Adrenaline surged, igniting something primal within me. I gave chase.
The night came alive as I sprinted, my breath leaving clouds in the icy air. Snow crunched underfoot, the sharp scent of pine mingling with the earthy decay of winter’s grip. The thief’s steps were erratic, clumsy, snapping branches and rustling the undergrowth.
Easy prey.
A part of me thrilled at the hunt, muscles coiling and releasing with every leap, my senses heightened. Moonlight silvered the branches, the shadows of trees forming a canopy overhead. I bounded into the upper boughs in one leap, relishing the stretch in my muscles and the pounding of my heart as I exerted myself. I hardly allowed myself to run this way, legs pumping and the breath whistling through my lungs.
Freedom.
For a moment, I allowed myself to revel in it—the wind whistling past my ears, the pulse of my heart matching the rhythm of the forest. But freedom was a fragile thing. A stolen thing.
It was too dangerous in the daytime, when anyone could see me, all it would take was one villager with a loose tongue, and I would be a prisoner again.
But the moonlight that silvered everything was safe, it cast dark, deep shadows that I could hide in as I chased the intruder. I put on a burst of speed, running unnaturally fast with the help of the magic in my veins. I was never been quite sure how I called upon my powers, I had been born without magic, but now, I used it instinctively whenever I needed to call upon it.
Yet another way my life had changed after I’d joined the war.
I’d joined to protect my country and my town, but in the end, I’d been just another naïve recruit who had bought into the lies told about war.
And like all the other young boys in Drakazov who had joined the army, when the call came for war, I’d marched off to the battlefields of our not so friendly neighbor, Telluria.
Just like all the other soldiers in my regiment, sent off to fight and die for their country and their Tsar, like good little windup toys.
None of us had any idea what we were walking into.
It had been a bloodbath.
The Tellurians had s who knew magic like we had never seen. They defied nature, turning animals against us and controlling the weather.
The worst of it had been the dragons. The firedrakes. These mages had captured them and bound them with dark magic. They’d set the creatures against us, all teeth and claws and fiery death. We were outnumbered and outmatched, and most of us had perished.
I was one of the unlucky ones who had managed to survive as a prisoner of war.
My hand went automatically to the pendant at my throat, a nervous habit I’d picked up. I clamped down hard, making the sharp facets of the gem stab into my hand. The prickle of pain helped me push away the memories that threatened to assault me—of my time in captivity, of the tortures I’d overcome.
Closing my eyes, I took in a lungful of cool, clean air. I was free of those torments in the mage’s lab.
I wasfree.
And I needed to make sure I would never be caught again.
Which meant catching this thief, and making sure no one knew about my presence in this town.
Ahead, the thief stumbled, their cloak snagging on a branch. They swore under their breath, and the sound made me grin.
Within moments, I had them.
I jumped in a free fall, tamping down on the instinctive temptation to shift, just enough to unfurl my wings and glide down to the ground. I had no idea how transforming—even just a little—would affect me. I needed to remember not to push it until I had found a cure.
I landed hard in the snow, rolling and tumbling in the soft powder. I came upright just in time to put myself in my quarry’s path. The thief was looking back at my tower, and so they missed my entrance, bumping into me as they looked over their shoulder. My hands shot out, gripping their arms to steady them—and to keep them from escaping.
The thief shrieked and tried to wrest their arms from my grip, but I was stronger, of course. Their scuffling pushed the hood from their face, and a moment later, I was blinking down at my captive.
Who was a girl. All long, curly, black hair and dusky skin and flashing amber eyes.
She struggled against my grip, but I held firm, my pulse quickening for reasons I couldn’t name.
Who was she? She had to have come from the nearby town, but what was she doing wandering around an abandoned mage’s tower in the middle of the night?
