Chapter 42
Cal
It had all the makings of a beautiful night.
The hot desert air had cooled. The moon was a sliver of white in the sky.
The stars gleamed like jewels on its crown.
But a darkness hung over me that had nothing to do with the late hour.
My chest felt like it was going to cave in around my heart at any second.
My palms were so slick, I had a hard time keeping my grip on Obitus as we made the two hour flight over Nesan to the coast. I kept my eyes forward, careful not to look over at where Gehenna soared beside me with Miles atop her back.
Adorex and Rixa flew on my other side, both without a rider.
The shoreline came into view, the same spot we’d made landfall in Nesan, and the sick feeling in my gut worsened. I couldn’t think about the look I’d see on his face when I drove the knife through his chest. How was I supposed to do this? How was I supposed to be the one to take his life ?
Gehenna tucked her wings into her side and she dove, and I caught sight of Miles, his arms outstretched and his head tipped backward.
The salty air whipped through his hair as Gehenna plummeted then flexed her wings, soaring just above the peaks of the waves.
The water was rough tonight, churning in the darkness.
I hung back on Obitus, his wingbeats slowing as if he knew I needed to simply sit and watch.
My eyes tracked Gehenna’s shape as she left the waves and headed higher, gaining altitude quickly.
It wasn’t long before she disappeared behind a small cluster of clouds, just barely illuminated by the weak light of the moon.
This wasn’t fucking fair. This shouldn’t be the last time he touched the clouds. He shouldn’t have to die at the end of my blade. He shouldn’t have to die at all.
My spiraling thoughts halted as a short screech pierced the air. Obitus jolted, his wingbeats immediately quickening as we shot forward. Gehenna’s form materialized amid the clouds, and that’s when I realized…
Miles wasn’t on her back.
Gehenna was an indistinguishable blur against the night sky as she dove straight from the clouds to the water below. My hands tightened around the spike at the base of Obitus’ neck as he read my mind and plunged toward the ocean, Adorex and Rixa close behind.
“Miles!” I screamed, my stomach flipping as we lost altitude at a feverish pace.
Where is he, where is he, where is he?
But there was nothing.
Gehenna screeched again before she hit the water, wings still tucked. Within seconds she surfaced, noises of panic echoing from where I could barely see her in the water. The tiny fragment of the moon hanging in the sky wasn’t doing shit to illuminate the waves .
A low growl rumbled beneath my seat, and a small stream of fire burst from Obitus’ throat, casting light on the roiling waves.
One by one, Obitus, Adorex, and Rixa took turns lighting up the night as Gehenna plunged into the water, frantically searching for Miles until she was forced to come up for air.
“You fucking bastard!” I shouted, unfastening the strap holding me to Obitus. He chirped in warning, his back flexing when he felt the strap fall away.
Cal. Stay , his thoughts echoed through my brain.
I yanked my feet from between his scales.
How hard could swimming really be? I pushed myself to stand, my knees bending and straightening in an effort to accommodate the movements of Obitus’ wings.
The waves pitched and rolled below me, the whitecaps turning molten in the glow of driva fire.
I’d gone after Miles once, trying to find him back when he was Tobyas and I thought he’d drowned in Pellucid Harbor.
I’d thrown my body from the Cliffs of Malarrey in a thwarted attempt to find him, and then again from the sailboat Tyrak had commandeered. I’d jumped in without question.
I couldn’t do it again.
Because he hadn’t fallen from Gehenna. I knew my brother, even after the years we’d spent apart. Even after the years he’d spent building his own life, becoming his own person. He’d jumped to his death, saving me the agony of driving a blade through his heart.
“Saints fucking dammit !” I bellowed into the night, tears flooding my eyes and spilling down over my cheeks before I collapsed atop Obitus’ back again, hitching my feet between his scales. “Dammit, Tobyas.”
I wasn’t sure how long Gehenna searched the waves before she finally lifted into the sky once again, but suddenly, we were over land, headed back to Araqina, one rider short.
My brother was dead. But with him, a small part of Malosym.
◆ ◆ ◆
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the empty waves. And every time I opened them, they immediately found Gehenna and her empty back.
My brother was dead. He was dead. I thought it hurt when I lost Tobyas. This was far, far worse. What had been waiting for him on the other side? Where was he now?
