Page 40 of Let Me Win You

“They aren’t that much different from horses,” Kindness tried to assure me. “You’ll be fine.”

I wasn’t certain if I should trust her on that, especially after what Invi told me about Kindness’s propensity to tell people what they wanted to hear regardless of the truth.

“They’re definitely much nicer than unicorns,” Charity confirmed. “Those moody beasts would stab you with their horns without a doubt.”

“Come on, sweetie,” Pandora urged. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Um, that I’ll fall off and die?” I took a step closer to the magnificent but intimidating animal. He snorted and ruffled his wing feathers, probably sensing an inexperienced rider already.

“Oh, you mortals.” The mother of sins rolled her eyes. “You’re always so afraid of dying, like that’s the worst thing ever.”

The worst or not, I really didn’t want to go through the whole death experience due to choosing a wrong mode of transportation.

“Are you sure I can’t walk?”

“And risk being devoured by some stray creature of the underworld?” Charity asked casually.

“What creature?” The nervous flutter of apprehension in my stomach pulsed stronger.

“Charity, don’t scare her,” Kindness pleaded. “Look at her. The poor thing is stressed enough already.”

Pandora leaned over and grabbed my winged mount under the harness.

“Here, I’ll hold him for you,” she said. “Jump on.”

I blew out a breath, grabbed the horn of the saddle, shoved my foot into the pretty golden stirrup, and did as she said.

The stirrups were shorter than what I was used to and positioned a little more forward to allow for the wings to move below the narrow saddle. But other than that, the feel of the saddle under my butt was familiar.

I exhaled, adjusting my grip on the reins.

“Well, it’s not too bad?—”

The wings moved, and my pegasus soared into the air. I squeaked, dropped forward, and hugged his neck in a death grip.

“Do we absolutely need to fly?” I yelled into his white silky mane.

The wings didn’t appear to grow from the animal’s shoulder blades but were positioned closer to the middle of his body, behind my legs. It made our position in the air almost identical to the one on horseback, roughly horizontal and parallel to theground. But the pegasus’s lurch up with each flap of his wings was vastly different from a horse’s gait on the ground.

My mount tilted to the right, making a sharp turn in the air, and my stomach leaped up, choking my scream of horror. The ground shifted in my view, making me feel like I was falling.

“Oh, my fucking shit!” I cursed, finding an odd comfort in the filthy words when the entire world appeared to turn upside down.

“You’re doing great.” Pandora lined up her pegasus behind mine. “We’ll be there in no time. And it is safer this way. Charity wasn’t lying when she spoke about the beasts of the underworld. They don’t usually come up all the way to the surface. But it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?”

“Why are there any beasts at all?” I choked out between the gasps and screams as air rushed by me. “We aren’t going to the underworld, are we?”

“No, of course not. But the maze is kind of close to it.”

“Kind of?”What the hell did that mean? “Are you kidding me? Are we literally going to hell?”

“Not quite.” Pandora grinned. Unlike me, she looked like she was immensely enjoying the wild ride or…the wildflight, to be precise. “The maze is just at the entrance to hell, but we’re not going in. And look! We’re almost there already.”

Hugging my winged mount’s neck tightly, I ventured a glance down.

The green forests and vistas below us gave way to a wasteland with sharp, black rocks jutting out from pale dirt.

“And the boys are already here.” Pandora perked up, craning her neck for a better look. “I bet they’re so excited to meet you. Sadly, Ace couldn’t come, but he sent his regards.”

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