“No, it’s a valley. Super pretty place. It’s where all thelunatheraused to grow in the past. I mean, there’s some there now or I wouldn’t know the scent. I love that place.” She sighs. “I should go. I just really wanted to meet you. Don’t listen to my parents. I don’t and you shouldn’t either. But don’t worry about me. I can handle whatever happens when I get back home.”
Aisling nods at Leo, who’s standing in the hallway. He comes to the side of the portal.
She pricks the middle of her palm and places her hand on the stone. “You would think they could have come up with another way to open this darn thing by now.”
I nod. There’s a pit in the bottom of my stomach. She’s such a vibrant young girl. More naïve than I am. Or ever was. Kieren has every right to want to protect her. Reckless doesn’t even begin to describe her. She steps toward the darkness.
“Be careful,” I say.
“Of course. I don’t want to go too fast, or I’ll fall off the cliff on the other side. Having wings would be so much more useful.” She steps into the void, and it shuts behind her. Leaving me blinking at Leo.
Fall off the cliff on the other side?
“I should tell Roark,” I say.
He cocks his head to the side. “Perhaps.” He closes his eyes and opens them again. “She is home safe. Perhaps you could wait. For Aisling’s sake?”
“Okay.” I give him a slow nod and pick up my notebooks.There’s a twist in my stomach that this will come back to bite me in the ass.
Leo disappears down the corridor. I turn to look for the stones, but they’re gone.
66
ROARK
Raine’s door has been locked for the last twenty-four hours, but she’s not in there. I’ve heard her sneaking around the old servant passageways. The door to the collection is locked too.
I give it a good solid knock. I can hear her moving around in there. “Raine? Please let me talk to you.”
Kieren and Evander have taken Aisling back to Crest Wing. Even though Aisling begged to see Raine. She was pretty upset. But then, she’s young and believes in love. Aisling still believes that everything always works out in the end. Something I know isn’t true.
“Raine?”
There’s a thud of a cabinet door inside the room. There’s also an echo of footfalls coming down the south corridor. Leopold with a tray of food. He stares at me. “If you would like mademoiselle to eat, it would be best if you weren’t in the hallway.”
“Yes, of course,” I say to him and round the corner, stopping out of sight.
“All the way, Mr. Lang,” Leopold says, clearing his throat.
“Yes, of course.” I trudge down the main corridor to the sound of the side courtyard bells ringing. It’s not often that someone rings the door at Cloud Rift.
Long steps take me through the castle, past the dragon’s eye foyer and down the corridor past the circular stone stairs to the side door. There are three young women, all wearing uniforms, like the one Wren wore when she showed up, with tied ascots and name tags declaring them Ellen, Kate, and Chanda.
“Holy shit. You’re tall,” Ellen says.
“She means we’re here to fetch Raine,” Kate corrects her.
“What they said.” Chanda tries to smile through her red lipstick. She gives her head a little shake and then crosses her arms over her waist. “I mean—Raine is leaving with us. Show us to her.”
“Better do what she says, tall man,” Ellen says. “She’s giving you her badly behaving passenger stance. You should be scared, very scared.”
“I am,” I reply, and I’m not entirely lying. I believe this tiny human would stand up to me even in my dragon form. “Before you take Raine away, I request to speak with her.”
“No,” Chanda says.
“Not even if it’s to tell her I love her and I don’t care that she’s not our fated thunder mate, I want her to stay?”
“Oh—” the three women say at the same time.
