Chapter 8 Rae
CHAPTER EIGHT
RAE
The black drak flies us over the arena and rises higher, which is an intelligent move, as below us I catch sight of the sea drak jumping out of the waves, maw open, trying to catch me. I’m basically a worm dangling on a hook as I wiggle in the circle of the drak’s claws.
Without my magic, the sea creatures don’t recognize me as one of their own. Without my power, I can’t control them.
This is intolerable.
The drak swoops back down toward the surface and I see someone splashing in the waves. Never a good sign. The shadow of something huge curls around the human—another sea serpent.
Or the serpent I just abandoned.
Something about the splashing figure feels familiar, though.
“I think that’s Mera!” I shout. “She’s in trouble. We have to save her!”
“I’m not stopping,” Jai says, his voice reaching me where I’m dangling, calm and even.
“What? We have to save as many humans as we can. Amaryll, Mera, Axwick. Please, save them!”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m not stopping for them. You shouldn’t get attached to the humans.”
Too late for that. Something about that calm voice makes me want to look into his eyes, but we’re still flying and I’m doing my best to ignore the stomach-twisting drop underneath me and the speed of the drak.
Where is he flying us to? I have a sneaking suspicion I know the answer.
“Jai!” I yell. “Put me back in the arena!”
He doesn’t reply.
The drak circles until I realize it’s about to land on the central platform. The moment I’m a few feet above ground, the giant claw releases me and I drop to the ground.
I crash and roll, my bad leg folding under me, sending jabs of pain up my thigh, and I jar my bad shoulder when I smack both my hands on the hard floor of the platform.
Packed earth mixed with sand. Shiny pebbles. Dry, scratchy weeds. Blue flowers.
The sort of ground draks prefer for courtship and nesting.
The drak flaps those huge wings with a crackling sound and slides down beside me, showering me with stones and sand. The black talons screech against the ground. They punch holes into it as the drak turns sideways and comes to a stop.
Jai is still astride, seated on the saddle that’s nestled between the drak’s onyx wings, but he’s unmoving, head tipped forward.
He’s watching me from under his lashes, and he’s so still he seems part of the reptile, all in black, his black hair falling on his brow, one hand wrapped in the black reins.
“Get up here,” he finally says.
“Why?”
“I’m flying you to the palace.”
“No.” I shake my head as I try to get up. My leg protests and my knee threatens to buckle again. “You’re not.”
“Climb up here. Give me your hand.” He’s sitting so stiffly and his voice is so dry I feel something is off.
“We can’t just fly away,” I say.
“Why not? Would you lose the trial? No prize for you, then?”
I think fast. “Yes. I need to get back into the palace. But only the winners can do that. Going to the palace now means I’m out of the race.”
“Surviving is winning.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t work like that. I need to win, and for that, I need to get the key off one of the towers first.”
“I’m not letting you jump back into the sea,” he says.
“Letting me?” I meet his dark gaze and find only coldness. “I didn’t ask for your permission. You want me to go to the palace? There are people dying in the arena. Save them.”
“Not interested in other people, human. Only in you.”
Human. My suspicions are now confirmed.
“Hello, Phaethon.” I suspected it from the moment he appeared riding the drak, but still, at the slight incline of his head, I let out a controlled breath. “How come you’re so often in control now? Jai managed to keep you leashed before.”
He bares his teeth in a parody of a smile. “Ah, but at what cost? You don’t know how he controls me.”
“With pain, that’s what he said.”
He’s silent for a few heartbeats, studying me, his dark gaze unfathomable. “Indeed. Pain and penance, bloodletting and the bite of the fae king.”
“The bite? What do you mean?” Wait, that rings a bell. Didn’t he mention a bite when—?
“The king drinks Jai’s blood. Oh, you really didn’t know this.” He leans back in the saddle, that toothy smile gone. “There is much you don’t know.”
“Drinks his blood?” I backtrack one step. Two. “Like a ghost? A blood-sucking spright? Since when do the fae drink blood?”
“Crossing the gates changes you, I’m sure I heard Jai telling you this. The fae changed after crossing, and… what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I turn around and lean over the edge of the platform, looking down at the frothing sea. The wind whips at my loose hair, lashing my cheeks and neck with it, molding my wet dress to my legs. “Diving back in.”
“No, you’re not. We’re not doing this. You will let me take you to the palace.”
“I already said no. Go find someone else to save. What do you care about me anyway?”
“I don’t. But Jai does.”
I go still. Sucking in a sharp breath, I turn back around. “Does he?”
