“Without our protection, the Draco would wipe them out. Mageri are the source of magick. They are the antithesis to technology.”
I held up my hands. “I stand corrected.”
He blinked slowly. “You’ll learn how we operate soon enough.”
We’d come to the end of the corridor lined with windows, and when he pushed open the door, we were out under the stars on a wide bridge that led to the opposite tower.
“Your quarters are in this tower,” Dante said as we made our way across the bridge. I braved a look over the edge and my heart shot up into my throat, not with fear but with exhilaration at the height. What would it be like to fall? To have wings burst from my back and to soar?
Yeah, fat chance of that happening.
I veered toward Dante and my shoulder brushed his arm. An electric charge shot through me, and my head whipped up to find his hot gaze on me. His mouth parted and mine went dry. How could such simple contact cause such a reaction inside me?
His step slowed and he half-turned to face me. I saw a confession in his eyes. Words I didn’t want to hear.
“Anya, I—”
A screech tore the air and a shadow hurtled over us. Dante cried out, making a grab for me, but something else got to me first. Talons gripped my arms and I was hauled off the bridge and up into the air. The last thing I saw before the clouds swallowed me was Dante’s shocked face and his glowing ember eyes.
Chapter Nine
The creature beat its wings and rose with me. I craned my neck to look up at it. A wyvern? No, it was too large to be a wyvern, but it had the small arms of a wyvern with the extended claws, so it had to be. It held me firmly with the talons of its hind legs, and the world below was a distant memory.
A gust of air blew us to the right and a huge crimson dragon appeared to our left.
Don’t be afraid, Dante said in my head. I don’t think Cornelia means to hurt you.
You don’t think?
He was ominously silent. Fuck it, if this creature tried to take a bite, then Jezebel would take a chunk out of its hide.
We began to ascend, Dante keeping pace with us, and then the wyvern’s grip loosened and I was falling. My scream lodged in my throat and then my body slammed into something soft and pillowy. Leaves and down had cushioned my fall. Wait, was I in a bloody nest? I sat up and studied the structure, a bowl large enough to house maybe two human-sized beings, but no way big enough for the wyvern. The nest was located at the top of a tower with a crumbling roof. I could see the stars through the gap and there was Cornelia, hurtling toward me.
Shit.
I held up an arm as she crashed through the aperture in the roof, dislodging dust and slate, and landed beside the nest. Why hadn’t I reached for Jezebel? I was alone in a tower with a wyvern who’d put me in a nest. I should have gone straight for my weapon on instinct, but no urgency or sense of immediate threat coursed through me.
I peered at Cornelia over my arm to find her huge brown eyes fixed on me. There was something in those eyes, a gentleness that had me lowering my guard so that when she leaned in to sniff me, I didn’t shy away.
Dante landed with a soft rustle. “Cornelia…” He held up his hands placatingly as he rounded the nest to get closer to me.
Cornelia morphed from gentle to vicious in a heartbeat, turning her head to snap at Dante.
“Hey!” His voice was deep and filled with command. “No.”
Cornelia’s chest rumbled, her body bristling as she came to stand between me and Dante, almost as if…as if she was protecting me.
Cornelia swung her head to look at me. Our gazes locked and then she blinked. I took a moment to get a better look at her. She was beautiful, a rose-gold hue with black ridges up her nose and along her back. The urge to touch her shimmering scales trickled through me.
“Anya?” Dante sounded tense.
But there was no tension inside me. My instincts were telling me I was safe, that this magnificent creature wouldn’t hurt me. My instincts hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
I peered around Cornelia at Dante. “I’m good. She won’t hurt me, will you?” I tentatively held out a hand, palm facing her.
Her gaze flicked from my palm to my face, and then she dipped her head and nudged my hand with her nose.
Dante sucked in a quick breath.
“Cornelia, Anya has to go now.” His voice was a soothing vibration. “She has her own room.”
Cornelia chuffed and nudged me again. It was a prompt to stroke her, so I obliged, running my hand up her nose. Her eyes fluttered closed as she reveled in the contact and a strange sensation unfurled in my chest. The same feeling I’d experienced when I held Gemma in my arms for the first time, when I soothed Neddie’s tears or rocked Stefan to sleep. It was the same feeling I got when I looked at June.
Kinship and maternal shit.
After another couple of seconds she stepped back, giving me permission to leave. And yes, I had no idea how I knew that.
Dante helped me out of the nest and pulled me against him. His heart was beating so hard I could feel it thrumming against my side. His grip on me tightened and he backed us away from Cornelia, who was watching us intensely.
“I’m going to shift now,” Dante said.
