“We are.” He pressed a kiss to my hair. “Sleep now. We have time.”
I closed my eyes. Let his heartbeat steady me. Let the warmth of him sink into my bones.
We had time. We had each other.
For now, that was enough.
I woketo his body going rigid around me.
Dawn light filtered through the library windows. I’d slept the whole night in the nest, in his arms, and I felt more rested than I had in months.
But he wasn’t relaxed. Every muscle in his body had gone taut, his head tilted at that sharp angle that meant he was listening to something I couldn’t hear.
“What is it?”
“Someone.” The word came out flat. Dangerous. “Coming. Up the mountain.”
“That’s not possible. There’s no path.”
“Wings.” He was already shifting, moving me carefully off his lap, rising to his full height with his own wings flaring wide. “Hired. Drake. One rider. Maybe. Two passengers.”
I scrambled out of the nest and ran for the balcony.
The drake was small against the dawn sky, laboring upward with two figures on its back.
It wasn’t long before I could make out the shape of one of the riders.
I’d know that silhouette anywhere.
