“Hold on, love.” Daire glances over his shoulder at me; his lavender eyes glitter in the dark like amethysts.
I wrap my arms around his middle.
Adrenaline rushes through me.
How many generations have passed since anyone has flown as a bat rider through these deserts? How long since they were accepted and not executed?
The bat’s body feels warm and muscular underneath my thighs.
Suddenly, Lanlin launches himself into the air with shuddering force. The sand is scattered, as each deliberate flap of the shadow wings takes us further up into the cold night air, which tugs at my long, dark coat.
Lanlin emits a series of high clicks.
My stomach swoops.
Daire lets out a bright laugh.
“This is fucking incredible.” Daire’s voice is caught by the whoosh of the wind and carried away.
I can feel every movement of Lanlin’s body: the flex of his shoulders and the twist of his spine as he banks to the side.
It is incredible.
Thrilling.
It is life affirming in a way that is perfectly Lanlin because it’s like he has his fangs poised at my neck threatening death.
He doesn’t glide or fly gently.
Maybe he’s showing off, dropping into sudden heart stopping dives, sharp banks, and agile acrobatic turns.
It’s like dancing.
Suddenly, it hits me.
Isthishow Lanlin shows hisgratitude?
Because in its own way, it’s as fucking beautiful as Daire’s dance.
My chest fills with warmth.
Lanlin walks the line between life and death and makes me feel more alive than I have before.
Daire, of course, is having the time of his reckless fae life in front of me.
“Faster!” Daire yells. “By the Shadow Gods, I feel like I have my wings back. A fae should be in the sky and not grounded. Faster!”
“Not if you don’t want me to puke,” I warn.
Fuck a troll, is Lanlin about to fly upside down?
Lanlin appears to hear me because he slows the acrobatics to Daire’s disappointment, gliding lower over the waves of the dunes toward a bank of cliffs that rise deep in the desert.
Sheut looks like a flaming mirage on the horizon.
Finally, Lanlin slows. The beat of his wings grows deeper and more deliberate.
He circles the cliffs.
