“Samryn,” Alaryk said. “He’s…warning me.”
Just then, in the distance, I heard bells ringing, hard clangs that echoed throughout Grymia.
“Fuck,” Alaryk growled, rising with me in his arms until he righted me. Already lacing up his trews and snatching his tunic off the floor quickly, his movements jerky and hurried.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a rush, going to my boots by the door.
“You stay here,” he growled. “We’re under attack.”
“What?” I breathed.
Shouts and commands funneled inside the dwelling when Alaryk tugged open the door. A breeze whistled inside. It was dark, only a half-moon illuminating the quiet road beyond.
“Stay here,” he growled. “Promise me.”
But I did no such thing, and he was already out the door, racing into the darkness beyond.
The hatchery,I thought, a twinge of fear filling my insides.
I couldn’t break a promise I’d never made, after all.
And so I ran out the door, my eyes on the glowing dome in the distance.
Chapter 30
AMAIA
“Amaia,” Syris gasped out when she saw me, relief in her eyes. “Help me with the eggs—we have to bring them down.”
“Down where?” I asked, already going to a Rythback egg, its glittering shell hard beneath my touch.
Syris was in her nightdress. The incubation door was open to the main hallway, and I saw Ulin race down it, could hear Tarkosh giving orders.
“There’s a cellar in the kitchens,” she told me. “Hidden.”
I nodded. I didn’t ask any more questions, not until the eggs were to safety. I felt a strange sense of calm overtake me. I had a purpose. And while I worried about Alaryk, about what could possibly be attacking Grymia, I knew that he would be safe. My priority was the hatchlings, getting them secure. Then I would figure out what came next.
Even still, I felt my magic rise around me like a simmering veil, at the ready. Such a strange, new thing, but I felt more comfortable with it around me.
Syris gasped when she looked over. “Amaia, your eyes…”
“Ignore it,” I told her. “Here.”
I passed her the Rythback egg,and she tucked it into a satchel, one likely insulated since I saw glowing starstone fragments nestled at the base.
The light of my heartstone magic—glowing in my eyes—illuminated the incubation room in the darkness. But after Syris’s initial surprise, she paid it no mind, and we quickly gathered the remaining eggs, placing each one, carefully insulated in one of the enclosed satchels, in the hallway, where Ulin was transporting them down to the cellar.
Working together, we got the incubation room cleared out.
“Where’s Moak?” I asked.
“Getting the hatchlings down with Tarkosh.”
I nodded. I followed her to the kitchens, seeing Moak with a leash and chain around Kyr, trying to get him down the stairs of the hidden hatch that had been covered up by a rug.
“Kyr,” I rasped. When he saw me, he stopped fighting against Moak, prowling toward me instead. He was too big to carry, even for Moak, who seemed relieved to see me, handing me the leash and chain.
“Get him down—he’s the last one,” he told me.
