As we spear toward the highest peak where the white temple huddles within the trees, I make out Fortuna already settled on the lush grass, her head raised and attention on us, Cassia standing beside her, one hand on her saddle as if she has only just dismounted, her head tilted to the sky.
Antony’s voice sounds again, low but clear. “I need to intercept Rohan before he reaches Cassia. Otherwise, he won’t hear a word I say.”
With that, he unclicks the circlet from around his wrist, separating us and leaving himself free of it.
As I wrap the loose end of the chain around my arm, he says, “Stay with Azul until I return to you.”
“I will.”
The moment we soar toward the ground, Antony leaps from Azul, dropping the distance to the lush grass below us, landing deftly, and racing to stand between Cassia’s position on the ground and Rohan’s approaching eagle.
Cassia darts forward, but Antony’s firmly upraised hand stops her in her tracks. Even from the sky, I can see how hard she’s trembling, seeming unable to stay still, beginning to pace back and forth.
Like Antony, Rohan doesn’t wait for his eagle to touch down, leaping from the bird’s back and landing at a run, stopping only when Antony reaches for his axe and roars, “Halt, Rohan.”
Damn, but it looks like Rohan is willing to fight his way past Antony to get to Cassia now, no matter what injuries Antony might inflict.
Craning my neck, trying to keep them all in my sights, I can only watch as Antony launches himself forward, seizes Rohan’s defensively upraised arm, and speaks rapidly to him.
I can’t hear what Antony says, but Rohan stiffens.
Then he gives Antony a single nod.
Antony finally releases him, and Rohan doesn’t give Antony another moment of his time.
Neither does Cassia, sprinting toward Rohan, hurling herself into his arms. I’m close enough now to hear her sobs as he carries her into the temple, where they disappear fromsight.
Silence falls as Azul folds his wings and I try to catch my breath, try to stem the burn of tears behind my eyes, pressing my hand to my heart, trying to ease the ache. Too much heartache.
Antony approaches me quietly, reaching up to help me to the ground before softly clicking the circlet back into place. “We’ll guard the front of the temple for a while. Make sure nobody followed us. Keep them safe.”
He draws me toward the white stone bench near the fountain I drank from last time, both the bench and fountain cast into shade from the temple’s roof.
Stretching toward the fountain, I quench my thirst before taking a seat.
Antony remains standing, a sentinel once more, clothed in steel and carrying the knife of an assassin, along with his own iron weapons, but this time, he’s standing guard for his sister.
Out in the sunlight, Azul hunches low to the grass, settling himself to our right.
Fortuna eyes him from the other side of the clearing, her beak raised, giving Azul a haughty look, but I can’t stop my smile when she shuffles a little closer to him. Then a little closer still.
I don’t blame her. There’s something so fiercely appealing about that blue beast of a bird.
For a few moments, I breathe in the quiet. A rare peace. Before I’m compelled to break it.
Softly, I ask Antony, “What did you say to Rohan?”
Antony’s chest rises and falls with an audibly deep breath. “I told him to heal my sister’s heart.”
I wait, knowing there’s more because a command to heal Cassia’s heart would not have made Rohan jolt like he did.
“And I told him to take my sister and get the fuck out of mykingdom. If he shows his face at Galla’s celebration, I’ll kill Cassia instead of him.”
Antony’s green eyes twinkle menacingly at me.
If he weren’t wearing his helmet, I’m certain I’d see his frightening grin.
“Liar,” I scoff.
