“I’m going to take over now. Landing is going to be a bit tricky,” he said.
Tricky? That didn’t sound good. What was his plan? How would we get to a city surrounded by waterfalls without landing in the city itself?
Titus told Draxxinar to maintain speed and fly straight, but we were about to crash into the fucking waterfall—millions of gallons of crushing water ahead.
“Titus?!” I cried, both a question and a warning.
“Hold on!” he shouted, a sharp smile curved his lips, charged with thrill.
The sound of rushing water thundered in my ears, and I felt mist on my face. I shut my eyes and braced for impact. Just when I thought we were going to succumb to a watery grave under its pulverizing force, a sphere of energy engulfed all three of us. It was a protective shield of some sort. We didn’t get crushed. We didn’t even get wet.
That’s when I realized the shield was coming from Titus.
We passed through the curtain of white water, and behind it, to my surprise wasn’t just a wall of rock. It was hollow, like a stem made of wet rock holding a tray on which the city was built.
We circled the inner stem supporting the city, and the High Lord landed on a flat surface near a cave that jutted out from the supporting stone column. It was loud—a full curtain of water crashed into the sea below. This was an island of some sort, raised from sea level on a giant rocky column.
“What the hell, Titus! What was that?!” I asked, out of breath, shaking from the brush with death.
He chuckled smugly. “What? I told you I needed to practice my shield magic, remember?”
“What if it didn’t work?!” I demanded. I was pissed. What he did was reckless.
“Well, it did. And besides, I have never had a problem shielding around myself—only projecting my shield onto someone else,” he replied pompously.
I unlatched the buckles and slid down Drax’s wing. I immediately touched the dragons cheek, apologized, and explained that it was all Titus’s stunt. He didn’t reply in my mind—only an audible, annoyed growl.
“You can trust me, Delilah. I will always keep you safe,” he said softly as he gently embraced me.
I huffed, letting out the rest of my irritation, and leaned into his arms.
“So that’s the kind of magic you will need to shield me from the lava in Mount Orid?” I asked.
“Yes, but like I said, I have no problem shielding myself—and something as big as Draxxinar—with me. It’s projecting my shield onto someone else that has been… inconsistent,” he explained.
“And you can’t take me down into the volcano shielding both of us because of the enchantment on the chamber that holds the dagger only allows one person to pass?” I asked, confirming the details of my suicide mission.
“Precisely. The enchantments are so sensitive that if it senses more than one person in the volcano, the chamber will not open,” he replied.
I exhaled sharply. Then I followed the High Lord to a set of spiral stone stairs inside the column that held the entire city. The climb was daunting—thousands of steps to reach the top.
“So, on top of flying and training, we need to practice shielding as well?” I asked.
“Glad to see you are paying attention,” he replied with a smirk.
Just then I felt my nose tickle with magic, and I tripped and slid down a few steps. I let out some curse words, but otherwise I was fine.
Titus turned around—except he did not look like Titus at all. His golden tan was replaced by pale, iridescent skin. His auburn hair was a bright shade of turquoise, matching the color of his new irises. Small patches of scales shimmered like opals on his shoulders and hands, butthe oddest part of his transformation was his large, clear wings that resembled dragonfly wings.
“Did your Fae legs trip you up again?” he asked teasingly, reaching out his hand to help.
“A little warning next time would be nice,” I scoffed—but my irritation was immediately replaced with wonder.
My own skin was pale and shimmered with an iridescent glow, complemented by faint, scaly patches on my hands and arms. I noticed the ends of my hair glowed fluorescent sea-foam green, which I suspected matched the color of my eyes.
Titus had clearly just glamoured us to look like Water Fae, but did that mean I had— I reached behind me and felt something twitch.
I had wings!
