My chest is tight, knowing not only that the significance of this moment is immense but also the inherent danger in the act. His country is at war. I may not be accepted and cherished the way a new princess normally would be. Some will automatically think it’s a performance. They’ll consider me a fraud.
Some will spit in my direction and call me a false princess.
“We will not even get close to the masses today. You’ll see them from afar, but no one we don’t implicitly trust will be within reaching distance of you.”I will protect you.
“Will Laithe be there?I ask. I haven’t seen them since my birthday. Since Jarron claimed me. Apparently I was correct in assuming he’d greatly prefer to be in Oriziah during the conflict so the moment Jarron claimed me he took his chance to spend time at home.
“Yes. But he cannot use this portal due to his lack of wings.”
“They,” I correct.
Jarron’s lips twitch. “They cannot use this portal, but we will see them at the meeting.”
Once we enter the portal room, the crowds are left behind. They peer in through the entryway, but no one steps any closer.
Jarron’s demon form scoops me into his arms, and without even a beat to catch my breath, he leaps through the portal.
I cling to him as we fall through the magic, but then the falling doesn’t end. Wind whips through my hair, the air bitterly cold. I scream when I see the whole world below.
He didn’t tell me the portal dropped us from the sky!
Why else did you think wings were a prerequisite to using this portal.
His wings spread wide, and the falling slows until we’re soaring gently through the black sky. My lungs catch. It’s hard to pull in breaths in this thin air while literally flying.
City lights come into view ahead. I keep my arms tight around Jarron’s neck and my eyes set on the city growing closer. It’s beautiful, and from here, it looks similar to a human city. There are dots of lights in several structures. There’s a massive red stone mountain behind the buildings that seems to glow in the darkness.
That is the palace, he tells me.
My lips part.You mean the mountain?
Yes.
Amazing.
As we grow closer to the city, through the dark night, a large shoreline also comes into focus. There is a beach reaching right up to the city cliffside.
There are many kinds of creatures that make up the population in our world. Not all of them fly like me. Some live underground. Some in the deserts. Some in the mountains, and some in the seas.
Our capital sits at the intersection of them all, so that every kind of Orizian can meet to share their voices.
I’m in awe of the massive city spreading out before us. The first few buildings pass beneath us—small, round, stone homes covered in orange and yellow vines. Silhouettes of people gather in the streets, staring up at us.
The closer we get to the mountain, the more people I see. Just dark forms, gathering and shifting in the shadows.
Then, they begin shouting. A rumbling sound vibrates through the air.
I swallow, uncertain if those noises are good or bad. They’re very different than the cheers humans would give, but these things are very far from human, so that might be expected.
They are cheering, bright one. They are pleased.
I take his word for it, even as the sound grows louder and louder. More and more unsettling down to my very bones.
Jarron soars right up to the middle of the red stone mountain and drops onto a flat landing. He tucks his wings in and pulls me closer to him.
For the first time, he kisses me in his demon form. His lips are rough, but not painful. Sharp teeth graze my tongue and I suck in a breath but there is no pain.The only pain I will give you, is one you request.
My cheeks heat, wondering what kind of pain I might like.
