My brows furrow. “You’re not coming with us?”
Odeyssa chimes in, “Don’t be offended. I’m not surprised.” She mutters the last part but under her breath, just loud enough for me to catch. “You shouldn’t be either.”
“Don’t be like that, Dessa.”
“Whatever. Let’s go.” Odeyssa turns her back to him and saunters off, probably trying to figure out how she’s going to get on Voraxis.
I look at Atticus, ready to ask him what all that was about, but he beats me to it. “Be safe. Both of you. Don’t be a stranger.” And he walks away, not giving me the chance to speak my piece or even say goodbye. Don’t be a stranger? Oh, he’s so lucky we have to leave right now.
I’ll make sure to come back. I don’t know when, but I’ll make himwishI stayed a stranger.
Help her,Voraxis demands. When I look in their direction, Odeyssa has one hand gripped on a strap, one foot braced atop the closed pocket, and one trying to gain purchase on…well, anything.
“This is absurd!” she yells, clearly frustrated. “How in the realm am I supposed to get up there?”
You help her! Even I need help getting up there,I plead. Rolling his eyes, air puffs out of his nostrils and blows in my face,letting me knowexactlyhow he feels.
He lowers his head, and I haul myself up—slower than I’d like, the months of lost muscle making everything harder than it should be. Odeyssa copies me, a little clumsy but determined. She slides in behind me, close enough to feel her breath at my neck. “He’s a lot bigger than mine. I didn’t expect it to be such a struggle,” Odeyssa admits.
“No problem.” Even before I was held captive, there was no graceful way of getting on him. “You’re gonna want to hold on,” I say, half warning, half challenge.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she states. Voraxis grumbles under us, and I can only imagine it was his idea of a laugh. Once he starts moving, I do my best to squeeze my thighs around his neck for stability. Then with a shriek from Odeyssa, we’re off into the sky. The city of Excidium becomes smaller and smaller until it is a blob in the center of something so much bigger than anyone down there knows.
The brisk, cold air bites against my cheeks as Voraxis flies steadily through the fast-approaching night sky. As we fly north, there’s a pull—faint but persistent—tugging me west, toward the place that briefly felt like home. But even as the instinct flares, I know better now. Naivety, like a memory, is a fragile illusion. The place I found to keep me grounded when I felt to be in freefall. But just like everything else in that life, it was ripped away and burnt to ash.
Are you sure this is what you want to do?Voraxis’s concern is prominent, but the truth of the matter is, if we went to Nefarium, we wouldn’t know what we would be walking into. And for some reason, Voraxis isn’t allowed inside the town’s limits, and I have no plans on separating anytime soon.
It was either this or the forest. Somehow, this seemed like thelesser of two evils.
Turning to look over my shoulder, I see Odeyssa lying on her back, eyes closed, and it amazes me how she can seem so relaxed, so at ease, despite everything. I have half a mind to leave her be, let her rest, even though I’m envious.
I can’t remember the last time I felt like that.
“Odeyssa?” I start.
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbles.
The question has plagued me since the moment I met Voraxis—or rather since I saw the barrier. “Why aren’t dragons allowed in Nefarium?” I wince as soon as the question leaves me, berating myself for being so nosy. At first, I thought the dragons were confined to the meadow, not allowed beyond the barriers, but when Voraxis showed up in Excidium, that theory was proven wrong. Then, when he suggested we go to the forest, which Odeyssa pointed out was across the realm, it begged the question that if Voraxis could travel there, he could go anywhere. So why not Nefarium?
Voraxis stiffens a bit, his torso tightening just a hair but enough for me to notice the shift. However, despite the obvious discomfort, he stays silent.
Odeyssa lets out a long sigh and sits up. “Honestly, it isn’t spoken of. The barrier has been there for at least as long as I’ve been alive. But I know it’s been up for much,muchlonger.”
“But you don’t know what caused it to go up in the first place?” It’s hard to believe the princess, future queen and ruler of Nefarium, has no clue about such a historical topic. Surely, she’s been in training or “princess school” since she could walk.
“Truthfully, I don’t know what sparked the feud.”
“Feud?” I find it hilarious that fae and dragons would have some sort of unresolved issue. The dragons could’ve easily retaliated, burnt the whole town down to the bones. So why didn’t they? Voraxis scoffs but still doesn’t say anything on thematter.
“Disagreement? I don’t know. Dad doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“So, he agrees with it?”
“I guess so?” But it comes out more like a question.
“Because if he didn’t, he could just as well take it down.” My body begins to heat, filling with anger and resentment even though I know it’s not her fault. But maybe it is—part of it, anyway. As the heir to the throne, I would think she has some sort of say.
Odeyssa must sense my annoyance. “Well, Kallie, by all means, why don’t you just turn your big, fire-breathing machine around, and we’ll go ask my dad himself!”
