“Raja!” Kalani screamed.
He dropped, taking us with him.
Chapter 11
WHAT IN THE BLIZZARD IS GOING ON?
The world spun, the blizzard tearing at my skin like a thousand icy papercuts as we rushed toward the ground.
“Raja!” Kalani cried.
Whoosh!
Raja’s wings flared, and my stomach dipped as we leveled off for a beat before landing with a jarring jolt that rattled my bones. Ice swirled around us, thickening by the second.
Raja whinnied softly, falling forward on his knees.
We clambered off, and Kalani rushed to examine him. The snow beneath him was stained crimson, his side ripped open as if someone had taken a serrated blade and run it down his body. He looked up at Kalani with glassy eyes before keeling onto his wounded side.
“No. No!” Kalani threw herself onto him. “Raja, please no.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth, eyes welling at the sight of the widening patch of smoking crimson beneath the chaysavar.
The beat of epic wings rose over the howling of the storm, and lethal shadows circled above. Fuck. The blizzard provided temporary cover, but who knew how long that would last?
I shouted over the raging storm, “Kalani. We need to get out of the open before the blizzard clears and they see us.” I reached for her, but she shook me off, stumbling away from me and Raja’s deathly still form.
My heart shrank at the devastation on her face, but the next moment, her expression smoothed out. Cold. Determined. She nodded once, indicated for me to follow, then broke into a jog.
I matched her stride, the snow sucking at my boots making me work hard for each step. A rock face peeked out at us from between flurries of snow. Hopefully we could find a cave or a nook to shelter in.
Were the nagrata still above us?
A horrific roar tore through the howl of the wind, and the earth shook as a nagrata landed, blocking our path to potential shelter.
We spun to head the other way.
Thud.
The second nagrata landed in our path, spraying us with snow.
We skidded to a halt, gazes locking, my panic echoed in her eyes.
The nagratas’ chests bloomed bright blue through the flurries of snow.
Kalani slammed into me, driving us out from between the beasts and knocking us into the snow. The world blazed electric blue behind her.
Fire.
Blue fucking fire.
“Up!” Kalani grabbed at me, and I scrambled to my feet, pulse galloping like a wildebeest. We ran deeper into the whiteout, the thunder of pursuit at our backs. Rage-fueled roars echoed around us.
Where the fuck were we going? Which direction? My only point of reference was Kalani’s dark figure. With a mournful wail, the storm took that from me, swallowing her whole.
“Kalani!” The wind tore her name from my lips and swallowed that too.
Fuck.
