Chapter 29
Smoke plumed in the air, and the courtyard’s western wall, near the stairs, was crackling with tongues of yellow flame.
A desperate yell climbed from my throat as I looked at Myth, standing beside the wreckage, sides heaving, wings folded.
At the bottom of the steps, Rush shot his arm out, blocking me. “Ari, no!”
I shoved his arm aside and ran toward Myth, tears leaking from my eyes from the smoke and scorching heat. Myth snorted and turned to me, a mixture of pride and confusion whirling in his emotions. Rush tried to grab my arm, hold me back, but I yanked free.
The heat pricked my skin; smoke burned my nose. Shielding my eyes, I approached Myth. He stood near the fire, unaffected, the gold in his scales aglow from the crackling flames. His snout bumped against my hand and stayed there, a strange feeling like reassurance coursing through me at the touch.
I heaved a breath, fighting panic. Someone would see this. We were no longer safe. Not to mention the damage he’d done, I could never repay.
Behind me, Rush approached, touched my elbow. “We need to leave.”
“Not without him.”
“I know. You need to leave with him. Now.”
“What about the fire?” I said, nearly choking as I looked at it again. Myth could officially breathe flame. And he’d nearly turned the entire townhouse into a pile of ash.
“The wall is brick; it’ll be a quick fire. Only the ivy…” He trailed off, hand tightening where it held my arm.
“What is it?”
The flames were dying down, the courtyard again growing dark, save for the dim light spilling over the wall from a nearby streetlamp.
The courtyard was scarred black and the ivy was snapping as the fire curled down its twisting lines, but there was something at the base of the wall that caught my eye.
A dark shape.
My scream split the night.
Rush hurried forward, the heat already dissipating in the cold night air.
Snow began to drift back into the courtyard, melting before it touched the still form on the ground.
A man. His overcoat was splayed out at the edge of the black scar where the flame had scorched the wall of the house.
Beside him lay a pistol. His arm was stretched out, the skin from his shoulder to his wrist gone, bone and muscle visible.
I gagged, covering my mouth with one hand.
“He’s dead,” Rush pronounced, stepping back. His arms circled my shoulders and I melted against him, shaking as I tried to breathe.
Myth had killed a man.
Against my hair, Rush said, “We need to leave. Before the police show up.”
“But that man, he’s…” I couldn’t say it.
“That man climbed over the wall, Ari. He was not here to make friends.” Rush’s breathing was slower than mine, but I could hear his heart racing beneath his ribs.
“This is why dragons can’t have their flame!” I bellowed, hitting Rush’s chest. He held me tighter. “They’ll never let him live now!”
“That man was likely here to kill me,” he said, voice steady, firm. “Probably followed me here. He wasn’t expecting a dragon to be here too. What happened here tonight proves Myth was trying to protect you.”
I lifted my face off of Rush’s chest and looked up at him through tear-fogged eyes. “A man is dead, Rush.”
“A possible murderer, Ari.”
“You don’t kill people before they commit a crime!” I shouted, pounding him again with both fists.
He took my wrists in his hands and trapped them against his chest. “Your dragon knew that man was dangerous. They can read our intentions better than we can, remember? If Myth thought he was a threat, then he was. Trust that. Most men don’t bring pistols to rob empty houses.
” He dipped his chin to look me directly in the eye.
“Okay? We’re going to have to get him out of here. ”
I nodded, sucking back tears and saliva. Rush slowly let go of my wrists, his eyes still locked on me. His blue eyes looked orange in the firelight.
“Where can I go?”
“To school. Go there. It’s winter break; there won’t be many professors there, but you’ll be safe.”
I smeared away the tear. “You said the Corzos might have people at school.”
“But they’re not after you. As long as they don’t know we have anything to do with each other outside of class, you’re safe.”
“At least until someone discovers it was Myth who torched this place and killed that man.” The words came out like shards of glass.
It was only a matter of time before the dots were connected.
“Then they’ll want revenge, and I’ll be trying to hide from them and your father. ” A manic laugh fell from my lips.
Rush glanced at the intruder. “I’ll take care of it. You go.”
I saddled Myth while Rush…cleaned.
How he had the stomach for it, I couldn’t fathom.
My hands shook; my breaths wheezed. Myth stood eerily still, his normally joyous emotions replaced by a deep, radiating anger.
I couldn’t tell if it was anger at me for yelling at him, anger at the world because I was so upset, or anger at the man he’d killed.
The word still punched like an uppercut to my jaw every time it hit me.
Dead. A man was dead. Dragonfire kills. The truth of it, of the one thing I’d learned about wild dragons, had always believed about wild dragons, was staring me in the face. Wild dragons were dangerous. And they couldn’t be allowed to live among us.
But he’d kept us safe—I had to believe that.
The snow contrasted with the black stain marring the courtyard wall and ground, and by the time I climbed back into the saddle, a thin veil of white lay innocently over the scarred bricks. There was no more blood in sight.
I swabbed at my eyes and blew my warm breath onto my hands before taking the handles at Myth’s neck.
Rush stood beside me, tucking up the leather straps into the back of the saddle.
He’d rolled his sleeves up, and his hands had smears of soot on them.
Maybe a smear of red. Snow fell softly into his hair.
“Like I said, my father won’t have any idea that Myth was here.
” Rush shrugged. “I’ll cover up what happened as best I can, but my father will find out, Ari.
Sooner rather than later now. But you have another week before classes resume.
Use that time. Read these.” He patted the books we’d taken from the upstairs study, now tucked into the small satchel at the back of the saddle.
“And fly. Train hard. If my father thinks Myth could be a good race contender, he’ll keep you both alive.
And get a letter to Fairfax. Maybe he can help buy us some time. He got you into this mess, after all.”
“About Fairfax,” I began, but Rush waved away my words.
“Go,” he said. “I need to cover this up, and quick.”
I gave a firm nod, fearing I’d burst into tears again if I opened my mouth.
He checked the security of the strap around my calf and tugged on the loop circling my boot, just to be sure it didn’t budge.
When he looked up, his hand was still on my ankle, a small gesture that I might once have dismissed, but it felt like the only thing tethering me to sanity in this moment, and I feared that if he let go, I’d wither away.
“Ari.” For the first time, his hardened expression struck me as resilient rather than arrogant. “I won’t let them destroy you.”
A choked laugh escaped my mouth. “Who, the gang or your father’s Empire?”
His fingers curled around my leg as he leaned closer, chin jutting up as he stared at me. “Both. And Myth can protect you. He’s proven that.”
My eyes clamped shut. “No more death. I don’t want that.”
Rush squeezed my ankle, just slightly, drawing my gaze again. “The Empire will try to kill you for what you know. I hate to break it to you, but death is going to be part of this battle.”
“What about you? How will you stay safe when your father finds out?”
He released my leg and patted Myth’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Seems like if becoming a famous dragon racer is a way to stay alive, you’re the one who’s more likely to achieve that. And it’s what your father wants, isn’t it?”
Rush stared at the ground a moment. “Nothing I do will make my father care about me more than his secrets.” His breath plumed around his face.
My heart ached for Rush. I chewed my lip and tried not to picture the duke holding a pistol at his own son.
“I want to see if I can find a few more magic stones from the house before I go,” he added, voice firm and businesslike. “I’ll make it look like a break-in. Then we’ll have more stones to test with Myth.”
“See you soon,” I said, tucking myself low against Myth’s neck. When we took off into the night, snowflakes stinging my cheeks and sticking in my eyelashes, I didn’t feel the thrill I’d felt before. Instead, I felt like I was soaring into a storm—one I didn’t think would leave me unscathed.