I launched myself at him. He caught me, spinning me about and setting me back on my feet. Then his lips were on mine, and I lost myself to the feel of his fingers in my hair and his body against mine.
Someone cleared their throat.
I pulled free with a sheepish smile. Ignoring Kiva’s smirk, I dropped to my knees beside a pale gold sun crow egg, running my fingers along the silken shell. A quiet humming greeted me, the prickle of magic flowing through me.
Caliza knelt beside me, something uncertain in her face. Tentatively, she brushed her fingers along an earth crow shell. “I can feel something,” she said. “It feels…alive.”
A slow smile split across my face. “You can feel its magic.”
Her eyes widened, and she pressed her hand flat against the egg. For a moment, she simply sat like that. Not as the queen of a struggling kingdom, with a bloody past behind her and an uncertain future before her. Nor as the daughter who’d never been enough for a woman who asked too much.
She was just a girl, enraptured by a dream.
Then she let out a slow, heavy breath, and the weight of years went with it. Her free hand went to mine, squeezing it gently. I squeezed it back, then stood, leaving her to her newfound power.
As I rose, Kiva let out a whoop and darted across the room, catching me in her arms. Her grin was infectious. I laughed and smiled up at Estrel, whose face was wet with tears. She laid a hand on my shoulder.
“We can bring them back,” I told her. The words broke something open inside me. But it was a good sort of breaking. It was like the hatching of an egg, giving way to something beautiful.
Something new.
* * *
A gentle breeze tousled my braid. It slipped against my skin and tugged at my clothes as if begging me to come and play with it. The sunlight glinted off my feathered bracelet, a familiar, comfortable weight once more.
Res stood beside me on the landing platform, his wing slightly lifted to give me better access to the saddle I was securing. He tugged incessantly at the cord, demanding we fly.
As I did the last tie and stepped back, Ericen stepped onto the landing platform, looking about as comfortable with his decision as a man balancing on a cliff edge.
He’d told us how he’d put in motion the steps necessary to establish a ruling council in Illucia. Never again would a single person wield the power Razel had once held. But the transition would take time, and he wouldn’t be able to visit me until it was complete.
Good thing I had a magical road that could transport me between kingdoms. Once we rebuilt it, of course.
Since Caliza and I were the only ones who could operate them, we’d adhered to each kingdom’s wishes regarding their use. Trendell, Jindae, and the Ambriels had all agreed to leave them functioning, as it made transporting supplies and support their way a lot easier, but they were in the process of creating guidelines for their operation.
Ericen smiled, pulling me from my thoughts. He stopped a short way away. “This feels higher than last time,” he remarked.
I raised an eyebrow. “These platforms do have a nasty habit of shifting places.”
He snorted sharply, focusing on me rather than the sheer drop on either side of him. “Kiva said you’d be here.”
I blinked. Kiva had willingly told him where I was?
I stepped toward him, my smile growing as I asked in a low voice, “Well, now that you’ve found me, what do you want with me?”
His face flushed, and I warmed at the sight. “The same thing I’ve always wanted,” he said softly, and suddenly, I felt three times my size. Ericen had a way of making me feel that way, as if I were so much larger than myself.
It’d taken me a while to realize that the same fire that lived in him lived in me. Now, all I wanted was to let it burn.
“I see.” I closed the last of the distance between us. The scarlet in his cheeks deepened. “And exactly how far will you go to get what you want?” I leaned closer and felt more than heard his intake of breath.
His fingers brushed my face. “Anywhere.”
My lips brushed his, and then I leaned back, grinning. “Over here?” I asked, stepping toward the edge.
He lurched, as if my presence had been holding him upright, but moved after me.
I stepped back again. “What about here?”
