I had to fly.
The overlook was empty.
The wind hit me the moment I stepped through the door: the scent of salt and the intrusive cold coming off the sea. The kiosks were draped and still. The pool at the far end shimmered silver in the early gray light, spilling over in its endless, whispering sheets, disappearing into the dark below.
My knees registered the height first, shaking as I stepped forward.
I made myself walk to the edge anyway. No railing. Only open stone and the long, terrible drop.
Then the first dragon soared up from below. It flew right by me, wings spread wide, triumphant joy written over its face. A silvery dragon. Selenite.
It startled me so much that my hand came to my chest, covering my suddenly pounding heart, but the feeling faded quickly into yearning. Selenite was leaving the Trials now. Paledragon after dragon rose up, flying up from the arena and circling over the sea.
The sheer joy of flight rose in my chest, and I felt suddenly lighter, as if I could step out over the water and let myself fall. The next moment, I was terrified I might do it before I could stop myself, and I backed away from the cliff’s edge.
“How do we do this, Lightbringer?” I spoke to her, but I spoke the words aloud. The wind whipped them away as if they were being taken to the void beyond us. “The mortals are losing faith because of me. I have to fly. For their sake.”
Lightbringer’s longing was enormous and wordless and ancient. It moved through the bond like a tide. Together, we were watching the dragons above as they circled the sky.
Then she withdrew.
She was a held breath, the banked heat in my chest settling lower, quieter.
“Where are you going?” I demanded, and thank the gods that the wind tore my words away, or my voice might’ve given away all my frustration. “I can’t let this rebellion collapse.”
Perhaps Lightbringer didn’t believe me, since I had almost struck down the rebellion at the same time I struck down Fear. I struggled with what to tell her.
“I thought I had to choose between the rebellion and my family. Even though I wanted…”
I paused, steeling myself. “I wanted to be a part of the rebellion. I wanted to belong with Bismyth. But I thought I had to choose between all that and my family.”
I closed my eyes and felt the wind at my face, tugging at my hair, as if it would lift me off my feet. “But I was wrong, wasn’t I? My family is never going to be safe. Not even in Stonehaven. The rebellion might be our best chance.”
The thought came with a rise of relief. I hadn’t realized until now how much I wanted to lead with Fear at the front of therebellion. To stand in front of the queen and watch fear enter her eyes. To tear her off her throne and into her grave.
Then my stomach twisted.
Too bad I’d sacrificed Fear before this little moment of realization.
“It was his rebellion before it was mine. His plans and plots.” I didn’t want him, but I wanted what he wanted: freedom for shifters and mortals alike. “I want to be at his side.”
We were trapped together.
Bound to a fight we both had to finish, no matter what happened between us.
Just as Lightbringer was trapped within me.
I opened my eyes to see that my toes were at the edge of the cliff. The sea stretched out beneath me, so far distant that the thundering of the tide as the waves slammed against the rocks below was lost to the roar of the wind.
“Are you there? Are you ready to fly?”
She was still silent. I had thought she was rejecting me when she first went still after watching the dragons fly. Now, as the last of the Selenite dragons disappeared into the horizon, I wondered if she had been rejecting me or if she had been teaching me.
“I tried to make the safe choice for my family, and it was the wrong choice. You won’t come while I’m safe.”
I closed my eyes and reached for Lightbringer, like extending a hand in the dark.
She was there. Warm and vast and waiting, banked heat in the center of my chest.“Please let us fly together.”
