Covath looked at him in surprise. “Orion, I did not summon you.”
The horse shook its head, his mane flying everywhere, before he reared onto his back legs.
Ajari seemed to find his voice at Orion’s arrival, stepping forward and lifting his chin in a challenging manner. “I owe her a life debt. Transport out of here would make a start in its discharge.”
Covath didn’t look happy with Ajari’s statement, his face resigned. “Fine.” He turned his gaze on Shea. “We’ll give you a ride out of here in thanks for your services.”
“And Trenton?” she asked.
Covath curled his lip. “That is up to Orion.”
The horse tossed his head and reared, pawing the air with his hooves. A loud nicker escaped him. Another whicker answered him as another one of Orion’s herd landed not far from Trenton.
“There are others we left behind as well,” Trenton said, seizing advantage of the seeming goodwill. “One of them has a broken leg.”
Ajari watched Orion before giving Trenton a respectful nod. “They know. Some of their herd have already offered them a ride.”
Trenton’s face reflected surprise. They hadn’t thought to be so fortunate.
“You grow soft in your old age,” Covath told Orion in a dour voice.
Orion let out an ear-splitting neigh. He stomped his front hooves and gave a violent shake of his head, glaring at Shea.
She took it as her cue and trudged toward the horse. If this meant she didn’t have to walk anymore, she wasn’t going to look the gift horse with wings in the mouth or question its motives.
It took some doing, but Shea managed to mount with Trenton’s help, arranging her tired, aching body over Orion’s back.
“We’re not going to speak of this when we get home,” Shea told him in reference to his assistance. The Trateri would never let her live it down if they knew. They believed only invalids and the weak needed help with mounting.
He gave her a thinly hidden smile, amusement dancing in his eyes. “There she is. My prickly battle queen—the one convinced she can survive anything. I have missed her.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
He patted her leg and stepped back. “We all have our secrets. I’ll thank you not to scare me like that again. I saw visions of my death by torture at Caden’s hand when we found your father and he told us what had happened. It is not an experience I wish to repeat.”
Shea could see how that might be. “Thank you for coming for me.”
He gave her a respectful nod. “I will always come for my battle queen, even if my warlord had not commanded me to do so.”
The words touched that spot deep inside Shea that had seemed encased in ice since the confrontation. It warmed her, just barely.
Trenton stepped back and walked over to his horse.
The jolt as they took to the skies barely registered, the fear of falling that had plagued her on the previous journey was gone. She looked behind her to see Covath take Ajari into his arms and leap into the air, his wings beating as he followed.
Shea laid her head against Orion’s neck, his mane brushing her face as she watched the world pass by under her, a tapestry of hills broken by steep canyons, treacherous ravines and wide-open plains.
Every wing beat taking her further from the heart lifted a weight from her, making the darkness shrouding her thoughts just a little bit lighter. The numbness inside still clung to her, but it wasn’t as all-encompassing.
She simply existed in the moment, trying not to think, letting the world drift below her. Worry was impossible. She was grateful to be free of its burden.
*
It was on the morning of the ninth day that they passed the ruins of the first demarcation. It was also the first day that Shea felt something like relief. She wasn’t safe yet, not by a long shot, but things were better than they had been the day before.
Sometimes that was all you could ask for.
It wasn’t until Orion let out a sharp whinny that Shea started paying attention again.
