I stare at him.The king isn’t coming.
“You need to watch the road,” I finally say.
He snorts and looks back at the road, though there’s not much tosee. The weight in his silence presses into both of us until it’s hard to breathe. He hates magic so much— and now he’s risking his life to protect me. To protect the queen.
And in a way, to protect the king.
A minute ago, I all but accused him of treason.
“Alek,” I say. “I—”
“We shouldn’t talk,” he says, his voice flat. “If there are scravers about, they’ll hear us.”
I clamp my mouth shut.
Less than ten seconds later, I open it again. “Alek. Truly. I’ m—”
“Hush,” he says, like I’m an errant child.
“Don’t tell me to—”
A screech splits the night, the sound making me cringe involuntarily. One of the horses spooks into the other, making the carriage sway and totter wildly until Alek grabs hold of the reins, getting the animals under control. Sharp, panicked screams sound from the carriage.
Another scraver shriek pierces the sky.
Alek swears under his breath. “Under the seat,” he hisses at me. “I have crossbows stashed.”
I’m barely listening to him, my eyes searching the sky overhead. I only see the moon between the trees— until a dark shape soars in front of it.
“Callyn!” Alek snaps. He gives me a good shake, and I realize I’ve grabbed hold of his arm. “The crossbows!”
“Right,” I say. “Right.” I duck and reach under the seat, scrabbling for anything that might feel like a weapon.
“Got them!” I cry victoriously. I straighten, simultaneously holding one out to him and trying to get my hand on the trigger of another.
Before I can do anything at all, wings block out the moon, a body slams into me, and I go tumbling out of the carriage.
I cry out in surprise. The collision is so sharp that the crossbows go flying, and I completely lose track of which way they go. The fall somehow seemseternal, because I haven’t hit the ground yet. Am I going to die? Is this like drowning, where the actualdeathseems to take forever, because your entire life flashes before your eyes?
But no, nothing is flashing before my eyes.
I’m just falling in slow motion.
The pale scraver practically glows in the moonlight now that she’s so close to me. I realize her claws have dug into my waist and my shoulder, and her wings have snapped wide behind her, slowing my descent.
Igaa?I think. And then we hit the ground.
We don’t crash, but that doesn’t mean the landing issoft, especially since Igaa lands right on my chest. I have no armor, and her claws have definitely broken the skin in a few places. Her knees press right into my rib cage, and I know I’m going to have deep bruises tomorrow.
Then her claws find my throat, digging in immediately. My breath catches.
“Please,” I gasp.
She leans down so close that her black eyes glitter above mine, and I wonder if this will be the last thing I ever see.
“You were to fetch Tycho,” she says.
I wheeze a breath. “Something came up.”
