I didn’t think so.
Neither did the rest of the Elessarum.
Regardless, it was because of the Koron’s desire to eliminate all dissent from the realm that I was in the wilderness, cold and aching. All because I believed in nonviolence.
I cursed him throughout my restless sleep. Cursed the Korona too. Even went so far as to curse the Goddess and the Fates and all the other Gods that might be out there, ruling over other worlds, for their faithful followers’ fervent beliefs.
Until dawn came and a flash of white forced me to my feet.
8
Finding my little fugitive again was almosttooeasy. Ilae clicked in my ear, conveying Sylaira’s location some thirty minutes ahead of us, curled up in a small cave.
I cooed to him, stroking the feathers behind his antlers so that my fingers wouldn’t rip on the sharp vanes. He preened under my praise, silver eyes momentarily disappearing.
The sun hadn’t yet crept over the peaks of the Skala Mountains ahead of us, but every passing minute brought more light to the forest. Which would make hiding from us impossible for the Seer.
Disappointment curled around my heart, and I wasn’t sure why.
I jostled my shoulder, and Ilae took flight, hovering and waiting for instruction. Dragging in a breath, I dove into my well of magic and tugged white wings to my back.
“Lead,” I told Ilae as I lifted off the ground. He hummed low in his chest and twisted toward the canopy.
I had a duty to fulfill, and the sooner I returned with her and the others to Sivy, the better.
Sylaira’s pack bumped against my back as I leveled out, fingertips brushing the lush green treetops. With it brought a whiff of ghostflower.
That fucking scent…it did things to me. Things I hadn’t allowed myself to want in a long, long time. So focused had I been on keeping my sister’s position secure—on serving my realm—that my desires, my needs, had long gone unfulfilled.
As we flew, the first moment I glimpsed her played out over and over again in my mind. The flash of her silvery hair, nearly the same color as Ilae’s eyes. The pop of white that had rendered my magic ineffective. The graceful frame and lush feathers that carried her away from me.
My cock hardened against the tight buttons of my trousers.
Something about this female brought all of my suppressed desires roaring to the surface, impossible to ignore. I cursed myself for allowing the crack in my control to appear. Yet I couldn’t seal it, no matter how hard I tried.
Ilae clicked, drawing me out of the haze of lust. I blinked, and there was the rock wall he’d pressed into my mind. Flaring my wings, I slowed my approach, scanning the ground for any sign of the Seer. My bird dipped, a spear of crystal diving toward the ground. I followed, trusting his keen sight over my own.
The fall imbued me with the will to hunt, to chase, to claim. Wind screamed in my ears. I squinted against the rush, focusing on Ilae as my vision blurred.
He hummed again, leveling out sharply. I sailed past him, my frame much more difficult to slow. A clearingappeared ahead, along with an indent in the side of the mountain offering a semblance of shelter.
And at the fringe, silver flashed into the trunks. Ilae followed, sailing through the thick web of branches with ease.
“Do not lose her,” I snapped at him.
I needed to be closer to give him a mark. I needed to see her face so I could press it into his mind. A body, a few colors, an approximate size, those features were enough to get him halfway there. But for a truly accurate track, I needed a full, unique picture.
A feminine cry shattered the wood’s silence. Birds burst from their perches ahead of us. I redirected my path toward the disturbance.
But then a deer exploded out of the underbrush and headbutted me.
“Fuck,” I swore, crashing into a fallen log.
With a strangled cry, she moved on, a fawn bounding after her.
The Seer must have spooked the pair with her flight. I braced a hand on my ribs to support them, willing my innate healing magic to kick in faster so I didn’t lose Sylaira.
I scanned the treetops for Ilae, and when I didn’t spot him, I nudged his mind. He sent back an image of a doe—probably the same that had assaulted me—and her fawn, bounding through the forest.