Obitus’ wingbeats faltered then, and my stomach jolted as we plummeted for a moment. As we evened out, a growl rumbled from Adorex’s throat, her head shaking where she flew beside us. Rixa and Gehenna suddenly seemed agitated too, steam puffing from their nostrils.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but it came out as a croak.
Petra , Obitus answered.
My heart skittered over its next beat, my back straightening. “What’s going on?”
Hurt.
She was hurt? Fear gripped my chest, squeezing the grief from my ribcage, demanding all my attention. “Where is she?”
Nothing filtered through from Obitus for a moment. The sound of wind was replaced by a ringing in my ears, amplified by the pounding of my heart.
Fire.
All at once, the drivas’ wingbeats quickened, dry mountains giving way to the dunes and scrub of the desert, the land blurring below us as we flew. How long had we been flying? How long since we’d left the shore?
“Come on, come on, come on,” I growled, not to the drivas, but to time and distance, willing them to pass quicker.
I’d lost Miles tonight. I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose Petra, too.
What if there had been another attack? And I’d stupidly taken all the drivas with me?
They all wanted to come, and… “ Fuck !” I shouted out over the desert, dropping my head as I rose and dipped with Obitus’ movements. What the fuck had I been thinking?
Finally, a glow shimmered on the horizon, the sight of Araqina in the distance lighting a fire in me. Almost fucking there. The desert seemed to stretch farther in front of us, as if the city were taunting us, moving farther away as we neared.
As soon as I could pick out the walls and castle, I scanned the sky above the city, trying to pick out the silhouettes of Occulti drivas.
There were none, and I breathed a short sigh of relief.
But then I saw the thin, almost transparent streak of smoke stretching into the sky.
I might not have even noticed if I hadn’t been looking for signs of Petra, but it was all I could see now.
The only thing I could do was hang on as the drivas pushed forward, finally soaring over the city walls.
The streets below quickly turned chaotic as people began running, surely fearing another attack from Malosym.
I was sure Laion would be pissed once again, but I didn’t care.
I kept my eyes on the smoke and my grip tight on Obitus as we descended.
And there she was, her limp form laying at the side of a dirt street. A man with dark hair was crouched over her, his face craning to the sky when he heard the sound of Obitus’ wings. Miles? No, of course not. Whoever the fuck that was, he was a stranger, and panic reared its ugly head in my chest.
No. Land , Obitus thought.
He couldn’t land here. The streets were too narrow.
I pivoted, looking out over the city for any breaks in the buildings, signaling a square or park.
The only one I saw was half a mile away, and I’d have to sprint through the city streets to get to Petra.
It would take too fucking long. Who the fuck was that man?
I winced when the idea hit me, but there was no alternative. “You see that awning right there, Obitus?” I called, pointing to the canvas that was stretched over the window of some sort of shop or cafe. “Get me as close as you can. I’m going to jump. ”
Petra. Alive.
“I still need to get to her!”
Cal. Stupid.
“Yeah, well she’s hurt!” I barked back, sliding my feet from between his scales for the second time tonight. I couldn’t jump for Miles, but I was going to jump for Petra.
Body. Break. Human. Weak.
Good thing the woman I loved could heal me. But even if she couldn’t, I’d break every Saints damned bone in my body if that’s what it took to get to her right now.
Obitus’ wingbeats slowed as he descended as low as he could. His wings skimmed the top of a building and he huffed, his descent coming to a stop. We were still too fucking high, but before I could talk myself out of it, I took a deep breath…and lept.
My arms and legs flailed as I careened through the air, my eyes set on that canvas awning.
I tried to turn my body, but I’d undershot my jump and crunch !
I slammed into the side of the building, my right shoulder screaming as I tumbled the remainder of the way, finally catching the awning and rolling to the ground with a thud .
Body. Break? Obitus’ words filtered into my head.
“Yep,” I ground out.
Petra. Heal.
I couldn’t respond as I gasped for breath and tried to blink the black spots from my vision.
One of those black spots was Obitus’ retreating form, flying away.
But there was only one thing on my mind: Petra.
Blinding pain lanced through my shoulder, my lungs burning as I pushed to my feet.
I was in front of a building half destroyed by fire, a few spots still smoldering.