She didn’t realize she’d been frozen over their bodies until Signey grabbed her and yanked her out of the room. A single bloodied arm reached accusingly out of Signey’s room before the hallway dissolved into a blur of colors as they ran. Zephyra had chosen the wing on the opposite side of the building from theirs, ensuring the soldiers were spread too thin, but reinforcements would arrive within five minutes. They had already wasted four.
Signey and Elara burst outside, where Zephyra was still midbattle. Her wings flapped hard as no less than ten soldiers tried to drag her out of the air. They weren’t using net launchers, Elara realized now, but grappling hooks. Each one clung to some part of Zephyra’s body while the soldiers pulled her close enough for the rest of their squad to carve her open. Elara hurtled over the grass, her bags slapping against her back. Everything was lit silver and crimson from the stars and the fire Zephyra belched at any soldier who came near. The fumes chased Elara through the night. She brought up an arm to cover her nose and mouth, hoping, despite herself, that the fire didn’t spread and such a lovely house didn’t actually burn down.
Or maybe Barret Soto was right. Maybe it all deserved to burn.
Signey threw herself at the first soldier, her fire ineffectual at breaking the rope. Elara cut Zephyra free with the sword she still wielded, ignoring the blood that stained the edges. Signey had not been called one of the best students at Hearthstone for nothing. Every time Elara caught sight of her in the fray, she was taking down a grown man with dangerous focus and steely precision. Signey left a circle of the dead behind her and climbed up Zephyra’s back as Elara cut the final rope.
Elara threw her bags up to the saddle for Signey to tie down, and then she scaled the dragon’s flank in seconds. She felt shakier than usual as she did so, but she chalked it up to fear. More soldiers were streaming out of the house to stop them. Distantly, she could hear the roar of dragons approaching. They’d run out of time.
Zephyra took a step, and Elara fell off the side.
Signey grabbed her wrist. Elara hit Zephyra’s hard scales, crying out as they scratched her skin and sent pain ricocheting up her rib cage. The dragon took to the skies, and Elara kept dangling as Signey slowly pulled her up, asking questions the whole time.
The problem was that Elara didn’t understand a single one of them.
Faron did it. She broke the bond.
Tears welled in Elara’s eyes. She was free. She could summon again. She could go home—
Faron did it.
She… broke the bond.
And Elara was on the back of a dragon she could no longer understand, with more dragons closing in.
Signey dragged Elara into the saddle in front of her and said something that sounded like a curse when Elara almost fell a second time. In the grand scheme of things, she’d forgotten that it was part of a Rider’s magic to be able to fly on dragonback without tipping one way or another. Signey wrapped her arms around Elara’s waist, Elara’s back pressed against Signey’s chest. The soft feel of her would have distracted Elara if she didn’t think she would probably die before they landed again.
“You need to speak patois,” she said desperately in her native tongue. “The bond, it’s been broken.”
Signey’s patois was accented and formal, not unlike Reeve’s after he’d had a few lessons. Elara had almost forgotten the sound of it; the Summit felt as if it had been two lifetimes ago rather than only two months. “What do you mean it has beenbroken?”
“My sister makes a regular habit of doing the impossible.”
“I see,” Signey murmured before falling silent. Elara, who had no idea what more to say, fell silent, too, hating how bereft she felt. She was happy. Wasn’t she?
Her stomach swooped as Zephyra swerved upward, through the cover of clouds. Below her dangling feet, Elara could see the faint outline of dragons heading for Rosetree, where they would find a broken house, dead soldiers, and missing prisoners. Even if she and Signey got away, Jesper and Torrey were still at Hearthstone. Barret Soto was still in the Mausoleum. What would happen to them? To Azeal?
If they made it back to San Irie, could they really leave everyone to pay for their crimes? The farther they flew, the more Elara became convinced that they were doing the wrong thing. That she was doing the wrong thing leaving people who wanted to fight the commander in his clutches. She didn’t want to be a hostage, but she couldn’t leave them behind to become hostages in her place.
Once, Signey had told her there was more than one way to help people. Elara hadn’t known what she wanted then, but she did now. To help people across two nations, or more, if it came to that. To help people who thought they had no voice, no power, no chance. To help people who wanted to make a better world.
“We can’t go to San Irie,” Elara finally said, turning her head as much as she dared to look at her Firstrider. Her former Firstrider. “The den shouldn’t have to pay for what we did—”
Signey cursed in Langlish.
“What?”
“Saints, Elara, could you stop being so—you? For even five minutes?” Signey complained. “Your island is in danger,you’rein danger, and, even now, you’re thinking of other people. Ofmypeople.” She sounded like she was in pain, and Elara’s heart skipped. She wanted to turn around completely, but she didn’t dare. “No matter what happens now, I need you to know that… you were everything I could have wanted in a co-Rider and more. You’re an inspiration to me as a person. And you’re one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, inside and out. Right or wrong, I would follow you anywhere.”
Elara’s face was burning by the time Signey finished. Now she wasgladshe couldn’t turn, because her heart was rioting in her chest and she was sure that it was obvious on her face. She liked this girl. She really,reallyliked this girl. She hadn’t come to the Langlish Empire for love, but somehow she’d found it. Her lips trembled, parted, ready to speak her truth.
“The First Dragon is freed,” Signey said suddenly. “The Warwicks… they’ve won.”
Elara twisted in Signey’s arms. Just as she feared, the action would have sent her tumbling off the dragon if not for Signey’s superior strength. “How do you—?”
“Zephyra can feel him now,” Signey continued as if Elara hadn’t spoken. “He’s in San Irie. By the time we get back there, there might be nothing left.”
“We have to warn them—”
