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  “Where are you, Rhys?” Kai muttered. “And where’s Ashem?”

  As if in answer, the air whooshed as an ebony dragon soared over her head from behind. Great, red gashes in his belly rained fat drops of blood as he passed, spattering in the dust not ten feet from where Kai stood. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Three more dragons appeared, giving chase. Ashem skimmed low across the aspens. They bent and swayed from the wind of his passage, and round, yellow leaves swirled in his wake like fistfuls of golden coins flung at the sky.

  He spiraled upward. When they’d fallen behind several body lengths, he let himself fall back to the earth, head down, jaws open. A cloud of yellow vapor blew from his mouth, directly into the face of his closest pursuer. The dragon faltered, beat its wings weakly for a moment, then plummeted. The ground shook when it hit, tree trunks shrieking as they splintered and fell under its weight.

  The other two dragons banked away from Ashem and his deadly mist. The path of one brought it close to the mountain, and a blood-red dragon launched itself from a rocky crevasse, breathing a white wall of flame that made the enemy dragon’s pale blue hide crack and blacken like an overcooked hot dog.

  “Rhys!”

  He and Ashem flew toward the center of the valley to rejoin Ffion, Griffith and Deryn. The enemy dragons were regrouping as well. Kai silently counted. Eight enemies left, and no black dragon among them. Hope bubbled up within her. Maybe Kavar was dead.

  Behind her, stone ground against stone.

  Pressure filled Kai’s skull. Nausea soured her stomach. Knowing what she would see, she turned. Kavar crouched on the rocky outcropping above her, a mass of huddled darkness.

  “Hello again, baby ape.” His baleful silver eyes roved over her. He flexed his right foreclaw, the one she’d stabbed.

  “Get out of my head!” Kai pressed her hands her ears as the pressure grew. She fought the urge to throw up. His presence was thick and oily and wrong.

  “I can’t. I owe you pain.” With a flick like the careless swatting of a fly, Kavar’s mind smashed into hers.

  Kai staggered and cried out through numb lips. She fell to all fours, gagging.

  “Disgusting.” Kavar smashed down harder. The pain was so intense, Kai thought her brain would liquefy. She wanted to die.

  He leaped from the top of the rocks, landing in front of her with an earth-shaking thud.

  “Kai!” Another voice in her mind, a voice that felt like shelter. She pushed toward it, but she couldn’t reach, couldn’t connect. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the crimson flash of the sun against rubies, too far away to matter.

  She gave Kavar a mental shove. The pressure relented a little. She tried again, pushing outward hard. With a curl of his lip, Kavar lashed her with his horned tail.

  Kai dodged, bringing her arms over her face. A horrible, burning pain tore down her arm. Her roll brought her within a foot of the edge of the cliff, one heel hanging over nothing. Hot blood gushed from the slash he’d opened in the underside of her right arm, soaking her torn sleeve and dripping to the ground.

  Rhys spoke into her mind, low and urgent. “Jump, Kai!”

  Memory flashed. Her own voice. What would you do if I jumped off this cliff? Rhys’s response, utterly confident. I would catch you.

  Kai jumped. The wind whistled past, the golden crowns of the aspen trees rushed to greet her. For one eternal moment, Kai knew she was going to die.

  Red-scaled claws closed over her shoulders, gentle and unbreakable. Rhys swung her up, away from the cliff, pulling them into the sky.

  Kavar roared. As Rhys looped around the mountain and over the peak, the black dragon sprang into the air and hurtled after them.

  Rhys skimmed across the slope, dangerously close boulders and dry, wind-swept grass. He caught his wingtip on a spur of stone, his flight going erratic, and dropped so low Kai had to run her feet along a grassy strip of mountainside.

  Kavar gained.

  Rhys thrust down with his wings, heaving them back into the air. But their speed was gone. Kavar was on them. The Azhdahā reached forward with scythe-like claws and raked Rhys’s back leg. Rhys roared and twisted, shooting white fire. The black dragon flared his wings, pulling back.

  Below them, a ravine opened. Rhys flipped sideways and arrowed through the opening to the narrow canyon, Kai pressed against his warm, scaled belly.

