It was in the shape of a grand dragon. Its colossal wings beating in the air, scales shimmering from each side as they swung up and down. The dragon hovered in the air, merely waiting for us to fly right into it.
“Turn, Penelope! Turn!” I shrieked, shifting in my flying saddle for a hard-right maneuver. “Do it now!”
Penelope jerked at my fear-filled scream.
Her wings tilted immediately. We canted to the right.
Wind shoved my red locks across my face. I held on brutally to her mane and narrowed my eyes through the strands of my hair.
I bent low over my Fae-gift, shouting, “Fly faster!”
The dragon followed instantly, a slight shift in the air tickling the nape of my neck. The wind quickly changed directions with each flap of its wings bearing down on us, slowing our progress through the sky. It was directly behind us now, a predator playing with its prey, not swallowing us whole as it most certainly could.
Penelope neighed in confusion, tucking her legs up under her body, and diving down through the sky where the wind might be easier to navigate. My Fae-gift did not understand what was happening, the air around her battling her efforts to do as ordered, whipping at us in all directions, shoving us to and fro.
Iscreamedwhen a clawed foreleg ripped me from my Fae-gift, the flying saddle easily sliced by deadly talons—my Fae-gift’s right flank carved deep in three jagged gashes. My chest squeezed tight inside the cruel hold, and I inhaled quickly for oxygen, my lungs bursting for it. I gazed with wide, fearful eyes at my Fae-gift that was held tightly inside the dragon’s other foreleg, the diamond crusted shimmer pinching tight around her—her neigh of fright violent in my ears.
I wiggled my fingers down by my hips, my arms brutally crushing my sides. My legs dangled free in the air, shoved back from the force of flyingfast. I gazed straight ahead, frozen in terror, my royal firepower burning bright inside me.
I almost released it, panic threatening to override all sense.
I sucked air into my constricted lungs, somehow unharmed from this horrifying debacle. I focused on what I knew. I would not attack the dragon. That would be fatal in the air, just as it had been for the original shifter. I did not have wings to fly, and I would plummet to my death.
My attention shot to Penelope when she became silent. Her beautiful, black head slumped down, landing on the dragon’s claws. My Fae-gift did not move after that.
“What have you done?” I screamed in rage, my royal firepower emerging in my eyes. Red and orange flames flickered inside my gaze. “She did nothing to you!”
The dragon turned its diamond crusted, shimmering face in my direction as it flew through the afternoon’s sun-filled sky. Its head drew closer to my person in a flash, and its jaws opened wide near my face. The air shimmered molten gold inside its mouth, its breath rushing straight at my face.
My scream of terror quickly died. I feltgood.
I blinked with lazy eyes, my head bouncing back and forth in the wind. I gawked at the dragon, slack-jawed. I kept repeatedly blinking at its face that stayed close, the dragon watching me as I watched it.
I slurred in awe, “Did you just drug me?”
There should be something wrong with that, but I couldn’t quite figure out why. I tried searching my mind for that reason, a tickle at the back of my thoughts, but I kept coming up blank. Truly, I was soaring through the air with a magnificent beast, and it was a lovely day outside. It was slightly chilly in the wind, but this sweet dragon was keeping my arms warm with its adorable, clawed foreleg.
And the dragon’s scalessparkled. I wish I sparkled.
My eyes drifted shut, and my head fell back.
What a marvelous time I was having. It was a good day.
CHAPTER NINE
Confession of a king:
The elven bitch has unknowingly brightened my day. I will get to taste blood soon. It will fall from my tiger fangs and drip onto my tongue, where I will tip my head back and drink deeply.
What is mine is mine.
It will learn that very soon.
And I will laugh in its face with its blood on my lips.
Today is not at all abysmal.
“WHERE IN THEFae fuck are they?” I growled, resituating myself on my pegasus, anger boiling in my gut. I stared at the swiftly lightening sky, the sun almost touching the horizon. There were no clouds to be found, so the view was clear—and no flying Fae-gifts were in sight. “It is almost daybreak.”
