Chapter 18
SERENNA
It took Serenna a disorienting moment to realize they were falling. Fast. Plummeting from the sky.
Going rigid, every muscle in her legs locked against the saddle. Seizing the prince’s arm, Serenna’s shriek ripped through the terror wedged in her throat. Wind screamed past her ears as they plunged straight for the scattered clouds below.
Naru tucked his wings in tight, streaking down toward the fluffy sea, faster than a crashing comet. The steep plunge launched Serenna’s heart into her mouth. Vesryn crouched over her, leaning into the dive. His unrestrained, wild laughter thundered against her back.
A blur of mist drenched them, shading the rising sun when they dipped into the clouds. Cool water droplets beaded on Serenna’s face and clung to her leathers. Naru sliced through the wisps, rapidly cutting the air as they descended to the earth.
A sudden break in the white haze loosened the fear in Serenna’s chest, releasing her lungs so she could take her first full breath. Vast grassy plains stretched out over the landscape, thousands of feet below.
Serenna’s stomach slapped against her spine when Naru’s wings snapped out, yanking their fall to a halt. Feathers flaring, the dracovae’s body twisted underneath her legs as he tipped to one side, sawing through the atmosphere in a sweeping loop.
Panting, Serenna reclaimed her breathing. Her heart slowed its steady trampling of her ribs as her pulse settled back into place.
“I should have known you’d make a gateway to another realm in the sky,” she shrilled to the prince over the whistle of the wind. Serenna could feel him grinning behind her.
Trella suddenly burst through the layer of clouds.
The female dracovae streaked past them in a blinding white blur, legs folded close to her body.
Fanning her wings hundreds of feet lower, she screeched, a wild and piercing sound that only a behemoth raptor could make.
Trella leveled out, gliding in looping circles.
“Can you keep yourself balanced in the saddle?” Vesryn asked.
“I think so.” Serenna loosened her shoulders, settling into the steady rhythm of Naru’s flapping. Each thunderous stroke of his wings had them dipping and rising, like a ship’s deck bobbing at sea. “As long as this buzzard doesn’t dive again.”
“In that case…” Vesryn reached forward and fastened a strap across her lap and over each thigh, binding her to the contraption.
“Don’t pull his feathers.” The prince gave the dracovae’s neck an affectionate pat, running a plume through his fingertips.
“If you do, I’m not responsible if he decides to roll you off. ”
As if agreeing with the prince, Naru peered back at them before emitting a chorus of clacks. Vesryn shifted, bumping into her. Serenna twisted around at the prince’s jostling to see him flinging his legs together over Naru’s side.
Alarm pitched her question high. “What are you doing?”
Vesryn fabricated a shield across his face. “Flying, of course.” He smirked as if it was the most obvious answer. “It’s the best part.” And with that stupid grin, he jumped.
Serenna gasped, jerking forward to stare past Naru’s shoulder. She watched in stunned horror as the prince free fell to the earth, descending with his limbs thrown out like a starfish, catching the wind.
Frantically, Serenna looked back at Naru. He tracked the prince, pearly eyes pinned on Vesryn’s back. Frolicking with a shake of his head, the dracovae released an ear-splitting screech, answered by Trella below.
Naru’s body coiled and tightened under Serenna’s legs, ready to spring. Oh no. Wings snapping shut, he launched into a dive.
Swallowing another scream, Serenna lunged forward to seize the front of the saddle.
Knees clamping against the dracovae’s sides, her fingers slipped with fear.
Her hands shook from the effort of hanging on, knuckled locked around the cantle.
Despite the shield Vesryn had tied off, wind whipped against her face, stinging her cheeks as strands of her braid loosened, thrashing behind her.
They soared past Trella, overtaking the prince, winning the race toward the earth. The air howled in Serenna’s ears as they shot to the ground faster than she’d imagined was possible.
A surge of the prince’s exhilaration bolted through the bond, crowding out Serenna’s worry. Assuming that this was a practiced event between Vesryn and his dracovae, she caught snatches of her breath, hesitantly trusting Naru’s turbulent flight.
Serenna’s stomach abruptly flew into her throat as Naru’s wings unfolded, legs jerking against the straps anchoring her to the saddle. Eyes pinned above, the dracovae tracked Vesryn’s fall through the air, as if calculating his descent.
