I’d wanted to question him, beg him to stay, but my companion had always been a law unto himself. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d find me when the time was right.
Vesper hadn’t spoken to me in over an hour, and it was a relief because I didn’t have the mental capacity to banter with him. My mind was on what was to come. I had a book to deliver, and for that I needed an audience with Orion. I needed an excuse to see him. I needed Dante, because I could convince him to take me to see Orion on some pretext or other. Vesper would probably ask too many questions. We were flying into the unknown, and even though my gut told me we’d be safe with the Dreki, I needed to know what to expect.
Vesper, can we talk?
What is it? Scales too rough for your delicate thighs?
What happens when we get to the Furtherlands? Where will we be staying?
Not my problem. Dante has a plan for you. We’ll be going straight to the central fortress and he’ll take over from there. But one thing you can be sure of. Everyone has a job to do. No one eats for free.
I couldn’t help but bristle at that. I’m not afraid of hard work.
No need to tell him I was only staying long enough to hand Illyrian’s book to Orion. No need to tell him that as soon as I was sure my kids were safe, I’d be leaving for Draco City to get my dad back.
You can’t save him, Vesper said.
Fuck you, stop reading my mind. Oh God, had he picked up on the book? No, he would have mentioned it otherwise.
You think loud.
I’m not leaving him to rot.
He wouldn’t want you to risk your life.
You don’t know what he’d want.
Silence hung between us, but I could feel the pressure of his thoughts in my head.
Work with us and we can save not only your father but everyone else held in the Draco clutches.
But what if it was too late… I swallowed my disconcertion and agitation because like hell was I showing Vesper my weakness. Maybe the Dreki was right. Dad would expect me to be smart. He’d expect me to have a plan, and right now I had nothing aside from the burning desire to get him back. But with the Dreki on board and an army at my back, I had hope.
I was forced to concede that dumping the book and heading back wasn’t the smart option. The acceptance was a weight on my chest and a lump in my throat.
Royce wanted me. He’d keep Dad alive to use as a bargaining chip; there was no doubt in my mind about that. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt him.
Hang on, Dad. Please just hang on.
Look, Vesper said. Look below.
I sat up and looked down, past the vast span of his inky-black wings and into the night below. Tiny lights dotted the night. The lights of occupation. The lights of a small village.
The human settlement, Vesper said. And up ahead in the distance is the Dreki compound. Our central fortress and the mageri towers, and beyond that, far to the east, is the battlefield.
Do all the Dreki live in the compound?
When not on duty, yes. The lords had their own keeps once, but now we are forced to reside in the fortress, although we leave from time to time to manage the troops.
We flew over the village, and the air up ahead began to shimmer.
What is that glow?
A detection shield. The mageri keep the skies around our compound safe from Draco planes. If they get close, their tech fails and they crash. We have many plane parts.
Wait, are we actually having a civil conversation? Quick, say something sarcastic and cutting before the world ends.
I’m perfectly capable of being civil, even to those I despise. It’s a valuable skill.
You don’t like me, I get it.
But actions spoke louder than words, and thus far his actions weren’t of a Dreki who despised a Skin.
A wall rose up to meet us, but Vesper gained altitude, taking us over it, and then we were flying above the compound, above neat squares of land and huge barrack-style buildings and massive pens housing sleeping wyverns. Silver steepled towers rose up to my left, gleaming in the moonlight as if lit from within, and then we were flying across a moonlit body of water toward an imposing turreted fortress. Lights winked in the narrow windows like tiny eyes watching our entry. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the pale smudge of Helgi’s face. Orange dragons flew past us, rising in the air as they aimed for the top of the fortress. My stomach dropped and Vesper gained altitude and then we were above a huge landing platform.
Vesper landed lightly a second after the brood mothers.
I dismounted but clung to him a moment longer to give my legs a chance to acclimatize.
“Bloody hell.” Helgi joined me, slightly unsteady on her feet. “That was…wow.”
I was still touching Vesper, and I realized I hadn’t once thanked him for getting help.
I opened my mouth to do just that as a crimson-haired figure appeared on the other side of the platform. Dante stood, chest heaving, gaze locked on me.
Anya…
His voice filled my head and the tension that had my body in its grip melted like warm honey on toast.
I wanted to run to him like a bloody romance heroine in one of the old novels that circulated in the Outlands. The ones filled with heaving bosoms and quivering thighs. Yeah, Helgi and I had hidden in the barn reading the shit out of those things.
But I wasn’t a heroine, and I made men’s thighs quiver, not
