Terena’s hands whipped out and her short swords materialized.
“No!” Rydon shouted, pushing her back toward Nyx. “You’ll only endanger her further if you go to her now! He’ll only imprison you again and again until you submit!”
Terena looked beyond him at the soldiers fighting against Melanos. Her blood surged, begging her to turn and fight.
“I’ll get Sonah,” Rydon called out as he moved toward the fighting, unsheathing his sword. “I swear it!”
Terena watched until Rydon entered the fray.
Turning, she sprang onto Nyx’s back and took off. Terena looked back over her shoulder. Hermes’s men surrounded Rydon and Melanos.
She cursed and turned forward, bending low over Nyx as she whispered, “Fly, girl, fly!”
They tore through a copse of trees beyond the rear palace gate.
The ground sloped down and she veered right. Grass and low shrubs flattened beneath Nyx’s hooves and they finally reached the flat lands between the city and the sea.
Nyx needed no more urging as she raced across the plains. Terena whooped as the wind tore through her hair, laughing even as tears streamed from her eyes and into her hair.
Her victory was short-lived as thunder sounded behind her. Terena glanced over her shoulder and swore as soldiers bore down on her.
She muttered encouragement to Nyx, her heart racing in time with Nyx’s hooves. Her head swam, and nausea roiled in her empty belly, clawing its way up her throat so she choked back bile.
Shouts sounded behind her, and her pulse ratcheted up. Terena kept glancing back and panicked as the men seemed to gain on her. She could tell from the change in the air they were close to the sea now.
More shouting rang out behind her, and Terena urged Nyx ever faster, her heart plummeting at how close the soldiers were. She thought someone bellowed her name, and for a moment she swore it sounded like Daris.
But that couldn’t be. He was with Sonah.
Wasn’t he?
Bending low over Nyx’s neck, she panted. The thunder of hooves drew closer.
Heart hammering against her ribs, Terena blinked, staring ahead. Realization dawned slowly as the horizon drew closer and closer. Nyx kept up her breakneck speed. Too late, Terena pulled on the reins to stop her.
“Terena!”
Her name on the wind was the last thing she heard before Nyx flew off the edge of Heylisia.
“Terena!”
The scream tore from Daris as he watched her disappear over the cliff. He yanked on his mount’s reins and the stallion reared up.
As the mighty hooves stomped back onto the ground, Daris leaped from his horse and ran, dropping to his knees at the cliff’s edge.
For long seconds, the only sounds in the misty dawn were the thudding of his heart and the hooves of the horses at his back. He didn’t want to believe what he’d just seen. How could this happen? He’d been coming to get her. To tell her he’d do what she wanted. To show her how much he loved her by agreeing to her request.
To break their bond.
Daris put a hand to his chest, certain his heart was breaking. The pain was unbearable and yet he deserved it because he’d failed her.
As he watched the horizon, his chest on fire and his soul screaming inside him, he blinked, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
He lurched forward to look at the beach far below and reared back when a large, black shape erupted into the sky before him.
The cries of the men behind him filled the silence, but all Daris could do was stare at the sight in disbelief.
Nyx flew through the swirling mist, sleek, black wings spread wide as she banked left with Terena bent low over her back.
