“Songs,” I muttered, my voice raw in my throat. Had I screamed?
Mary brushed at the draca on her shoulder. He flicked his wings to land on the ground. “Stay still. You have had a shock.”
I pushed her aside, forcing my shaking body onto my feet. Her arm caught me as I swayed. Nausea climbed my throat, then became a hot needle in my spine and skull.Not now. I blinked hard, fighting the glares. “Where is he?” but already I was following the silver line of our binding to where Mary pointed wordlessly.
Fifty yards below us, there were trees broken and scattered, upended earth, and scarlet.
I am coming, I thought, pulling free of Mary to run, ignoring the pain from each jarring step. I smashed through brush and ivy, sparse from the cold, then passed a snapped tree. The stump was stained with golden blood, and I slowed to a terrified stumble.
Yuánchi’s flank was heaving like an agonized bellows. I approached his shoulder, trying not to tread on his torn wing. His neck lifted, and his head reached for me, swaying and blind. His face was a ruin, his beautiful eyes gone. Edges of jet-black bone showed from the wet sockets.
I grabbed his jaw, pulling my forehead against his muzzle, feeling the heat of his scales. “You will heal! I will care for you.”
Elizabeth Darcy Bennet. I must go into the water. I must go deep and sleep the centuries to heal.
“No,” I whispered. “It is all my fault. I should have sent you away. Kept you safe.”
You are a great wyfe. It is I who leave. I who failed.His body shifted, a huge leg scrabbling at the ground. I felt the agony of broken bones, the weakness of lost blood.I must get to the water. Move back, so I can stand.
I backed away and met Mary struggling through the brush toward us. “Mary, we must give him room.”
“Lizzy, we need to go. It is not safe.”
“Leavehim? Are you mad?”
In answer, Mary pointed across the lake. A black-winged shape stretched wide on the far shore.
I had forgotten. The battle was not done. “How long was I unconscious?”
Mary’s forehead furrowed. “Five minutes. Or six.”
“Darcy is almost at the cave. We still have a chance.”
“He will have turned back!” Mary protested.
“No. Seeing this will only make him drive harder.” Thick branches were snapping as Yuánchi forced himself upright, one foot half-raised like a lame horse, his wings unable to mesh properly. But he was moving. The heavy bones that drove the bulk of each wing were intact.
I thought,Can you fly to the water?
His head hunted one way, then another.Where is the water?
That answer tore me. His magnificent vision, lost. But I steeled my mind. Be strong as a draca.The lake is downhill from us. Once you rise, it is one long glide. You are almost as high as Pemberley House.
He fumbled his feet among the fallen branches, turning downhill. A hanging wingtip struck a tree, and fresh pain blazed in my mind.I cannot rise blind in these trees.
“Mary, I have a plan,” I said. “You will not like it.”
She watched me. “Suspense will not make me like it more.”
“I will ride Yuánchi down to the lake. He is too injured to heal. He must go into the water and sleep. If he shares my vision, he will see well enough to fly.”
“Fènnù will kill you both.”
“She will not attack him while I am riding.”
“You do not know that! She is commanded by the dagger.”
“I am her wyfe of war. And while Yuánchi flies, our enemies will ignore other targets. Darcy and those soldiers will have time to take the dagger.” I produced a smile, ignoring the blazing pain between my temples. “It is a perfect plan. But you must help me mount. It is too high to reach alone.”
