The pegasus’s nostrils flared, drawing in her scent. He took a delicate step toward her, muscles shifting smoothly under a coat like polished copper.
Paige held out a hand to him. The pegasus lowered his head, his flame-red mane tumbling over his neck. His hot breath tickled her palm; wild and animal, yet also strangely familiar.
“Oh,” she whispered. She touched the velvet softness of the pegasus’s muzzle. “It’s you. It’s really you.”
The pegasus snorted agreement, tossing his head. As though in invitation, he spread one wing, ears pricking in her direction.
“Uh…” Paige eyed his back dubiously. It was alongway off the ground. “I’m going to need a little help here.”
This time, the pegasus’s snort sounded an awful lot like a laugh. He obligingly went to one knee, stretching out the other foreleg in a graceful bow.
Even with his shoulder dipped, it was still an intimidatingly steep climb. Paige scrabbled up as best she could, hoping she wasn’t yanking on his manetoomuch. The pegasus stayed patiently still as she settled herself, trying to figure out where to put her legs. After a couple of awkward experiments, she ended up tucking them behind his wings, her feet underneath his soft, rustling feathers.
“Okay.” Swallowing a surge of nerves, she took a firm hold of his silky mane. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
The pegasus flicked an ear. As if testing her balance, he took a slow, careful step, then another.
Paige had been braced to cling on for dear life, but there was no need. As the pegasus paced steadily across the field, she let herself relax into the smooth, rolling motion. Even going at a slow walk, there was something exhilarating about feeling all that potential power shift under her thighs. By the time he’d reached the edge of the field, she actually found herself grinning.
“So far, so good.” She gave the pegasus’s neck a pat. “But I don’t think we’re walking all the way to your house.”
The pegasus curved his neck, flashing her a wry look out of the corner of one dark eye. With a rustle of feathers, he spread his wings.
Paige gulped, newfound confidence faltering. She braced herself, but he didn’t move. After a few confused moments, she realized why.
She whispered, “Go.”
The worldblurred. Paige shrieked, sudden wind tearing the sound from her throat. She fell flat against the pegasus’s neck, clinging on with both arms, eyes tight shut. Her stomach lurched. She was going to slip, she was going to fall?—
But she didn’t.
A steady, rhythmic beat penetrated her blind panic. Despite the wind whipping past her face, she felt no more sense of motion than a gentle, up-down rocking, as if she was floating on the surface of a calm sea.
Heart hammering against her ribs, Paige dared to crack open one eye. Catching a glimpse of tiny lights far below, she hurriedly fixed her gaze on the pegasus’s ears instead. One of them tilted back in her direction.
With an effort, she forced her fingers to relax a fraction. It was just as well her arms couldn’t stretch all the way around his neck, or she would have throttled him by now.
“I’m okay,” she managed to get out, though she wasn’t sure he’d be able to hear her over the roar of the wind. Somewhat shakily, she patted him again. “I know you won’t let me fall.”
The pegasus flicked his ears in agreement. He stretched out his neck, legs tucked up underneath his body. His wings moved in smooth, powerful sweeps, carrying them through the air.
Since she suspected she couldn’t have thrown herself off his back if she’d tried, Paige risked sitting up. She didn’t dare lookdown, but the sky was a glorious riot of colors, ranging from deep purple-blue overhead to lingering sunset shades of pink and orange on the horizon.
She drew in a deep breath, the air cold and thin in her lungs. At some point, she’d lost her hair tie. Freed from its usual ponytail, her hair whipped in the wind.
A strange, wild exhilaration filled her. She felt like she was coming undone as well, breaking free from the constraints of normal life.
Paige could have stayed aloft for hours, but all too soon, she felt the pegasus’s muscles shift underneath her. He banked, dropping out of the sky in a tight spiral. Peering past his shoulder, she saw an isolated house rising to meet them. She barely had time for more than an impression of sleek lines and glittering glass before the pegasus’s hooves touched down on the front lawn, landing so softly she barely felt a bump.
He kneeled again, stretching out one wing to allow her to dismount. Paige slid off his back, her feet sinking into soft, rather overgrown grass. She’d been gripping so hard with her thighs throughout the wild flight, her legs felt shaky. She put out a hand to steady herself against the pegasus’s flank, only to find Conleth’s arms around her.
“All right?” he murmured.
Still breathless from the wild flight, she nodded. “That was—amazing. And over too soon. Next time, don’t rush.”
He burst into laughter. “Paige, if I’d gone any slower, I’d have been flying backwards.”
That had beenslow?
