Page 28 of Madness of Her Mages

“Well, yes, but—”

“But nothing,” she interrupted. “We can’t learn to trust each other if we don’t spend time together.” She jammed her boot into a stirrup and swung onto the big beast with ease before waving me forward. “Fly with me, Niece.”

My legs felt encased in iron as I gaped at her.

I’ll catch you if you fall off,Blaze said to me through thought.

I cut him a sharp look.If I fall off, or if that beast throws me off?

He slanted a sideways smile.Both. Don’t worry. I’m fast.

Of that I had no doubt, but I still didn’t want to ride a flesh-eating horse.I don’t like this,I projected to my mates.

Neither do we,Drae answered back,but this is a good chance for Malvolia to get to know you. We need her to trust you, especially if any demons come back.

That horse is a demon,I retorted while warily eyeing the beast.

Drae’s laughter echoed in my head.He’s an Areion.

A what?

A breed of flesh-eating horses that can fly,he said evenly as if we were discussing the supper menu.

Just lovely,I grumbled.

Your parents never taught you about them?Blaze asked.

No.

They’re rare,Nikkos said.They come from the island of Thesan. Mortimus hates everyone but Malvolia. If you can get him to trust you, then she’ll trust you, too.

My mates had lost their minds if they expected me to get on that beast.That thing can take off my head with one bite. How are you expecting me to get it to like me?

You have the siren’s call, Shiri,Drae said.Use it.

Another drop of blood fell from the beast’s maw.I don’t think my call works on animals.

Mortimus isn’t your average animal,Drae said.He’s Malvolia’s familiar, and he’s very intelligent.

Oh.

Was Drae expecting that bit of information to relax me? I was more unnerved knowing this flesh-eating beast was intelligent. For he didn’t just have the strength to kill us. He had the cunning, too.

Chapter Seven

Leaving Abyssus was harder than I’d expected, and not just because I was stuck on the back of a devil horse, but because of the way my heart plummeted when we flew away from the castle that I’d thought of as my home. I hadn’t realized how much I’d grown to love my mates’ home after only a week, but I’d felt more comfortable at Abyssus than any other place, so much more than my parents’ moldy cabin in the woods. I tried to remember the way the misty morning sunlight pierced the castle’s stone walls, turning the dull gray a soft shade of coral. And the majestic backdrop behind our southern border of the looming Periculian Mountains with its peaks shrouded in snowy clouds and its monstrous trees. As we flew north over rolling, tree-covered hills, and that beautiful old castle behind us became smaller and smaller, I felt as if I was leaving behind an integral piece of myself that I’d only just found, and I wondered if I’d ever get it back.

I sat behind Malvolia, the edge of the saddle pressing into my tailbone while I held onto her waist, trying my best not to dig my fingers into her sides while also keeping myself in the saddle. Not an easy task. The saddle was much too slick, which meant I was perpetually digging my thighs into the horse’s sides to keep from sliding off. And the wind from Mortimus’s massive wings didn’t help, blowing my hair out of its braid while stinging my face and pushing me further back.

Elements, the flight was torture.

Luckily, Blaze flew beside us, but all I could offer was a tight smile whenever he checked in on me. I realized my mates had planned for Blaze to follow me, since he flew the fastest.It was probably why Drae and Nikkos carried the girls, so that Blaze could focus on keeping me safe. Good thing, too, because Mortimus had left everyone else in the dust.

I sucked in a gasp when the horse angled upward like it was climbing up a steep hill. When the horse finally stopped climbing, it felt as if we were racing through a void as we soared above a flat layer of clouds, the sun’s bright rays piercing my eyes and beating down on our heads.

Blaze offered me a reassuring smile and a wink.You okay, Shiri?he asked through thought.

I winced, squeezing the saddle when the horse made a sudden dip.My thighs are going to be sore.

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