32. Thyra
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thyra
“Maxim—”
He’s already too far away.
Disconcertingly, I’m so focused on Maxim’s departure that I miss the serpent’s glide toward me.
I relax when the beast lowers his head to the sand and lies very still beside me. Unthreatening.
“Well, I guess this answers the question of whether Ember Law applies to me,” I say to the serpent. “Since the king himself told me to ride you.”
The serpent tips his head slightly, a gleam in his eyes.
I chew on my lip, curious. “Miriam wouldn’t happen to know your name, would she? Despite apparently telling Maxim she didn’t?”
The serpent rises slightly and slides forward, casting a wide circle around me and giving me a much better look at its scars. Strange, short marks in intervals all the way from the base of its head to its tail.
“Oh, what battles have you seen?” I ask as the beast comes to a stop.
Once again, he tilts his head toward me and this time, I realize he’s offering me one of his horns as leverage to climb onto his back.
Except that I don’t need to climb.
I leap lightly upward, taking the heartbeat while I’m midair to hum to my armor so that it wraps fully around my body again.
An instant later, I settle onto the serpent’s saddle, which is constructed from a leather the likes of which I’ve not seen before.
As soon as I wrap my hands around the serpent’s horns, he slithers forward and rises into the air.
If I hadn’t spent time flying with Azul, I’d be thrown off-balance, especially by the way the serpent’s body ripples through the air. I’m forced to lean lower than I would if I were riding Nara, the wolf, seeking my center of gravity, but I adjust quickly.
I’m surprised how far ahead Maxim has managed to travel already.
The serpent takes long minutes to catch up and even then, Maxim keeps good pace on the ground, the serpent circling back only a few times to stay above his position.
A trip that would have taken hours on foot suddenly shortens. At the speed we’re traveling, it might only be fifteen minutes before we reach the glowing light.
Soon enough, we’re soaring above the mountain range while Maxim runs through the narrow pass I identified earlier, his now-fiery form a blaze of light.
Finally, we surge past the edge of the mountains and suddenly—
Silvery light blinds me.
Too bright!
Gripping tightly to the serpent’s horn with only one hand, I throw my right arm across my eyes, trying to shield my sight.
The serpent, on the other hand, doesn’t falter and when I dare peek past my arm, I catch a swirl of orange flames that indicates Maxim hasn’t wavered from his path, either.
He and the serpent must be fully accustomed to piercing light like this, their natural habitat burning with sunlight.
But while whatever power I’ve siphoned from Maxim has enabled me to tolerate the Ember Kingdom’s heat, Antony’s sharp eyesight is a significant liability right now.
I hunch low over the serpent’s back as the light only gets brighter.
My skin prickles. All over.
A groan of pain sends my Lethian armor into a frenzy, the threads streaming across my skin, swirling and sliding, as if it’s rearranging itself, but I can’t be sure into what because I can’t even open my eyes to slits now.
A second later, the light grows even brighter, beyond unbearable, and I cry, “Stop! Serpent! I can’t go closer.”
The light is burning me. Scorching across my face and neck and arms and—
My right arm most of all.
The serpent jolts at my cry, veering sharply to the right, and I experience a moment of relief as he turns away from the light source, whatever it is. Only for a new cry to tear from my lips.
Sharp pain cuts along my right arm like a knife slicing open my flesh.
My arm yanks forward against my will, stretching back toward the light, forcing me to twist at the waist.
For a heartbeat, something about this feels familiar.
Another encounter with silvery light just like this… After Antony sank his fangs into my neck and Stellen carried me through the tunnel in the bloodlands, I was slipping in and out of consciousness, but I remember my arm had risen.
Drawn to that light.
A gentle pull.
Nothing like this.
Dark light explodes around me. I don’t know where it came from or why it’s happening or how to escape it.
A second later, I’m wrenched from the serpent’s back, yanked back into the brightness, my right arm outstretched and the pull on my body so intense, I fear I’ll be torn apart.