He pulls me a little closer toward him. “I know it very well,” he growls into my ear, kissing my neck.
“We need to show the people of this realm that their well-being, their welfare, and their safety are our most important priority. So don’t you see? It has to be us this time.”
He groans, releasing me and my coat. “I hate it when you talk sense, sweetheart.”
“No, you hate it when I’m right and you’re wrong.” I grin at him.
He shakes his head, kisses my mouth, and then I take his hand and we walk back out to the palace courtyard where the others are already waiting for us.
There’s a ring of soldiers, officials and other well-wishers including Fly, Arabella, Blaze, and the two new little dragons – fluttering around and causing mischief as Beaufort’s sister claps her hands in delight and my dragon billows smoke in annoyance.
Arabella and Blaze have taken a strong liking to one another, and I’m being plagued daily by requests to take Arabella on a flight around the castle grounds on the back of the dragon. It’s clear she’s hoping, with me gone away on this quest, she’ll be able to ride Blaze alone. And I’ve made it clear to Blaze that that is strictly forbidden.
I’m not sure if either of them are going to obey those orders while we’re gone, though.
We say our farewells, squeezing Arabella, kissing Fly, patting Blaze, and reissuing advice and instructions about the two new baby dragons. And then, in a whip of air, the five of us displace back to where the border once stood between our realm and the demons’ – the place where the magic barrier once protected us.
It’s gone now, although there are remnants of it sparkling on the ground, great broken fragments, and the air here is dusty and dark.
“So we really are doing this?” Dray asks.
It’s not only Beaufort who’s tried to convince me it’s not necessary. Dray isn’t exactly a fan of returning to the demon wastelands either. He peers out across the landscape toward the grayness that lies beyond and screws up his forehead.
“Looks different somehow, don’t you think?”
And as we stride forward, crossing the point where the two realms once met, it’s clear he’s right.
It’s not like it was the last time we were here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still nasty. Just not as nasty as it was.
That weight of despair, that gloominess that hung in the air, does not seem so vast or so potent. The dust seems to have dispersed and is no longer so thick, swirling in the air around us.
The five of us stop, surveying the landscape.
And then Fox says, “Look.”
He’s tipped his head back and he’s staring up into the sky.
The four of us copy his movements and see immediately what he means. The sun’s rays are struggling feebly through the thick layer of clouds, and some of them have succeeded in squeezing through.
That too is different.
The sun, the stars, the moon had all been invisible from this place last time.
“Something’s changed,” I say, stating the obvious. “What can it mean?”
“The light’s been restored now,” Fox says. “Maybe that’s why.”
We scan the horizons and the skies, looking for signs of demons, but there are none yet.
We know where we need to go this time. There’s no need for a long trek across this bleak landscape and I’d rather avoid the Valley of Bones anyway. So we link hands, not keen to lose anyone out here.
“Are you ready?” Fox asks not just me, but the others too. We all nod. “We need to be ready to strike immediately. We mustn’t give them any chance.”
We all nod again.
It’s funny, but faced with a task like this, months, weeks, maybe even days ago, my belly would have been full of fear.I wouldn’t have admitted it, but I would have been frightened, scared of the consequences, fearful of all the things that could go wrong. But I’m no longer afraid of anything anymore, really. Not when I have these four men by my side. Not after everything. I trust them implicitly with my heart, with my life. I know they feel the same. And I know together we are unstoppable.
We displace again. This time back to Crow’s Fault. To the place where we’d faced the Madame. To the place where she’d held Fox captive. To the place where that savage tornado of dark shadow magic loomed large over the landscape.
