Aydra smiled as she opened the grand window in her room and stepped onto the windowsill. “Please do.”
Her eyes closed, and she pulled for the core of the Aenean Orel. And then she fell into the air out of her window.
Great golden feathers flashed in her sightline as the air consumed her. But the Orel was faster, and the immense four-legged golden eagle swooped beneath her falling body mere feet from the ground and rocketed them into the air.
Her falling figure out of her window made Draven’s heart stop.
But he watched as the Orel’s great eagle body sweept beneath her and dove back up into the clouds, and then his breath returned.
Dorian clapped his hand on Draven’s shoulder. “Yeah, she does that.”
Draven felt a smile rise on his lips as he shook his head. “Where do they go?”
“Ah… Cliffs usually. Not sure exactly where though. Lex knows. You’ll have to ask her,” Dorian replied.
“Get out of here,” Nyssa interjected then. She was smiling at him when Draven met her gaze, and she nodded her head towards the door. “Balandria is in better hands learning from us than she is hearing it from you. We will take care of her.” Nyssa wrapped an arm into Balandria’s and she nodded towards the door again. “Go. Be with her.”
Draven’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t think you approved.”
Nyssa tucked her hair behind her ear and her smile widened. “I didn’t. But… I’ve never seen my sister with such a happiness in her core. True happiness. She loves you. I cannot stand in the way of that.”
Draven’s heart skipped at the word, and he swallowed hard. “She what?” he managed in a crack of a voice.
Nyssa’s face paled. “Oh shit,” she managed. “Oh, fucking curses. She hasn’t told you.”
His heart was in his throat, and he felt his breaths shortening. “She hasn’t, no.”
Dorian’s chuckle filled his ears, and he clapped Draven on his shoulder again. “Go get her.”
Draven left them soon after and made his way through the castle looking for Lex. He found her leaving Aydra’s room, her head shaking as she closed the door.
She grinned upon seeing him. “Forest King,” she mused, her arms crossing over her chest. “She’s not here.”
“No, I saw her jump from a window,” he said with raised brows.
Lex laughed fondly. “My Queen has many activities that allow her heart to pump at a greater pace than it ever should. Tempting death by hoping the Orel will catch her is one of them.”
“Where did she go?”
“Follow the shore south for an hour on horse. You’ll find a great hill and trail leading to the top there, and that is where you will find her. At the top. Probably naked. Basking in the pelting rain.”
Draven eyed her. “Tell me something, Hilexi…”
“Ooo…” Her brows narrowed, and she turned to face him fully. “Must be serious. Using my full name,” she mused. “What bothers you, Hunter?”
“Am I completely mental for loving her?”
Lex chuckled under her breath, blonde hair falling over her eyes. “She’s a free spirit who craves danger and blood. Passionate about her people. Fanatical about the relationships she keeps. Itching to feel freedom and poison all at once beneath her skin.” She paused a moment and then grasped the top of his shoulder in her hand. “It’d be hard not to fall for her.”
Thunder clapped loudly overhead.
Aydra closed her eyes and inhaled the cold scent of the rain around her soaking body. The water dripping on her face reminded her that she was capable of feeling more than the numbness of her core. Of serenity and peace clouding out the thoughts that threatened her mind. Her toes gripped to the edge of the rocky cliffside beneath her feet. One wrong move, one little slip, and the five hundred foot drop would take her life hostage into the depths of the ocean.
You’ve company,her raven told her.
She could hear the horse galloping against the wet grass, puddles splashing beneath its great hooves. She didn’t bother opening her eyes. The only person crazy enough to follow her an hour from Magnice in the middle of a rainstorm was the Hunter.
Lightning cracked into the ocean.
