He turned on his heel, stalking off with purpose, though the ghost of a smile tugged at his lips when he heard her hiss a curse behind him.
‘Something wrong?’ he called over his shoulder, smug.
‘It’s going to take a few hours to construct a new face,’ she grumbled. ‘Stop looking at me like that. Can you alter your entire appearance at will? No? Didn’t think so.’
Kai chuckled. ‘And ruin this face? Unthinkable. The ladies would weep.’
She scoffed. ‘Which ladies? The imaginary ones in your deluded little mind?’
‘Careful, witch,’ he said, glancing back at her with a grin. ‘That tone of yours sounds suspiciously like jealousy.’
Kai let out a low whistle, and from the shifting sands, his horse emerged as though conjured from smoke and memory. He caught the soft gasp that escaped Dawn’s lips, still startled by the creature’s uncanny ability to vanish and reappear at will. He didn’t hide the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth; there wassomething endearing about her wonder at things he had long since taken for granted.
‘Let’s ride,’ he said, motioning towards the horse. ‘You’ll find it easier to work your magic if you’re seated.’
Before she could summon a retort, he placed his hands firmly on her waist and hoisted her up with effortless strength. She scowled down at him, but he ignored the fire in her eyes and stepped away, walking beside the horse with a measured pace.
‘Aren’t you getting on?’ she asked, brows furrowed in suspicion.
‘I feel like walking,’ he replied, keeping his focus ahead. ‘Besides, you’ll have more space up there, more comfort to focus.’
Dawn narrowed her eyes, clearly unconvinced. ‘Why are you being nice?’
‘I’m always nice.’
She snorted. ‘Yes, an absolute fucking delight, you are.’ With a wicked grin, she swung her foot and managed to land a playful kick against his arm. ‘Oh dear, must’ve been a twitch. Foot spasm or something.’
He cast her a look that could curdle milk. ‘Would you like to walk the rest of the way?’
Dawn lifted her hands in mock surrender. ‘I’ll behave. I swear it.’
‘I’ve heard that one before...’ he muttered under his breath.
‘What was that?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Thought so.’
For the next few hours, they moved in companionable silence, wrapped in a rare cocoon of peace. Kai found his gaze drifting, time and again, to where Dawn worked intently on her glamour. Her concentration was unwavering, her fingers aglow withsoft green light as they danced before her like a sculptor conjuring a masterpiece from the very air itself.
‘Am I so breathtaking that you simply cannot look away, commander?’ she asked, her eyes never leaving the shifting shapes before her.
‘How does it work?’ he asked, deliberately ignoring her barbed teasing.
Dawn dismounted with a fluid movement. ‘I need to stretch my legs,’ she said, her tone light. She fell into step beside him, and with a flick of his wrist, Kai dismissed the horse into mist and shadow.
He watched her hands work, fascinated despite himself. Beneath the dappled sunlight filtering through the high clouds, he could just make out the faint outline of a mask taking form, an ethereal visage hovering like spun glass in the space before her.
‘We have to craft the face,’ she explained, her tone unusually gentle, the green magic weaving patterns in the air. ‘Bodies are simple. They take almost no time at all. But faces… faces are intimate. Faces are stories. Every one is different, every detail unique. We memorise the ones we create. Once the magic accepts a face, it becomes part of us. We can wear it again and again. But a new one…’ She exhaled softly. ‘That takes time.’
The mask hovered, then glided towards her, settling over her features like a second skin. The transformation was not yet complete—half her face still belonged to Dawn, warm-brown and sharp-eyed, that familiar glint of mischief in her lone purple iris. But the other half had shifted: now a wyverian countenance stared back, pale as moonlight, with obsidian eyes that revealed nothing.
‘How is it looking?’ she asked, her tone casual, though a shade of expectation lingered in her eyes.
Kai tilted his head, scrutinising the half-finished glamour. ‘Mildly terrifying,’ he replied dryly.
Dawn rolled her eyes and dispelled the illusion with a flick of her fingers. ‘Give me a few more hours.’
