Chapter
One
PORTIA
Wind screamed in my ears as I dove through a cloud. Moisture beaded on my wings before sizzling to vapor. Snow flurried, but the flakes hissed and turned to steam the moment they touched my scales.
I flew faster. A gray sky stretched above me, the sun beaming between breaks in the clouds as if it tried to keep up.
Gods, this is what I was made for.
Not sitting through twelve-course dinners listening to men try to impress my fathers.
Anger spiked, and I snapped my wings tightly against my body and punched through another cloud. Rolling into a spiral, I rocketed downward. Gray cliffs and green, rolling hills rushed up. The wind shrieked. An iron gray sea filled my vision. The spray of water kissed my face. On two legs, the sea would have felt like needles stabbing my skin. But in this form, the water couldn’t hurt me. Very little could hurt me.
Although, crashing into the cliffs was probably a bad idea.
At the last second, I pulled up, flaring my wings wide as I soared over the mainland. The anger subsided, contentment taking its place. My dragon had been restless all morning, clawing at my skin until I’d finally given in and shifted.
Now we were both free. For a time, anyway.
Flapping my wings, I glanced over my shoulder. Beithir Island shrank behind me, its veil of cloaking magic turning the castle in the center into a gray blob.
Good.I couldn’t escape my duties for long, but I could forget about them for a while. Stretching my wings, I let the wind buoy me upward.
A half hour later, the scenery beneath me changed, the rolling hills giving way to clusters of houses and buildings. A human town sprawled across the landscape. Squares of concrete looked like postage stamps dotted with toy cars. I circled higher, keeping my distance.
But, as always, something pushed me to fly a little farther. The sun ducked behind the clouds, and my dragon was a dark shadow on the ground as I banked left. A moment later, I crested a ridge, and the standing stones appeared.
My heart sped up. I snorted, steam rolling from my nostrils. The standing stones rose from the ground like gray, bony fingers. Fifteen formed a circle, with two of the largest crowned with a horizontal stone that turned it into a doorway for giants.
A narrow path ran from the stones to a parking lot flanked by a pavilion with half a dozen picnic tables. In the summer, humans ate sandwiches and strolled around the stones taking photos of each other pretending to hold them up.
But it was winter now, and the human tourists had gone home. Wings flared wide, I swooped around the stones in a lazy circle. Magic thickened the air, its hum wild and ancient.Dangerous.
I drifted lower, my beast’s sharp vision picking out the bold swirls that decorated the rock. The hum of magic intensified. Heat and danger flashed over my scales.
Run, a little voice in my head whispered. But a second, lower voice murmured something else.
More.
More what? The question buzzed in my mind as I held my pattern, my wings wide and my tail lashing the air. Always, it was the same, the magic both repelling and drawing me. In the summer, when the humans left for the night, I sometimes shifted and grabbed the stash of clothing I kept in a hollowed out tree stump at the edge of the parking lot. I’d walk among the stones, trailing my fingers over the moonlit rock and daring the magic to do something.
It never did.
The blare of a horn jerked my head up. In the distance, where a human road cut through the hills, a man leaned out his car window. A shaggy Highland cow with prominent horns stood in front of the vehicle, its jaw working in a slow, unbothered rhythm. Snow stuck to the animal's brown coat. More flakes eddied around the car’s headlights.
Smothering a gasp, I flapped my wings hard and darted upward. The hum of magic faded as the ground fell away beneath me. A second later, I punched above the clouds. Spinning left, I raced toward home.
The snow thickened as I sped above the sea. Weak sunlight sparkled on the waves, but there was no time to admire it. Lowering my head, I flew faster.
Twenty minutes later, Castle Beithir’s spires emerged through the glamour like a ship’s masts appearing in the fog. A figure was a black speck on the castle’s battlements.
My stomach dropped. For one heartbeat, my form flashed between solid and smoke. It was quick, but it was enough tosend me plummeting toward the sea. The world spun in a wild tumble, sky and water flashing as I fell. Fire flared in my mind. Rage and fear seared my throat. A roar ripped from me as I fought for control.
Sky.
Sea.
