Neo dropped altitude then, and it felt like I left my stomach behind somewhere in the sky above us. Immediately afterward, though, I could take a deeper breath than I had before, and as the oxygen reached my brain, I realized just how much I’d been lacking in air.
“Better?” Talon whispered in my ear, his lips brushing my skin. His deep voice sent a thrill through me, and all I could do was nod.
I turned to glance up at him, and his gaze met mine, and the way those bright blue eyes reflected the sky around us captivated me. They dropped to my lips, and heat rose in my cheeks. I could feel his heart beating strongly through my back. I had to tear my gaze away.
Why did I feel so safe with this man? He was cousin to the emperor who had allied himself with a monster, and yet, even in this cold environment, warmth flooded me any time his gaze met mine.
The mountains loomed higher above us now, and we were even with the heavily wooded forests. I let go of the pommel and stretched out my arms, letting the wind dance over them. If I closed my eyes, it was like that primal dream of flying that everyone had, though we’d never once been creatures with wings. I was weightless and freer than I’d ever been, even at a full gallop.
The wind whispered in my ear, and I found it hard to ignore.You belong here,it said.
I shouldn’t have loved it. But I couldn’t help the way my soul soared along with the eagle’s wings, even as my mind tried to remind me that I was born a Child of Earth. Was it my sire’s blood, then, that reveled in this? The longer I stayed here, themore I wondered if it was less because of my resiliency that I was able to acclimate and more because of my secret heritage. The wind spirit had said my sire was a wind caller like me, and it would seem none of the Zephyrians knew of such a power.
Unfortunately, the only one who could give me the answers I really wanted was miles away, and I had to immediately push away the thought of her before my eyes teared up.
Talon was quiet behind me, and for once, I didn’t find his silence uncomfortable or strange. There was something about soaring high above the trees, between craggy mountains, and through a bright blue sky that demanded a hushed reverence.
I didn’t want to break it with talk of Altair and that demonic creature I had heard—not yet. I pushed those thoughts aside for now and drank in the awe-inspiring sight of flying so far above the earth.
It made me think of the Earth Mother, and the origins of our people. I wondered if the Zephyrians had their own beliefs, their own origin stories. Before I could think about it, I’d opened my mouth to ask Talon. “Where do you believe your people come from?”
I turned my head to look back at him and found his gaze upward, toward the clouds. “Are you asking about our gods?”
“I am. I’m curious to see if it’s anything like ours.”
“I can still remember my mother teaching me about it when I was young,” he said, his voice a deep rumble behind me. The wind didn’t snatch at his words, as though it, too, was listening. “She tells it much better than I do.”
“That’s okay. I still want to hear it if you’re willing to tell it.”
“In the beginning, there was no earth, but only sky. The Lord of the Skies created us to live amongst the clouds, to fly without wings. But of course, we weren’t satisfied with that. So, he createdthe mountains, the forests, and the grasslands. He sent us to live amongst them, but then we longed for the skies. The Lord of the Skies took the sunlight as it pierced the clouds and wrought it into the first giant eagle. He wanted us to have the ability to soar amongst the stars once again.”
Sunlight and clouds. When I looked at Neo’s wings, blindingly golden in the rays of the sun, I could see why they thought that. “And were the people finally satisfied?” I glanced back at Talon.
The corners of his lips tipped up. “Are we ever?”
My people are,I thought.We didn’t start this war.
“There’s more to the story, but that’s the best I can do,” he said. “Now it’s only fair if you tell me yours.”
“Ours is more earth-centric, which I’m sure comes as no surprise,” I said with a wry smile. “We believe the Earth Mother brought forth the first Children by pouring her blood out upon the earth. She could have made us from her blood alone, but she wanted her children to be a part of the earth that would shelter and feed them. She gave the Children of Earth horses by forming them out of the wind—taking handfuls of earth of all colors and pouring it into the shape of a fleet-footed beast with the breath of the wind. They are our connection to the divine, meant to be our sisters in life, to lead us back to the Mother in the end.”
“Horses and earth instead of eagles and sky,” he said after a moment. “Makes sense.”
“But no dissatisfied people,” I said over my shoulder. “Just people thankful for the earth and their lives and their horses.”
“I can’t argue with that, though haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to explore beyond the grasslands? The mountains? The sky?”
I looked out across the sky now, reveling in the feeling of weightlessness as the wind danced through my hair.
“Of course not,” I lied.
Neo made a sound beneath us then, a high-pitched warble that sounded suspiciously like he was scoffing at me.
“Neo doesn’t believe you,” Talon said. “He knows you love flying too much.”
After a few more minutes of enjoying the wind in our faces, Talon leaned closer and said, “Are you ready to tell me why you were so upset earlier?”
My jaw tightened, and I closed my eyes for a moment against the flood of thoughts from the horrible night before. “I overheard Altair and Lord Heron speaking through the wall, and I found a hidden door that connects our rooms. I spied on them.”
