Page 101 of Court of Wolves

The Eversky had joined Scylla, Samlyn, and the two men Maia didn’t know. The one with golden skin and curls dipped his head when he noticed her attention, as ifshe’ddone this, given them unlimited power.

“My thanks, servants,” he shouted from the palace as powerful, loud wingbeats carried them away. The building was huge viewed from outside, a sprawling mansion of alabaster stone towers and arches and domes, with so many floors and wings that Maia couldn’t count them, the whole thing built into the edge of a forest.

Maia was going to be sick. My thanks, servants.

“Maia?” Bryon growled somewhere behind her.

“I’m alright,” she lied, panting through the pain. But if they finally got away from that place, if they were finally free, it was worth it. Everything that came after, whatever it meant for thedark saints to have even more power, she’d figure it out later. Now she just wanted to sleep in a place that didn’t have locks on the doors or bars on the windows.

They won’t follow us, the drake said—to all of them judging by the way everyone stiffened. They’ve got what they wanted now. They’ll come after the sword undoubtedly, but they’ll revel in their unbound power first.

“Are we safe?” Kheir asked, his voice tight and pained. Oh fuck, his wing—Maia had almost forgotten. “Is anywhere in the Saintlands safe from them, or did we just exchange one prison for another?”

Three kingdoms remain unconquered: Felis, V’haiv, and Sainsa. There is refuse yet for those who fight the saints rule. But many have died. Thousands upon thousands.

Maia stared at the scales under her as guilt choked her, and she didn’t look up even when the forestland below changed to open, grassy plains.

“Where are we going?” It was Ark who finally asked the question on all their minds. He sounded better than earlier, and Maia’s eyes closed with relief when she reached out to him and felt a rush of magic in his soul, healing his wounds. Someone drove nails into his hands and feet and she was stillmurderousat the thought. Arms wound around her middle and squeezed, a kiss falling on her neck. Maia sagged, her bottom lip caving in. He was right behind her. Healing and whole and safe. Wounded like all of them, traumatised like all of them, but safe.

Felis, V’haiv, Sainsa.

To a city that no longer had a name. In the heart of the Hunchback Hills.

“Sainsa?” Maia murmured, exhaustion pressing on her now they’d put good distance between them and the saints’ palace. They’d been in Vassal this whole time; Maia recognised the Forest of Skies, the plains dotted with villages, the clouds on thehorizon. The clouds over the Vassalaer. She’d been afraid, for a moment, the drake would take her home, but she wasn’t ready to go back, wasn’t sure she ever would be. She wasn’t the princess she’d been there, and she’d rather sleep in the plains below than in the same city as Ismene.

To your mate, the drake replied in that growling, serious tone as he angled them through the clouds, following the curve of the land so he didn’t carry them directly over the City of Skies.

To her… “What?” Maia breathed, pain pounding too viciously through her to make sense of it. But the only mate who wasn’t with them was Isak, and if the drake was taking them to him, it would mean he—

I’m sure he’ll explain when we reach the clearing, the drake said with a deepening growl. I will attempt not to roast him alive for his error, because the odds were stacked against him and the saints have been playing this game for millennia.

What does that mean?

We’re here, he said instead of replying, and Maia’s heart lurched as she searched the rolling hills they descended towards a flat grassy area cupped between three tall arched mounds. It was utterly silent here, only the rush of air around them as the drake’s wings beat the air. There were no people waiting below, no Isak.

Patience, the drake chided, swooping lower. Maia screamed as her stomach soared suddenly into her throat, her broken wrist making holding on difficult. She tightened her thighs around the drake’s back, sheer panic making her blood race, her head spine. If someone fell off—

I would catch them in my talons. You’re such a worrywart, he growled with clear judgement. The same applies to you. If you fall, I will catch you.

But… why?

We are allies in a world on the brink of devastation. The Saintlands are dying around us, more lost every day. I am one of the most powerful beings to ever exist in this continent, and I may have slept for centuries, but I’m not about to let an ally capable of fighting the dark ones plunge to her death. Even if her constant worrying does make my head ache.

Maia might have smiled, might have asked him his name, but he surged suddenly at the ground and she was shrieking again, clinging to his scales as the ground rushed up at them.

“Hold on!” Bryon commanded, thick with dominance.

“Thanks, grandpa, I didn’t think of that,” Vawn snapped.

And then they were on the ground, the drake’s ivory body jerking on impact, then going unnervingly still. After hours of flying, it was a miracle and an omen to be in one place. What if the saints followed them?

Then you get out of my way and let me roast them. I would have done so back at the court of Bevhen, but you were all in the way. And like I just said, I don’t let allies die. Now get off my back.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

By the time wingbeats overpowered the sound of several bickering arguments, Maia had managed to talk herself into a meltdown. Her hands shook. Her whole body ached. But it was nerves that overruled even her pain when a drake almost as big as her new friend—Velius, who would absolutelynotaccept a nickname or shortened version of his name, only ever Velius—swooped through the air and circled towards the ground.

Maia struggled to make out the figures on Velius’s mate’s back, but she counted them quickly. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—

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