But angry sparks hiss from her.No.
There’s no time to argue, because the queen is screaming, already moving back to Ziva. Skylar lunges for her as another roar of thunder eclipses all sound. She reaches with her power and finds the queen, starts to draw. How could she not have realized just how powerful Ottilie is? She can taste it as she draws, and even through the chaos, she can feel the elation as that energy hits her system.
Then her whole world turns to agony as Ziva’s light flares again, harsher and more brilliant than before. The sound of Kaida’s growl is eclipsed by the snap of Ziva’s jaws, and though Skylar is blinded, her eyes on fire, she can smell Ziva’s breath, feel the heat of it—and knows this is it.
Skylar!Astrid’s voice rips through her, the panic almost impossible to bear. Skylar can’t answer. She is on the ground, whimpering, and she can’t move as the light burns not just her eyes but her skin, searing through her clothes, melting it.
But the killing blow she’s expecting does not come. Instead, she feels soothing shadows pushing back the light, enough that she can squint her eyes open, that the burning on her skin ebbs. Darkness surrounds her so that she can see Kaida, right by her side, and nothing else. It is a darkness that she recognizes—and impossibly, it is a darkness that is comforting.
Get up.A distant ringing starts up in her mind. She knows that voice.
The island. This is the voice from the island, as shadows came around her, saving her. And from the night at the warrens, when she and Astrid were spotted.
Yes, the voice says into her mind.I am here. Run to me.
And she knows, now, what the strange presence at the corners of her mind has been in those moments. She doesn’t know how it’s possible, but she understands.
Come, Kaida!
Both of them are running through the shadows, as Ziva thrashes, trying to free herself from the darkness. And there it is—a black dragon, shadow and smoke surrounding it.
Fly!Skylar tells Kaida.
Kaida obeys, launching herself into the air, as the lunar dragon speaks again to Skylar.Herdragon. Somehow, she has a connection with this dragon, too—she can feel it.
Jump.
Like on the island—only this time, she is not jumpingoffsomething buton. She uses the tiny part of the queen’s energy she took to propel herself, higher and faster than should be possible. Right onto the back of the dragon.
It’s only then, when it’s too late, that she notices.
Notices that there is already someone there, sitting in front of her at the base of the black dragon’s neck. The man turns to her, with a face so beautiful he almost doesn’t look real. Shadows flicker below them and she remembers. She’s seen this man before. Once, when he could have killed her.
Black eyes on hers in that dark alley, shadows that held her in place. Shadows that weren’this—but his dragon’s.
A mind probing hers.
You’re not Blooded. So what are you?
“What are you…?”
But the dragon dips, wings outstretched, and Skylar’s stomach rolls as her question is cut off.
Skylar!
It is Kaida’s voice in her mind, and it is afraid. Skylar looks down—and sees why. The dragon has snatched her up midair, holding her entire little body in one claw. And now they are moving faster, away from Ziva, who has taken flight.
It’s okay, Little One. I’m here—he’s saving us.
But is he? Because as she looks back at the beautiful man sitting in front of her, she realizes that in her split-second decision, she got something horribly wrong. A feeling that is confirmed when those black eyes glitter—something like triumph there.
She might not know his name, but she feels sure—he knows who she is. Somehow, he knows she’s the same person from that alley—and she doesn’t think he’s come here to save her.
Mjolnir!
What are you doing, Death Bringer?There is a horrible urgency through the line that connects them.
What the fuckisshe doing? She tries to back away from the rider, but the dragon’s spikes are in her way. A small, taunting smile curls the stranger’s lips, and he shifts, something in his left hand glinting in the sunlight.
