“This hardly seems fair, professor,” Izzy complains from atop her beast.
“No one ever suggested this academy is fair,” Raith replies dryly. “If you’re afraid to fly, you’re welcome to remain on theground.” Then he twists his head back to me. “You fall and you die,” he says simply.
Izzy sneers, but she doesn’t say anything after that, like the idea of my potential death has appeased her.
“She’s right,”I point out as Kazer launches us into the air, and I scramble to grab hold of my mate.“What happened to not playing favorites?”Kenzie is in the group that’s remaining on the ground, and she gives me an encouraging smile as Raith and I lift higher into the sky.
“If you go into the games without a creature, you’ll be severely disadvantaged,”Raith replies, not sugarcoating anything for me.
“Soooo you figure why not get it over and done with and let me fall to a bloody and gruesome death today?”
The sound of wingbeats fills the air as the other students launch into the sky behind us, spanning out as we rise higher.
Raith chuckles.“You’re not goin’ to fall, and believe it or not, sunshine, but this was my brother’s idea.”There’s a little bit of bitterness when he says the last part.
“Hold on, this was Knox’s idea? Well, now I know the plan is to murder me.”
He laughs darkly.“We were discussin’ it last night, and it’s possible your animali is wary about enterin’ the academy grounds. The idea is if we bring you closer to the creature, it might be too curious to stay away. And it may be more willin’ to bond.”
“For all we know, the creature we saw flying in the air might not even be mine,”I say, remembering the dark shadow that has flown high above me during every Creatures, critters, and tracking lesson.
“Would you rather be on the ground trainin’ with Thane?”
I make a face.“You know what? Actually, I love this plan. Here, beastie, beastie. Come out, come out wherever you are.”
Chuckling, Raith leads us higher into the sky, soaring toward the clouds. As we continue to ascend, there’s a scream from behind us, and I turn my head in time to see a student pitch from their animali and disappear to the ground below. He was one of the students with weaker shadow powers. Poor guy. Ian and Ed are flying not too far from where the student was, and going by their grins, I’m guessing the student didn’t simply slip from his animali.
“Please tell me he managed to catch himself with his shadow powers or something?”I whisper to Raith.
My mate doesn’t even look down.“If he did, it likely won’t help him. We’re not above academy grounds anymore. I warned them not to fall.”
I assume he’s joking, but when he doesn’t laugh my smile drops.“You know, sometimes I think you and the others are decent guys, and then I’m reminded what assholes you are.”
Now, he laughs even harder than he did earlier.“Bet you wouldn’t have us any other way, sunshine.”
I’m about to point out that’s totally not true, because I would easily choose sweeter, more passive mates (I mean, who doesn’t love a cinnamon roll?), but then I think of Raith’s possessive beast and I realize he’s right. Iwouldn’twant anyone else. Not now that I havethem. I try not to think about the fact that this is Knox’s plan. Most likely, my reluctant mate is probably hoping I’ll die out here, but I can’t stop the thought that maybe…just maybe he’s trying to help me. And that makes me feel all sorts of weird.
When we’re almost at the clouds, Raith instructs Kazer to stay just below them, and the view steals my breath away.
Students holler and call out around us, their voices barely audible above the wind, and I scan the landscape that spans far in all directions. Endless lush forest covers the land far around us, and massive rocky mountains sit to our left. In the distance toour right, I can only just see a dark blur against the horizon, like a smudge of ink in my vision.
“That there is the shadow city where Queen Krosia’s palace is situated,”Raith explains, pointing at the inky blur like he can read my thoughts.“It may seem small from here, but the entire city is a huge fortress of stone and shadows.”
I squint, staring into the distance, and the longer I look I swear I can see the inky blob moving.“Are the shadows made from the queen’s power?”
Raith’s body stiffens. “Yes. Queen Krosia is the main reason our forces have lasted this long. Without her magic protecting the city, I fear we would have been overrun a long time ago.”
“But what about the other originals? Surely the group of you would be able to hold things together,”I say.
“Krosia was the first human called to the shadow realm,”Raith answers simply.“She is more powerful than any one of us.”
“And that’s a good thing, right?”I ask, not really sure why he sounds so serious.
He’s silent for a moment.“We all have our place in this war.”It’s all he says, then he turns from the city, and Kazer places his back to the horizon as we face the other students.
For the next while, Raith gives instructions to the students, teaching them different flight maneuvers. Then everyone breaks off, practicing what he’s taught them. There are more screams as a couple students lose their perches and pitch to the ground below, but most of the students manage to stay seated on their creatures.
I enjoy the ride, relishing the feeling of the wind brushing against me, and the clean crisp air, but I grasp tighter to Raith when he leads Kazer into the clouds, and the other students are momentarily out of sight.