  Behind them, there came a crunch of stone and a roar of anger and pain. Kavar had tried to pull the same maneuver as Rhys and crashed into the wall. Apparently dazed, Kavar clung to the cliff side like an enormous, disoriented bat.

  Rhys angled them around a sharp bend, Kavar disappearing from view. He released Kai—who fell ten feet to the ground, rolling as she hit—and landed. “Run for that cave.”

  Kai staggered, dizzy from the flight and loss of blood, then got her feet under her and sprinted toward a small opening at the base of the canyon wall. She dove inside. Fire flickered on the canyon walls, and Rhys ran flat-out toward her, human, sliding into the tiny cave like an MLB all-star.

  As Rhys hunkered down next to Kai, Kavar flew around the sharp curve in the canyon. The black dragon didn’t even pause, but flew on.

  Chest heaving as he panted, Rhys turned to her. “Are you all right?”

  Dizzy, Kai looked down at her arm. Blood still sheeted from the long slice. She felt very, very cold. She staggered, then sat down hard on the ground. Vision blurred. Breath came fast and shallow.

  Rhys knelt and took her injured forearm in strong, warm hands, pulling back the bloody fabric. “Uffern dân. I’ll kill Kavar, I swear it.”

  “Not if I kill him first.” Kai’s voice was oddly breathy. She noticed a damp, red stain spreading across the calf of his pant leg. “You’re bleeding, too.”

  “I’ll be fine. Mae’n ddrwg, cariad.” Rhys’s voice shook, but his hands were steady as he smoothed back her tangled hair, his fingertips brushing her skin. She felt the shockwave of his touch as if from a distance. Suddenly, his hands froze. He took in a sharp breath.

  “What...?”

  His fire-blue eyes stood out in sharp contrast to his pale, strained face. “It’s Ashem. Griffith is wounded.”

  Kai didn’t want him to go. “They need you.”

  Fists clenched, Rhys looked toward the cave entrance, then at Kai. “You first.”

  He moved behind her, pulled her down so that her back was cradled against his chest. With his left hand, he grasped her bleeding wrist. Kai almost passed out at the sight of the gaping, sliced skin, her entire forearm soaked red and still dripping blood.

  With a loud tearing, he ripped away the sleeve and tossed it aside. The first finger of his right hand hovered over the top of the ragged cut. “If you need to scream, scream into me. This is going to burn.”

  He touched her. Searing pain rocketed through Kai’s body, and the sick, sizzling smell of burning flesh wafted through the air. She turned, pressed her face into his chest, and screamed.

  He ran his finger steadily along the length of the cut, cauterizing her flesh, breathing hard. He leaned his cheek against the top of her head, murmuring words she didn’t understand. “Mae’n ddrwg gen i, mae’n ddrwg gen i. Bydd yn drosodd yn fuan.”

  After some indeterminable amount of time, he released her arm. She turned it toward her and bit her tongue to keep from throwing up at the sight of the shining, angry red line of bloodstained skin that ran from wrist to elbow.

  Rhys shifted as if to stand.

  Kai tensed. “What are you doing?”

  He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “If I don’t come back, wait a day, then keep going through this canyon. When you get to the other end, head southeast. There’s a town. It might take you a day or two to get there, but you can.”

  She was half-turned toward him, now. He raised a tentative hand to her face,
running one finger along her lips. It felt like goodbye.

  Kai wasn’t ready for goodbye. She slid her own hand up to press his to her cheek, ignoring the screaming pain in her arm. The heat and rushing flame of the fire garden he’d made only an hour ago seemed to surround them, invisible, the air sparking in the scant inches between their bodies. One of his arms came around her waist.

  His clean, wild scent surrounded her, his warm breath brushed her skin. “I wish we could have known each other better.” His gaze went to her lips for a long moment then he released her and leaned back.

  He was leaving, and if she didn’t do something, he wouldn’t come back.

  “No.” She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged him toward her. He didn’t budge. With a soft growl of frustration, Kai changed directions. She pushed him backward, overbalancing him and landing on his chest.

  “Kai...” His voice was half question, half desperate plea. “Please...”

  She lowered her head, hesitating for one eternal second. One kiss away from giving up her life, her family, her dreams.

