He didn’t waste time with more words. He simply turned, pulling her beside him and striding fast as he led her away from his room with its maps and plans and one lonely armchair. She strode beside him, matching his pace, knowing the twists and turns of the castle corridors as well as he did. She smiled at him as they walked, and he walked even faster.
They reached the base of the Tower of the Weave, and he nodded to the guards there. “Please send a runner to Captain Ryland and let him know that I’m going out.” Ryland would already be on duty and was more than capable of managing the castle for the night. And if he wasn’t, if the entire castle crumbled to dust in their absence, so be it.
Luka and Izzy climbed the stairs side by side to emerge onto the ramparts that ran along the western side of the castle. Thehigh stone walkways, protected by battlements, merged into the steep side of the mountain, forming an impenetrable barrier from below. On the near side of the walkway, overlooking the sprawling city, was a wide, circular platform built especially for royal drakes.
The pair of guards watching this stretch of the ramparts turned, per long tradition, one to face the city and one into the castle garden, giving the drakes on the platform a semblance of privacy.
I feel something….His drake’s hackles rose.
Luka paused, searching the battlements. There were eyes on them, that was certain, but nothing moved. No one stepped out of their assigned place.
“What did you feel?” he muttered under his breath.
I’m not sure.
Luka lifted his face and let his beast taste the wind. There was leather and weapon oil, the tang of spice from the market, flowers in the gardens—waterblossom and forest bride flowers were sweet and pungent in the night air—intertwined with the smoke of the torches, and through it all, the warm scent of Izabel. But nothing that raised any alarm.
It’s gone.
He hesitated briefly, torn between looking for whatever his beast had scented and flying away with Izzy.
Fly away with Izzy. Obviously.
Luka took one last look around—but saw nothing out of place—as Izzy busied herself with choosing a leather harness and soft saddle. Perhaps it was just the remnants of his fear and rage from earlier making him see danger where there was none.
Izzy picked one of the heavy wool cloaks from a peg on the wall of the small stone enclosure built into the side of the castle tower. She’d been here before with her brother many times. Never with Luka.
She stepped into the harness and adjusted the fit while he quickly turned and stripped. He placed his armor in his personal trunk set into the wall, but he kept his boots, breeches, shirt, and several sharp daggers, packing them neatly into a large leather satchel designed especially for a drake to carry.
He strode naked into the center of the platform, scales already spreading over his spine, as his beast preened, far too aware of the flush rising on Izzy’s cheeks.
Beyond the ring of torchlight, the night seemed especially dark. The stars were fogged by wisps of creamy cloud scudding past, and the moon had not yet risen. The cool breeze tugged him toward the sky, while the heat and power of the mountain spread like lava through his veins. Somewhere deep in its roots, Mount Nabas was made of fire, and it sang through him, calling him.
Luka lowered himself to his knees and prayed as he always did, offering his gratitude for this moment. Even though it was fraught with danger, even though it was doomed to end in just a few hours, he had this time with Izabel.
And then the magic found him. His beast roared. His spine arched and cracked, and power surged through him like fire through dry grass as he shifted in an agonizing rush. He spread his wings wide, and his beast threw back its head and bellowed into the night.
Izabel strode forward, smiling up at him. His beast immediately shoved his snout into her neck, scenting her. He pushed as close as he could, nuzzling her hair, purring loudly.
Izzy reached up to stroke her hands along his scaled neck before moving to fit the soft saddle to his back. He held out a foreleg to help her climb on and waited while she clipped on the harness. When he was sure she was safe, he stepped up to the ramparts, lifting his wings to test the air.
The wind was brisk, teasing at his scales. The city was laid out below him, a thriving mass of humanity spreading all the way to the sea. Beside him, always calling, was the mountain. And just for tonight, Izzy was with him.
“Ready?” he rumbled.
Izzy leaned forward, pressed against his huge back. “Always.”
His muscles bunched and stretched as he flung himself into the air, beating his wings to catch the updraft, heated through the day, now rising toward the mountain. He caught the current and used it to climb high above the castle, following the familiar ravines up the side of the Nabasberg.
Izzy was a warm weight on his back, her presence both soothing and exhilarating, as he drove them up even faster. She laughed, the sound ringing clear and joyful in the cold air, and he couldn’t have stopped the rumbling purr that filled his body even if he wanted to.
He banked steeply, loving her gasp of delight, and soared them out across the city and over the sea. He turned in the air and swooped into a steep dive, racing all the way down toward the salty swells, only to even out just above the surface.
His drake bellowed in delight, filling their mind with pictures of coming back in high summer, diving into the icy water and back out again to float with Izzy on the swells, drying in the sunshine. It couldn’t be, but it was a beautiful picture.
Luka dipped his claws into a frothy wave as Izzy shrieked with happy glee, and then he beat his wings to lift them once more and soar toward the Nabasberg. He climbed high over the flat mesa and past the rocky ridges that led away from the city, following the hidden slopes on the distant side, taking her to his secret place.
Chapter
