His arms tightened around my waist. “But it’s unstable.”
“That’s just it. I could do a distraction.”
“No.” The word came out hard. Final. “If something goes wrong—if you lost control—we’re captured. Or worse, dead.”
I winced. His doubt cut deep—deeper than it should have.
I thought he would drop me onto the ground, but he stopped on a thick branch instead. “You’ll be safe here.”
I looked down, and my stomach dropped. It was at least ten stories high. “Are you serious?” I clutched a branch. “This is where you’re leaving me?”
“I can’t have you following me. You’ll slow me down.” The corner of his mouth twitched—almost a smirk.
“Arrogant much?”
“Truthful.” He released me onto the branch and stepped off into nothing, his golden wings catching the air.
And just like that, he was gone.
I gripped the bark, my heart pounding. He was so sure that I would screw this up. Just like everyone else. Just like every witch who’d ever looked at me like I was broken.
My eyes burned. I blinked hard.
Darius landed just beyond the firelight, his wings tucking silently against his back. From up here, I had an unobstructed view of the clearing below—the soldiers circling Caterpillar, the flickering campfire, the glint of armor.
Something whizzed past me, and my mouth dropped. Black wings flapped overhead. Harpies—two of them.
My blood went cold.
I’d seen harpies before. Keir Rankin, the Unseelie mafia king, had kept a pair, tamed by one of his men—Nyx Grimshaw—who’d earned their loyalty through years of patience and trust. Those harpies had been deadly, yes, but there’d been something almost noble in the way they’d moved—proud creatures who chose to serve.
These were nothing like that.
They circled above the camp with lazy menace, their human faces scanning the ground below. Hunting. Whatever leash the queen held them with, it wasn’t love or loyalty. Just cruelty recognizing its master.
And Darius was down there. Wings tucked. Exposed.
Could he get Caterpillar and take off before the soldiers spotted him? Before the harpies dove? For all I knew, their talons could be enchanted. Poisoned. One strike and he’d never get airborne again.
Neither the harpies nor the men appeared to have noticed him. Yet.
What was his plan? Just fly in and snag Caterpillar? Against a dozen soldiers and two deadly harpies?
My chest tightened. He was fast, but he wasn’t invincible.
Something moved below me. I squinted through the branches.
More soldiers. Another ten at least—and these carried bows.
Archers.
I had to warn him. But how?
Think, damn it. Think.
I had to help him or he was going to die.
Darius sped toward Caterpillar.