  Then again, dreams could be changed.

  Their lips collided, soft and hot. His hands gripped her hips, his fingers tightening, pulling her hard against him. The kiss deepened, and he made a sound between a gasp and a moan.

  The cave around them seemed to fall into darkness and silence; a place where no one and nothing existed except for them. The silence was replaced with the sound of rushing wind. Her left arm itched, but she hardly noticed. Her mind opened, and something new flooded in. It felt right, as if she’d been waiting her entire life to become more than she could ever be alone.

  Fire scorched her veins, searing away pain, searing away cold. Like smoke, their souls flowed together, twining and merging until there was no distance, no difference. The world burned, and they were flame.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  No More Pain

  Yes.

  No.

  Ancients...

  A torrent of energy cascaded over them, washing away the ache in his chest as if it had never been. Rhys was no longer only himself; he was more. Better. Complete. He was aware of her, the way her heart pounded, the way her arm throbbed. Fire licked through his veins, leaving power in its wake.

  He could burn the world.

  Her weight on top of him, he forgot everything but the soul-deep need to come closer, destroy every barrier. Knowing she wanted him as much as he wanted her was going to drive him mad.

  “Griffith! No!” Ashem’s anguished mental shout pierced Rhys’s mind like a shard of ice.

  Kai pushed away. “What?”

  Ashem’s voice was like a river of cold. Rhys, Griffith... He’s dead.

  The world narrowed into one fine point of light. No sound but harsh breath. Rhys sat up, his insides constricting. “No.”

  Kai put a hand to her head and slid from his lap.

  Ashem spoke again. “That bastard Demba killed him.” He paused. “They’re distracted. Take Kai and run.”

  The part of Rhys’s mind not wrapped up in Griffith’s death was aware that Kai was registering the changes in her body. The new strength. The sudden dampening of the pain in her arm. The magic that burned through her, allowing her to sense and manipulate heat.

  Grief made it hard to speak. He tried to shove it back. Later, he would have time to mourn. “I’ve got to go.”

  Kai blinked at him. “Did I just hear Ashem in your head saying Griffith...?”

  Jaw set, Rhys nodded, fighting down another wave of choking emotion. “I need you to stay here.”

  Kai stood straight, clutching her injured arm. “He can’t be dead. I just saw him! He carried Cadoc into those trees.”

  Rhys could feel her numbness, her confusion. She’d never lost a friend to quick, violent death. Oh, Ancients. Ffion. “He’s gone, Kai.” Rhys’s eyes burned, and he dug his nails in to his palm. “Ffion won’t be able to fight. She’ll be in too much pain. I have to get to her.”

  She was blocking his way out of the cave, her expression half fear, half wonder. “You think you’re going to die. I can sense it. I—I know what you’re thinking.”

  Rhys pushed her gently aside. It wasn’t as easy as it had been a few minutes ago. She was Wingless, now. Stronger. Faster. Even so, Wingless didn’t stand a chance against dragons. It was why they didn’t fight. “As long as Deryn survives, there’s hope.”

  Kai folded her arms over her chest. “I’m coming with you.” Behind the words, he heard the thoughts. “Don’t leave me alone here. Please, don’t go without me.”

  “Sunder me,” Rhys muttered, then clenched his jaw as the full meaning of the words hit him. Kai was a virtual stranger, and yet, if they were sundered, if anything happened to her... He pressed his knuckles into his eyes. “I’ll take you close enough that you can see what’s happening, but that’s all. I can’t—I can’t put you in danger.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine.” He turned and strode into the canyon, its tall walls casting the wide bottom in uneven shadow. His leg hurt where Kavar had raked it, but it was healing.

  He felt Kai follow him, physically aware of her location, her health, her body...

  She gasped, and he spun. But she was only examining her uninjured left arm. A pattern of fine, translucent scales swirled up the back of her hand and wrist, shimmering with rainbow iridescence in the sunlight. She pulled up her sleeve, turning her arm this way and that, tracing her fingers along the intricate whorls and loops. She pulled her shirt up, revealing a taut stomach and narrow waist.

