My legs trembled harder, and my muscles screeched in protest. Sweat slicked my palms in the gloves on the horns, and it was like the wyvern sensed my distress. It surged and arched its neck as it tried again to wrench its head free.
The world lurched, and so did my body.
I slid an inch, maybe two, and hot panic blazed through me. I slammed my heels down again and leaned on them with everything I had, forcing its eyelids to stay shut.
“Hold.” Kai’s urgent voice turned to a rasp. “Ashren, add more restraints to the head and neck. The gem is nearly freed. Gavriel, prepare the sleeping draught for it. Hannah, I will signal as soon as it’s free.”
“Well, don’t hurry on my account.” I tried to ignore the hate mail my muscles were sending directly to me. “I could do this all day.”
“I don’t think you should.” Gavriel's blue eyes were wide and white-rimmed as he stared at me. “Isn’t your leg injured? I thought you got shot.”
“Gavriel!” Kai barked. “Eyes off her, and prepare the sleeping draught. Keep watch for attackers instead of her leg.”
Silver light flared along the side of the wyvern, and the beast stilled even more.
The resistance beneath my feet spiked with a brutal push that made my thighs tremble so violently my vision flashed white.Bend me over and fuck me.I couldn’t hold this position for even another minute at this rate.
“Good,” Kai growled. “Almost there. That’s my good—” He paused for a moment. “That’s…effective. Keep your thighs steady and your feet planted, Hannah.”
I hated how my stomach flipped at his words. Had he been about to call me his good girl? Fucking arrogant bastard. I pressed my heels harder and stared up at the night sky. My muscles burned like they were tearing apart, every second stretching thin.
The tremor in my thighs turned into a full-body shake. The kind that started in the muscles and climbed into the teeth. My heels dug into the wyvern’s lids until my arches cramped and my body became drenched in sweat. Heat pulsed up through the soles, slick and angry, and my grip on the wyvern’s horns slipped a fraction as sweat pooled in my gloves.
A metallic snap rang out beneath me.
The pressure under my feet changed like a cord had been cut inside the beast. The lids still fought to open, but the fight in them stuttered.
Kai grunted again, and something clicked. “It’s free. Get clear, Hannah!”
Relief and fear slammed into me. I let my weight shift forward and off the lids, then dragged my feet backward toward the ridge of its snout, keeping my hands clenched on the horns. The wyvern’s head jerked.
The band of shadow and silver around its jaw tightened again. The angry grunt that rose from its chest made it sound like the beast was now more confused than rabid. I steadiedmyself and looked down. Kai and Ashren stood in front of the wyvern like anchored storms, shoulders rigid and hands lifted. The shadows and silver cords wrapped tight around the beast’s jaws, throat, shoulders, and the base of its wings held it steady while it trembled and snarled through clenched teeth. The purple gem was nowhere to be seen, thank goodness.
“Gavriel.” Kai’s words came through his teeth. “Draught. Hannah. Off!”
My legs were jelly, and my calves twitched uncontrollably. I shoved my weight backward, rolled off the crown of its skull, and slid down the ridges of its neck with my chest pressed to its scales as I dismounted in an undignified fashion. The world tilted as the wyvern shuddered, and my stomach lurched into my throat.
I hit the curve of its shoulder and lost purchase. Air ripped from my lungs. My palms slapped down, caught on a ridge, and I clung there, knuckles white. My feet scraped for traction, finally finding a shallow groove between plates of scale.
Stone, smoke, and firelight swam together below. I forced my hands to release, slid, and struck the ground hard.
The street still vibrated with the wyvern’s restrained fury, but it did not seem so powerful now, even if the air did taste like burning oil and charred wood. My lungs burned with every inhale.
Kai’s gaze cut to me like a command. “Go wait by the castle gates, and we will talk.”
The order set my temper on fire. My legs wobbled, but I turned anyway, forcing myself into motion toward the alley that I believed led to Market Square, where Olen had told me to go. Each step felt disconnected, as if my feet belonged to someone else. The bruise in my shoulder pulsed with my heartbeat, but I was gaining momentum.
“Hannah!” Kai’s voice snapped at me, closer than it should have been. “Don't be obstinate. Our physician will care for you.”
I threw a look over my shoulder and kept moving. Smoke curled between us in gray ribbons. He was still holding the wyvern down with Ashren, jaw clenched, eyes hard, as if my choice of direction offended him as much as the beast had.
Gavriel ran to the front of the wyvern, holding up a large dark cloth soaked with something that I could smell even from here, like vinegar and bleach. It made my nose sting. He swung the cloth up and dropped it over the wyvern’s head in one neat motion, then grabbed the edges of the cloth and sealed it around the dragon’s snout.
I lifted my chin. “Just because I helped save your people doesn’t give you the right to order me around. My previous suggestion that you fuck yourself on a rusty crowbar still stands.” Apparently, my survival instincts had taken the night off. I tapped a hand to my forehead. “You take care now. It’s been…something, but I’ll let you get back to it. Take it easy.”
Kai’s wings flared wide, and the claws dug deeper into the stone. His shadows rippled, and his eyes sparked with rage. “You are inmykingdom, and I?—”
“I’ve done worse for less.” I winked at him and then took off in a shaky run. My legs hated me as much as he did, but they’d carry me out of there.
