Chapter 27
Brynna laughs nervously as I strap her to my front atop the mountain where the other Draths wait. Beside us, Fieri checks the harness Cinuska has wrapped around his body.
“Are you sure about this, Cinni?” Fieri asks.
“You can trust your sexy electric ass to my wings,” Cinuska says. She winks over at me, and I’m glad she’s finally found someone to love her after so many years of rescuing and caring for all of us. “I have carried far more weight after much less sleep.”
“Sexy?” Rykarn gags beside them, his freshly healed wing stretching behind him.
Vryskas fakes a punch at Rykarn’s crotch as he passes, his wings catching fire in anticipation of the dive.
Sidius and Osiris wait near the edge beside my father and my mother. I’m not eager to leave this world to fight our enemies, but we have a role in the war now. I want to get our patrols set up near Drathis, so no one ever threatens my people again.
When Brynna and I are ready, I hug her close and run a warm hand over her growing belly. “How is the egg?”
“Fine. Hot.” She peers back at me with an eye. “Like his father.”
“You’re certain it’s a male?”
She gives me a look that says I should know how she knows.
“DIA…”
Brynna nods. “I thought I was a chatterbox. Honestly, I have missed it. My sister was like that.”
“I’m glad you two get along so well, but you have to keep me in the loop a little more.” I walk her toward the edge.
“I will. But…Jorusk…” She gasps. “I don’t know about this. I think this was a mistake!”
I lean forward and kiss her neck. “You have to learn to fly with me before I ever let you jump with your wings. Here you can fall. Space isn’t like that. This will be a good lesson, but I want you to just enjoy the view today.”
“Enjoy it?” she screeches. Her hands reach back and claw at my thighs. Fire pulses fast in her veins now.
“I will lead, so you learn our ritual path,” my father says. “Mishana…”
He takes my mother’s hand, lifts his wings, lights them up, and she does the same. Then they simply tip forward and fall off the cliff.
Brynna makes a strangled squeak.
“After you, Prince Traosis,” Fieri says, his voice tight. I’m certain he’s slipped into his old role of serving a royal in order to cope.
I grab Brynna. “Deep breath.”
“No, no. No!” Brynna closes her eyes.
I snicker and launch us off the cliff, spreading my wings as we fall.
My beautiful mate screams a high-pitched, shrill sound. But as my flaming wings catch the wind, her terrified noise turns into a war cry that grows in power.
Brynna slowly releases her hands from my body to trail her fingers in the breeze as I glide along behind my parents above a world I only ever dreamt of, a place where we are safe from Talhuskins, and my kind can begin to heal. Here, we have not forgotten tradition. We savor it.
I’m lucky I found a female who loves my world as much as I do.
“Jorusk…” She strains to look up at me.
“Yes?”
“I spoke with your mother last night at our dinner meeting. I did not know your kind is only fertile once a year.”
“Are you not?” I ask.
She laughs. “No.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Humans are fertile every month.”
“What?” My Inferno roars with triumph inside, and it lights up my wings with fresh fire.
“Easy!” Cinuska calls out as she and Fieri dart aside and then glide up to us.
“Sorry!” I clutch Brynna close. “So you mean, we can have another hatchling next month?”
She smiles. “Yeah, but maybe every now and then give me a break?”
I kiss her ear. “Whatever you want.”
“A big family…that stays together.”
I keep her wrapped up in my arms as my Drath brothers and sisters fly like a fiery river, weaving through the snowy mountains toward our ancestral homes. Below us, Sidius, Osiris, Vryskas, and Rykarn dart back and forth, play-fighting like the brothers they are, and it makes me happy.
“Together,” I say to Brynna, kissing her on the neck once more.
She leans into my affection. “Forever?”
“Forever, my beautiful mate.”
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