  Rhys pulled his eyes away, but not before seeing that the pattern covered the entire left half of her body, as his covered the entire right half of his. He swallowed and fixed his eyes on the ground ahead. “The takeoff will be rough. Are you sure you can hold on?”

  She nodded, dropping her shirt and hooking a fall of thick, black hair behind one ear. “Yes.”

  He moved into the center of the ravine and opened his mind. It was harder than usual. He’d gone from dragon to man and back again more than he could ever remember doing in one day. Thoughts of Griffith and his new sense of Kai kept intruding.

  Finally, Rhys wrenched the fire over himself through sheer strength—a strength he hadn’t had ten minutes ago. The world shrank. Rhys looked down at Kai, who was surrounded by the white halo that marked her as his heartsworn. Energy crackled through his bones and fire sang in his blood. Time seemed to have slowed just slightly, or else he had sped.

  No wonder the Council preferred their soldiers to be heartsworn.

  Kai scrambled deftly up his shoulder and settled in the hollow above his wing joints, far enough away that she wouldn’t interfere with flight. It felt good to have her there, a small weight that balanced instead of anchored. Small comfort, but comfort nonetheless.

  “I’m ready,” she called.

  “Hold on.” He leaped, sweeping his wings down. Their tips brushed either side of the small canyon’s walls as he labored into the sky. Above the cliffs, he caught a thermal and soared. The mountains unfolded beneath them in waves of pine and aspen, the sun flashing off a blue lake snugged amongst the trees.

  He flew up the mountain, back toward the battle, and they burst over the peak. On a clear, gentle slope about halfway down the other side, Deryn flew in low, tight circles around Ffion, who was crouched over Griffith’s unmoving body. She lifted her head and gave a wailing keen.

  Five of Kavar’s vee orbited them like buzzards. Across the valley, too far to tell which was which, Kavar and Ashem clashed like warring patches of night.

  They were closer to Deryn and Ffion, now, and Rhys could see that Griffith lay on his back, his neck twisted at a nauseating angle.

  Rage exploded. Rhys had believed Ashem, but seeing Griffith drove out all coherent thought. Grif
f, the kindest, most patient man Rhys had ever known, was dead.

  He couldn’t lose Deryn and Ffion, too.

  There was no time to let Kai down, but he didn’t sense any fear in her. Like him, she was angry. Ready, even eager, to fight.

  He dove.

  One of the five dragons darted in, only to be driven off by a screeching, deranged Deryn. As he approached, he could see blood running red from slashes in her azure hide and smeared around her mouth.

  A faint tingle brushed the back of Rhys’s mind. Fire magic. Rhys swore. “Stop, Kai. You’re too new to the magic. If you draw too much, you’ll injure yourself.”

  She shouted something, but the wind of their flight snatched it away.

  “Speak with your mind.”

  When she did, it wasn’t like the mind-speech of dragons, but a language deeper than words that went straight to his heart, where he could feel her desperation. “I want to help!”

  As one, the dragons broke off wheeling around Ffion and Deryn and dove for them. One for Ffion, three for Deryn.

  Fear clamped cold teeth into Rhys’s chest. One of Deryn’s attackers was Demba, the huge, sleekly muscled Bida. Even from this distance, Rhys could see blood spattered over his scales.

  Griffith’s blood.

  Fire filled Rhys’s chest, surging up his throat. Too far. Too far. He pushed himself harder, seconds dragging between heartbeats.

  Demba opened his jaws. A silent ripple of air emanated outward, nearly invisible from this distance. It slammed into Deryn, and she was knocked wings over tail. She hadn’t been flying high, and she crashed hard into the ground and skidded downslope, leaving a furrow of overturned earth in her wake.

  No! Rhys came within range of the nearest dragon, a male air Elemental about twice Ffion’s size, and blasted him with flame. The silver dragon screamed. Rhys didn’t stop, but careened into him, ripping and tearing, barely conscious of the other dragon’s claws and teeth as they slashed through his own scaled skin. Carried by forward momentum, he wrenched the silver sideways as they crashed.

  Kai went flying. She hit the ground and rolled. Horror froze Rhys, but he could still sense her, in a way. The fall had knocked her unconscious, but she was alive.