Page 130 of The Fifth Heir

He banked gently.

My body shifted with his.

Fear tightened my stomach, but Torren’s instruction returned.

Move with him.

I leaned.

Rafe completed the turn around Crown Tower.

The first circuit remained slow. He stayed well above the roofs and far below the clouds, exactly as Leander required.

The second was faster.

“You agreed to one,” I called.

Rafe’s wings beat harder.

I laughed before I could stop myself.

He accelerated.

The academy blurred below. Silver light moved across his scales, and a low current of electricity traveled beneath my legs. It did not hurt. It raised every hair along my arms and made the crystal torc pulse against my throat.

We passed the tower windows.

I caught one glimpse of Torren, Leander, and Sebastian watching from the garden opening. Torren’s arms were folded. Leander appeared to be shouting something neither of us could hear.

Rafe climbed.

Not steeply.

Steeper than Leander would have approved.

The entire valley appeared beyond the academy walls. Forest covered the lower slopes. A river reflected the morning sun, winding toward distant farmland and the western road.

I had studied maps of the region.

None explained the size of it.

Rafe held us there.

His wings moved in slow, powerful strokes, maintaining our height while I looked.

I released one hand from the ridge.

Then the other.

The safety line remained secured around his neck, but nothing else held me in place.

I lifted both arms.

Wind passed over my fingers.

Sunlight struck the clear torc and broke across Rafe’s charcoal scales. For one suspended moment, we carried a ribbon of color through the open sky.

Rafe did not tease me or change direction. He remained steady until I gripped the ridges again.