Adara gave him a wry grin. “I stole it from Lady Mossi’s arboretum.”
Leap’s eyes bugged out. “No way! How did you manage it without getting caught?” The boy looked seriously impressed.
I snorted. “She had a distraction,” I said, thinking of how I’d smashed through the windows in dragon form and thrown the arboretum into chaos. Was I going to get any credit formycontribution?
“So these apples are rare, then?” Aria demanded, glancing between Adara and Leap. “And yet you gave it to me? Why?”
Adara shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “My mother is a healer. I’ve been helping her treat the sick and wounded since I was old enough to learn how to wrap wounds. It just…didn’t seem right, leaving you that way. Not when I’ve already seen what shadow sickness does to a person.”
Wynna huffed out an exasperated breath. “Well, we can’t eat her now,” she said, sounding thoroughly put out. “Not when we owe her a blood debt.”
“Technically I’m the only one who owes her a blood debt,” Aria said thoughtfully. “The rest of you could still eat her.”
“Still sittingrighthere,” Adara said, though she sounded more weary than annoyed. Now that the excitement from the battle was wearing off, exhaustion began to settle into my own bones.
“We won’t be eating her, but we will take her to the queen all the same.” Eleerie arched an eyebrow at Adara before looking at me. “She will be very interested to learn about a fae female who can use fire and ice magic, and her dragon companion.”
Adara winced, and I sighed—it was only a matter of time before they figured it out. “A dragon?” Leap squeaked. He stared at me, his expression caught somewhere between terror and delight as he took in my wings, scales, and claws. “I thought there weren’t any more of you left!”
“And yet here I am.” I sketched a sardonic bow, then turned back to Eleerie. “What if we don’t want to come with you?”
Eleerie gave me a wry smile. “You can refuse, but I don’t think you’re in any condition to resist. Besides, you’re dead on your feet, and the eyrie has warm and comfortable beds. The least we can do is feed you and offer you some rest.”
Adara and I exchanged a glance before she rose to her feet. “We will take you up on your offer,” she said, dusting the snow off her knees with a smile. “After all, few fae have seen the inside of a harpy’s eyrie and lived to tell about it. I’d love to be an exception.”
20
Adara
“So, how exactly does this cloud thing work?”
Leap rolled his eyes at me as we sailed through the air, following the harpies to their eyrie. Since Einar couldn’t shift right now and we were too heavy for the harpies to carry, Leap had offered to give us a ride on his cloud. I’d been skeptical initially, since it only seemed wide enough to hold Leap by himself, but the puffy cloud had drawn a few larger tufts from the other clouds to itself, expanding until it was wide enough to seat all three of us.
“She’s not acloud thing,” Leap said as we soared past a herd of mountain goats. I stared in amazement as the shaggy-haired animals hung vertically on the cliff-side, grazing from the leafy plants that clung to the rocky soil. “Her name is Cirra, and she’s my cloud familiar.”
“Cloud familiar?” I glanced down at the puffy cloud below us, noticing for the first time that it was a little different from the other clouds. Not just because it was puffier and dense enough to hold our weight, but because the vapor had a faint gold tinge to it, like something had dipped it in sunshine many, many years ago. “What is that?”
“They’re cloud spirits,” Einar grumbled from behind us. He sat cross-legged with his arms folded over his broad chest, a sullen look on his handsome face. He was clearlyunhappy with the current arrangement, and I suspected that under other circumstances he would have rather died than accept a cloud ride from an air fae. “The air fae’s lightning riders use them instead of wings to fly. They have minds of their own and are impossible to destroy, even with fire. I’ve tried evaporating one and the damned thing just reformed again and caught its rider before I could kill him.”
The cloud vibrated angrily at this, and Leap glanced over his shoulder at Einar. “It’s probably better if you don’t talk about trying to kill cloud spirits while you’re riding one,” he said. “Cirra has been known to burst into rain when her feelings are hurt.” He stroked a hand along the edge of the cloud and crooned, “There, there, Cirra. He’s just a crotchety old dragon reliving his glory days. You don’t need to pay him any mind.”
“I amnota crotchety old dragon,” Einar growled, and Leap and I both suppressed our snickers.
We crested a mountain ridge, and the eyrie came into view. A stone building that looked like a cluster of towers tucked into the side of a verdant mountain, it was built of rough, moss-covered stone that blended seamlessly into its surroundings. I spotted several harpies perched on the roof ledges and battlements, their hawk-like eyes pinned on us as we approached. They gave us suspicious looks, but said nothing as we followed the three harpies escorting us through one of the many large, arched windows set at intervals along the length of the towers.
We landed inside what looked like the entrance to a communal hall, with a huge, roaring hearth, furs on the floors, and rough-hewn wooden tables scattered throughout. Several harpies were sitting at the tables drinking from tankards, and they looked over at us in unison as we walked in.
“Eleerie,” one of them said, getting to her taloned feet. Her pitch black feathers were a sharp contrast against her bluish-white skin, and the skulls on her shoulders had black daggers painted on their cheekbones. A scowl pinched her angular features as she approached us. “Why are you bringing more fae pets into the eyrie? Don’t we have enough extra mouths to feed?”
She shot Leap a dirty look, who stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation. “Hey,” he protested. “I earn my keep around here.”
“These are honored guests, Rachis,” Eleerie said sternly. “These two helped us fight off a shadow creature attack, and they saved Aria’s life.”
Rachis tossed her feathered head, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Even so, we are not a fae sanctuary. The fae are our enemy, and have been since the beginning of our history. This one should be dinner, and this one…” she licked her lips as she looked Einar up and down, a lustful gaze lighting her yellow eyes. “Well, I’ve already raised my hatchlings, but I have a daughter who would love to take him.” She glanced over her shoulder at a harpy sitting at the table with pearl-grey feathers, who was staring at Einar with a ravenous look on her face.
A surge of jealousy reared up inside me, and I found myself stepping in front of Einar before I could stop myself. “You can’t have him.”
Einar choked.