He’s scowling, and even like that, even knowing it’s an Eosphor wearing Jai’s face, he’s beautiful. “I don’t have time for games, Little Human.”
“And yet here you are. You… You called me makhair earlier, when you were flying over the arena and calling out my name. Like Jai does.”
“What Jai knows, I know.”
“Not entirely true. He has said he doesn’t always know what you are saying or thinking. And I bet you don’t, either.”
“Fair enough,” he rumbles and shifts in the saddle as if this talk makes him uncomfortable.
“And what about what he feels?” I ask, not sure why I’m asking, the words escaping me before I can stop them.
“What Jai feels, I feel, too, but as an echo. As with his thoughts, I can tell what is Jai and what is myself.”
“Good to know.” I nod and turn back toward the edge. “Well, see you at the palace. Or not.”
“… Wait.”
I stop. Glance back at him, still seated on the black drak. At his narrowed gaze. “What is it?”
“Stay here.” His words are grating, as if spoken against his will. “I’ll go retrieve the flag.”
I startle. “You…” I recover quickly. “Fine. And save the remaining humans. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
“Take it or…?” He laughs. Then throws his head back and laughs some more. “Oh, Jai.”
I lift my chin. “What are you laughing about?”
“Jai. He’s always loved obstinate women.”
“I prefer the term spirited.”
“I see. Well, I prefer it when you’re well-behaved.”
“Who says I care what you prefer?”
His mouth quirks. “I’ll be back quickly. Don’t move from the spot.”
With a cluck of his tongue and a press of his black-clad knees against black scales, he nudges the drak up into the air and they’re off before I can think of a reply.
He flies away on his black drak and plunges down toward the towers bobbing in the arena. I lose sight of him as he dives behind them.
Then he flies up and swings his drak around toward me. With powerful flaps of its wings, the black drak reaches the platform, flying right over me, and Phaethon leans sideways and hollers, “Come with me! We are under attack.”
“Attack?” I’m standing there, my white dress whipping around my legs. “What do you mean?”
“Drak squadrons!”
“Squadrons?” I gape. Is this a joke? They actually set a squadron on us? Have they gone insane? As if they need such measures to kill us off when the arena is doing such a fine job of it.
“You’re coming now!” he yells as the drak swings around and makes another pass over me. “Come.”
“Fine.” No reason to refuse now. “But how do I get up there?”
“I’ll grab you.”
I reach up and as he passes again, black hair fluttering like ribbons of rough silk. He sends down a thin rope of darkness, made of entwined shadows, to wrap around my arm.
Oh right. Shadows. They slither down my body, wrap around my waist and yank me up. I shout in panic as I dangle under the drak, whipped by the fierce wind of its speed as it flies past the edge of the platform, but the shadows lift me higher and higher, finally placing me on the saddle behind him.
Shaking, I slide my arms around him, clinging to his broad back as we fly off, my heart pounding its way up my throat. Did I mention I’m not good with heights? I hope I won’t throw up all over both of us.
The drak banks to the right, going at a speed that knocks the air from my lungs. A strand of hair is plastered to my face, half-blocking my vision, but there’s no way in all the hells that I’m freeing a hand to push it out of my eyes. I press my face to his back and hold on for dear life.
Jai—Phaethon—doesn’t wait to see if I’ve settled in okay or ask how I’m doing, but after a while, as we circle over the arena, I become aware of the shadows still wrapped around me. Holding me in place.
And I gradually also become aware of the hard planes of his chest under my palms, the coiled, hard muscles of his back shifting under my cheek, the steady heartbeat under my ear.
Distracting.
Is Jai the one making sure I don’t fall off, or Phaethon?
Does it matter?
I blink, startled by my own question.
“Get her!” someone yells from above us, and I recoil.
With a growl I feel in my chest, Phaethon jerks the drak downward. Flares of fire split the air on either side of us.
The squadron draks are trying to fry us.
Maybe we’re flying too high. Maybe we weren’t supposed to zip around the arena but stick to the game and these are the guards making sure we don’t run away.
The aerial watch. Making sure nobody has the chance to take the easy way out.
But as the attacking squadron draks spit more fire and our drak jerks, I wonder if it’s more sinister than that. If this is part of the trials.
Have we been hit? The black drak rears up, screeching, then jerks again, as if trying to throw us off.
Smart move.
But Phaethon murmurs words I shouldn’t be hearing over the wind, words that echo through my mind, and I feel his power pulsing against my skin. With a sure hand on the reins, he steers the drak to the left and down, into an almost headlong dive toward the water.