She wrapped her arms around mine and leaned against me. Feeling her there only made it harder to think, but I took a deep breath and forced my mind to clear. Wraiths rarely ever breeched the bloodmist. I was being paranoid.
“Are you sure you want to do this,” I said.
“Are you kidding?” she asked. “This is amazing. I can’t wait to see the Realm from this view.”
Her excitement was contagious, warming me in ways I did not know were possible. She made me crave being near her. I breathed in the smell of her hair, letting it remind me this was worth vying for. She was worth it.
“Ryth’anor,” I said, “rytun.”
The wind shifted, lifting Anna’s hair from her shoulders as Ryth’anor spread his wings. We were thrust back as he jumped to the ledge. Lowering himself, we launched into the sky. Wind burst all around us as his wings beat us higher and higher. He was powerful, even amongst other Raven Hawks. Anna’sentire body tensed as he began to soar, the weightlessness of his descent lifting her against me. My everi and the mount held up firmly to him but the first ride was always shocking. Anna’s hands gripped my arm tightly, even as Ryth’anor’s wings began to beat steadily as he soared over the mountains. The sound of the wind against my ears was soothing. This was one of my favorite ways to spend time growing up. Mages aside, the Realm was truly beautiful. The landscape was imbued with color—golden trails through the mountains created by mages long since passed and flowering trees with luminescent purples and pinks that glowed. Ruins of ancient places used for some ritual or spell dotted the land below us, their power preserving far longer than any structures in Anna’s world. Villages of outer-lying mage communities began to come into view and some of the children playing in the fields would look up excitedly at the Raven Hawk, waving and trying to get our attention.
As Ryth’anor carried us high above the lands, I felt when Anna relaxed against me. Her soft breasts touched my arm as I held her close. That night with her in the tower had been far more intense than I expected. I had had moments I thought might feel such a way but had never been more than fulfillment of desire. Such bliss had eluded me and I wished to stay with her here like this. How I wished I had that option.
As we neared Divide’s Edge, my calm faded. I guided Ryth’anor to a remote, rocky alcove. We would have to enter on foot. I did not need anyone at the gate questioning why one of the Blood Mage Elite’s mounts was in Divide’s Edge as it was certainly a rare occasion.
We dismounted and Ryth’anor was content to be left alone.
Anna and I shared a look as she gazed upon the city in the distance.
“Not exactly a resort area, is it?” she muttered, surveying the barren dirt and rocky features of a dying land. Gray skies stretched until the bloodmist took over.
The Bloodmist Void was clearly visible now beyond the city as we walked the bumpy road. Anna stared into the shrouded depths with a look somewhere between shock and horror. The surrounding lands of Divide’s Edge were scattered with abandoned structures. Some were from obvious aging but others had clearly been destroyed in battle. What little fertile land they had was poorly irrigated with much of the crops struggling to reach maturity.
Anna was absorbed in her surroundings and stayed close to my side. As we approached the gate to Divide’s Edge, I instinctively jerked my hood down, ensuring no one would recognize the Prince of the Falls. The road was busy with traders hauling carts, their horses clacking across the stone and dirt road.
The La’ Thenyen soldiers’ uniforms were worn and tattered. Most of them sported full beards and wary eyes. They were in full leather armor, with heavy bows and arrows strapped to their backs. No one even cast us an odd glance; two strangers passing through was nothing to these war-hardened soldiers.
“Why do they look so miserable?” Anna asked.
“Most of the soldiers here spend long rotations away from home, guarding the Void. None of them want to be here,” I said.
We passed through the market area where stalls offered limited varieties of produce that looked a few days old at best, and stalls stocked with poorly made weapons.
“Get your protection serum!” a vendor shouted in Valyrian.
Anna eyed him warily. I wondered if she understood him.
“What is that?” she asked.
“He is selling vials of some kind of protection enchantment.”
“To protect from the…?” she asked.
“Yes—the wraiths. I imagine that is what he is telling people,” I said. “It is probably mudroot and yesterday’s ale.”
Anna grimaced, watching a woman wearing a dirty brown cloak with her hood drawn, crouched around a young boy, guiding him with one hand draped across his shoulders.
“Do people live here?” she asked.
“Yes. Occasionally, the soldiers bring their families because they have no other choice. But the original clans from this area have been here for a thousand years—Caelan’s family, the Feanors, are one of them. The northern part of the city, while still nothing like the capital cities, fares better than the lower sector near the Void-walks. That’s where the Feanors live.”
“Void-walks? What’s that?”
“That is where we are going,” I said, pointing ahead of us.
The haunting red shroud of the Bloodmist Void was near enough to feel it, like a subtle ache that was getting worse and worse. It riddled itself through the muscles, carving into bones like a poison. The longer one spent here, the worse it got and the more it became a part of you.
“Are these soldiers okay?” Anna asked.
