her back and held on at her neck just as I had before. She roared and leaped off the rooftop, diving toward the fae still filling the bailey below. She extended her wings, and we lifted into the sky.
The Flame Court at night was pitch black. I thanked the stars Asha could see where we were going as we coursed the darkness. Several times she roared as a warrior, and each time, the tiger responded. They spoke to each other on a spiritual level, and I wondered if Efi had always planned that. Had always known that the beast within me would respond to hers so fluently.
It hurt a little less now. Being here with Asha made it feel like she was here as well. Like she watched from the Ether, sending us love in her own way.
I closed my eyes and breathed in. “Are you here?” I whispered to Efi. “Are you with us now, my love?”
I am always with you, my tiger, I heard her say into my mind.
The hair on my arms stood straight as I felt her wrap around me.
“Would you forgive me, Efi? If I didn’t want to join you just yet? If I wanted to stay here with our son and see this through? Would you wait for me?”
An eternity, her otherworldly voice answered.
“We’ve done it, Efi. Your mother and I have captured the sea queen. She waits now in the dungeons.”
Be careful, my love, she warned.A fish out of water would do nearly anything to return.
“I’ll worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, let us soar through the sky and fly as one.”
And so we did.
Chapter 41
ARA
“If you need rest, just say it,” Fen said. He had been trying to get me to stop for over an hour, but the magic hadn’t depleted, and everyone was ready to get out of The Mists. I’d used the magic as a stream and let it loose little by little as we walked, but we weren’t getting anywhere fast.
“You’re sure this is the right way?” I asked Kai for the thousandth time.
“I’m sure it’s northwest, does that count? I’m not magical, just a genius.”
“I suppose it has to,” Wren answered for me.
Nearly there, girl.
I jerked as I heard Nealla in my mind. It was enough motion to warn the others, who instantly pulled blades and looked around to see what I had seen. I felt the pull then, like greedy hands upon my free will. Nealla beckoned me.
“What is it?” Fen stepped closer, his jaw tightening.
“I know where to go. She’s calling to me.”
“Have I mentioned lately how much I hate her?” Kai asked.
“Only a hundred times over the last hour or so,” Fen answered. “Lead the way, Ara.”
Letting the magic trickle through me as we walked, The Mists dissipated and as one, we stepped out to the other side. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the view in front of me.
The ground was covered in a sea of sun-bleached, broken and whole bones, like chipped shells along a sandy shore. In the distance was an unearthly, still body of water that looked like glass as it reflected the beaming sun above. My body vibrated. Something physically pulled me as I stepped forward, but Greeve grabbed my shoulder. He looked at me, and then down to the bones, then back to me.