Serenna’s head swam when she braved a look to find the prince—no more than a dark speck in the sky. Feathers flaring, Naru banked, gliding on a warm current as he slowed their plunge. Wings oscillating to the left and right, he angled them below the prince.
The blurred world sharpened as the landscape’s mosaic came into focus. Streaks of color transformed into more detailed grassy plains as they sailed above the earth.
Swallowing her fear, Serenna hesitantly peeled her aching fingers off of the cantle, now having a moment to experience soaring through the sky without having to hang on for her life. Sunbeams flooding through gaps in the clouds warmed her leathers.
Skin tingling, a peculiar sensation swept over her. Tendrils lit up in Serenna’s vision, a thousand ribbons igniting with light. There were streamers everywhere, like endless waves rippling in the ocean. The sky above, the earth below—an eternal sea of twisting currents.
Fascination and confusion left Serenna breathless. Am I seeing…wind?
Caught somewhere between disbelief and wonder, she tentatively reached out a hand. A whirl of air curved around her, like a seedling leaning toward the sun.
Naru’s piercing screech wrenched Serenna’s attention back to her body.
The strands disintegrated like smoke. Shaking her head, she sensed the prince and turned around as Vesryn’s boots touched the base of Naru’s tail.
In a fluid motion, he raced along the dracovae’s croup and up his spine, returning to the saddle.
“You’re absolutely mad,” Serenna said while the prince settled behind her, a rush of exhilaration still radiating through the bond.
After the prince resecured his boots in the stirrups, Naru banked and climbed in the sky. His wings strummed the air until he reached the same elevation as Trella, trilling as he arced around his mate.
“Do you want a turn?” Vesryn asked as the grasslands rushed by below. Half of his wind-ravaged hair had become unbound, whipping in a silver halo around them. “I promise I’ll catch you.”
Before Serenna could consider partaking in the same brainless activity, the prince tensed behind her. She spotted the group of wraith on a collision course with a village in the distance.
Only now considering the implications of their hunt, a nervous sweat drenched the back of her neck. The prince would expect her to rend the creatures, but Serenna hadn’t sorted through her feelings on killing the mindless monsters when she wasn’t fighting for survival.
We’ll restrain the beasts and portal them to the Ranger Station, Vesryn said telepathically, rather than yelling over the wind.
Startled, she glanced back at him. Restrain them? We’re not killing them?
No. Vesryn’s fury simmered, the sharp edge to his thoughts stirring her unease.
Serenna sensed there was something he wasn’t sharing that sparked this abrupt shift in how he handled the wraith. Curiosity stormed through her, a whirlwind of questions that she kept to herself.
There have been…developments, the prince seemed to add as an afterthought, the dark tension of his mood clashing against her. Vesryn didn’t elaborate further as his fingers tapped an agitated tempo where his hand rested on her thigh.
This isn’t a joyride anymore, Princess, the prince said as he urged Naru lower. Secure the one on the right when we land.
Relieved that she wouldn’t have to obliterate the wraith, a tangle of unease unraveled.
She leaned forward with a sense of purpose, knowing Vesryn could effortlessly restrained all three.
Eager to prove that the last week of fending off the creatures had sufficiently prepared her for binding one wraith, Serenna reached for her Well.
Essence surged with a crackle of energy in her veins, surrounding her with a shimmering glow.
Anticipating Naru’s landing as the plains rushed up to meet them, Serenna’s stomach pitched.
Taloned feet striking the earth, the shock jarred Serenna’s teeth, rattling her spine.
The ground thundered as the dracovae charged across the grasslands, kicking up a swirl of dust. She clung to the saddle as they galloped in a rolling, loping run.
Bending Essence, Serenna sought the silent space in her mind. With a ruthless focus, she hauled rending out of her Well. Raising her hand, shadows twisted around her fingertips. Wisps of darkness streaked out from her and the prince, hurtling forward fifty paces to wrap around the group of wraith.
Naru slowed, orbiting the monsters like a wolf on the hunt. His tail periodically thrashed against the ground, seeming to mirror the prince’s agitation she felt through the bond. Immobilized in their bindings, the wraith snarled and flashed their fangs.
Serenna studied their crazed behavior with a frown—they were just as rabid as the monsters Vesryn had brought to the dungeons. Upon closer inspection, a cold sliver of dread seeped into her marrow. She noticed one of the wraith with matted, curly hair wore tattered leathers from Centarya.