We flew faster than normal, sailed over the Wall, and then shot downward. Instantly, I saw a scene that my brain could barely comprehend.
There were four figures scattered in the air, all riders on dragons. When I looked closer, I saw two of them were Arjun and Tej, Kohan’s little brothers. And I gasped when I noticed my little sister riding a small red dragon.
‘She bonded a Talanagi,’I said with absolute pride, but it quickly quenched when I noticed she was clawing at her throat, lips purple.
I found the fourth rider, and my blood boiled.
“Stop!” I shouted at the red rider, throwing out my power. Her gaze flew towards me, wide-eyed, and I knew she was remembering the last time we met when I’d likely broken both of her legs by making her jump from her dragon. Not something I was proud of.
The silvery cord shot out of me and wrapped around her, and then I heard my sister gasping for air beside me. The red rider yanked her dragon’s neck and fled the scene, no doubt wanting to avoid my forcing her to jump again. I wanted to go after her, to kill her so she couldn’t be a problem anymore, especially now that I knew she was Maxim’s twin sister.
But I needed to get Valor and Kohen’s little brothers out of here before she got backup. We were still at war with her people, just taking a suspiciously long break that I wasn’t questioning.
I peered at Valor, wondering if she’d put two and two together that I’d just made her stop or if it had looked like I’d just arrived and she’d fled in fear.
“Can we get out of here?” Valor asked me, peering anxiously over her shoulder.
I nodded, then looked to Arjun and Tej.
“Follow me!” I told them all, my mind spinning with the fact that theyallrode dragons!
I couldn’t land us at Sky Reach, not with two Badshahs! Kohen’s little brothers would be taken into custody, and I didn’t want to explain why I hadn’t arrested them yet. They were the perfect pawns to lure Kohen to me. If I threw them in the brig, then sent word to Kohen that I would set them free if he surrendered himself, he would come. I knew he would. And yet… I couldn’t do that. I wanted justice for my father’s murder, but not at the hand of kidnapping children.
I flew over the base, and Iniki was suddenly there in the sky. “Tell our men these people are with me and not to blow the horn,” I told her.
She zoomed downward to the base and over to the guard tower, which watched the skies. Three dragons and a firebird flying over Amersea was a sight to behold, something my people were not used to. They had barely just gotten used to me—and Colt bonded to his griffin. Valor’s dragon bonding was good, very good for our people, but it would take time for them to know not to shoot her down.
I peered over at my sister. Her face was covered in mud, she was shivering from cold, and she looked like hell, but she was grinning. The wind whipped her short hair around her face as she stroked her dragon. I shook my head.
“Are you hurt?” I screamed over the wind. “Need medical?”
She looked at me and shook her head.
“I’m proud of you!” I told her, and she smiled wider.
“Thanks!”
“Go and present yourself to Elaine and the two guards at the northern gate to the Wilds. They will report to the admirals that you have legally bonded a Talanagi.”
She nodded and peered over at Arjun and Tej.
“Thank you,” she told them.
Both boys nodded to her.Thank you?Did they help her?Of course, they did. They’d been in there two days together.
“Follow me!” I told the boys and veered left over the Wilds, just below the fire sky. The moment we entered the dome of protection, the small pieces of ember fell around us, and I tried not to be taken with how beautiful it was.
I lowered Liana to the ground in an open clearing, and the boys followed.
‘What are you doing, Aisling?’Liana asked.
‘I have no idea,’I told her honestly.
They had Talanagi now, who I could tell from one look were very powerful. Maybe not as powerful as Liana, but together, I wouldn’t doubt they were going to be powerful men in Kohen’s army one day.
I stepped off of Liana and looked up at the boys, who slid down off their green and blue dragons.
“Why did you help my sister?” I asked them.
