The man with the gun pointed at me elbowed the man beside him. “Look, a fighter. I like her.”
The man in the middle squinted at my uniform. “You’re a fancy one. A student at the king’s school.”
I swallowed. Cardan Lott was founded by a queen, technically, years ago, but to bottomsiders, the royalty-named schools were all the same: above them.
The man whispered something I couldn’t hear. Then the man with the pistol aimed at my head jerked the gun sideways.
“Come with me. You can leave that brick.”
I adjusted my grip, aiming for his head.
“Look, sister, I?—”
A dark shape blasted from between the smokestacks, shooting directly between me and the three men. They stumbled backward and a gun went off.
I screamed. The man behind me sprinted for the empty building.
Then the shape returned and spread his wings.
“Myth!”
A figure leaped from his back, landing with a roll a few steps away. Blond hair whipped from his face as he hopped to his feet in a liquid movement, charging at the men. Startled by Myth’s appearance, the men didn’t redirect their course fast enough. Rush punched the nearest one so hard the man spun and fell flat on his face.
The others were scrambling now, backing away from my dragon.
Myth settled on the stones beside me, claws clicking and nostrils flaring. His eyes were bright and furious, and tongues of firesparks lit the darkness in little whorls around us.
Relief threatened to collapse my bones, but I feared the pistols that could still harm us.
“This one has flame!” someone shouted, and at once the men scattered, charging back into the shadows.
Another gunshot split the night, but their aim was poor and Myth didn’t flinch. He marched in a circle around me, snorting bright orange sparks with each breath. Rush, satisfied the men were running, turned to me, chest heaving.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
Rush nodded, then we darted toward Myth, who was flattening himself to the pavement, wings extended. I set a foot carefully on his wing where I hoped it wouldn’t hurt him, and I jumped, reaching for one of the spikes on his neck. Rush grabbed my foot, helping me up. I lay against him, just to the side of the spikes on his spine, terrified I wouldn’t be able to hang on without a saddle.
“How did you ride here without a saddle?” I asked as Rush climbed up in a similar fashion, his muscles straining as he held his weight with his hands.
He grunted. “I didn’t really think about it. I was waiting for you, and Myth started going berserk. I knew something was wrong. I just jumped on.” He glanced at the man he’d knocked out, then dropped back to the ground. Without a word, he ripped the man’s jacket off and hurled it over Myth’s back. I caught it, draping it over Myth’s spikes. When I swung my leg over, it was uncomfortable but not impossible to bear.
Rush climbed back up, reaching around me to grab Myth’s neck spikes, pinning me to Myth’s back. His pulse pounded like typewriter keys against my back.
“Hold on,” he said.
Myth ran a few steps and leaped into the air. My fingers tightened, and I clutched him with all my might, feet pressed against his sides. Rush’s body held me in place, like the saddle straps meant to keep us from plummeting to our deaths. But if his grip slipped or his hands gave out once we rose above the buildings, we’d both be dead.
When the factories shrank beneath us, my stomach tried to climb into my throat.
“I won’t let you fall,” Rush whispered.
A strange calm threaded through my veins as Myth’s wings beat steadily.
“Thank you. A million times thank you,” I said to them both.
In that moment, I didn’t care that four gang members in Treston now knew I had a dragon with his flame. I didn’t care that my dragon, the one the duke had been hunting for months, had shown himself tonight, and in connection to students at Cardan Lott. Some of the men might have even recognized Rush. In that moment, all that mattered was that they’d come for me.
