Page 51 of A Legacy of Storms and Starlight

Zylah hauled herself up the pile of crates, leapt for a wooden window shutter before she had the chance to question its rigidity, and pulled herself up to the roof.

“Raif, go with her,” Holt called out from below.

A heartbeat later, Raif swung up onto the roof beside her, a wide smile lighting up his face in the moonlight. “Shall we?”

“Won’t they need help?” Zylah asked, inclining her head to the passage below. She’d continued her training with Holt, but the way he moved against his opponents told her he’d been holding back.

Raif peered over his shoulder in Holt’s direction. “You haven’t seen everything he’s capable of if you’re asking that question. Let’s go.”

Another roar cut through the night, but Zylah didn’t hesitate as she darted after Kopi across the rooftops. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Raif managed, just as Zylah grabbed his hand and evanesced them across the space between two buildings.

Kopi dove down to street level, and Raif waved Zylah over to a section of the roof.

“I’ll evanesce us down.” Zylah rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath, ignoring the pressing ache in her back.

“No. No one must see you; it’s too risky.” Raif peered over the edge and Zylah followed his gaze.

“Just like climbing a tree, right?” Zylah muttered as Raif helped her down onto a drain pipe. More roars tore through the streets, from multiple creatures, and Zylah willed the gnawing feeling in her insides to settle as she descended to solid ground.

Raif dropped silently onto the dirt beside her as she was getting her bearings. “We’re near the outskirts of the city. This isn’t a place I like to frequent in the day, let alone—” Another roar cut him off, only this time it was much, much closer.

Kopi called out up ahead and Zylah broke into a run after him before the kernel of fear she felt in her gut could take root. The buildings became small hovels, shacks and lean-tos that could barely be called homes, but Zylah didn’t stop to think about the living conditions within them, even as the rotten, musty stench hit her. She followed Kopi down a gap between two houses, the city wall looming over them. In the dim light, it was difficult to make out Kopi’s silhouette, but one minute he was beside the wall, the next, he was gone.

“You’re sure he’s not Pallia’s owl?” Raif asked as he pushed aside the thick hanging ivy covering the wall. The stone had fallen away, leaving a gap just wide enough for one person to squeeze through. “I’ll go first,” he added.

Zylah slid under his arm and stepped in front of him. “Kopi would never lead me into trouble.”

“Damn it, Liss,” Raif muttered behind her, close enough she could feel the heat radiating from him.

There hadn’t been time for anything between them in the last few days. Zylah had been completely occupied by training with Holt, working at the gardens, and making the poultices. All she’d practised with Raif was healing, and even that she’d practisedwithouthim, on recruits Saphi brought to her at the safe house but nothing more than superficial wounds so far.

The way Raif had pulled her to him back at the meeting barely an hour before was the closest they’d been since… Zylah thought of the way he’d pinned her against a tree, of how quickly she’d given in and wrapped her legs around him. Her cheeks heated at the wildly inappropriate thought given their current circumstances.Gods above. They’d just met. What was she thinking?

“We never did finish what we started in the forest the other day,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts.

Zylah spun around to face him, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. The part of her that was Fae had always allowed her to see better in the dark than others, although she’d never known it was that before. “I’ve been busy.”

Raif shrugged as if they weren’t in the middle of their crazy pursuit. “That’s fair enough. I like to take my time with these things.”

“Oh, so now you’re patient?”

His grin was feral. “No. Not patient. But time spent waiting for you is a very different matter to how I intend to spend my timewithyou.” He tucked a strand of hair behind Zylah’s ear, and she could have sworn her traitorous heartbeat was the only sound left in the world.

She swallowed, choosing her next words very carefully, but Kopi’s call echoed off the stone. Zylah turned back in the direction they’d been heading, silently cursing herself for stopping in the first place.

Something moved across the opening up ahead, but beyond the stone, Zylah could only make out tree trunks and ferns in the dark. She reached back for Raif’s hand.

“Don’t worry, I…” he began, as his hand engulfed hers.

Zylah wasn’t worried. She evanesced them as far as she could see into the forest, away from whatever was waiting for them on the outskirts of the wall.

“…won’t let anything…” He spun her around to face him as realisation registered across his face. “Clever.”

But Zylah wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the thing beyond him, an enormous creature standing on two legs that ended in hooves. It swung its great head, not unlike a wolf’s, as it searched along the wall for them, spinning around to find them amongst the trees. Two horns spiralled from its head, thick fangs protruding from ghastly lips, and a pair of blood-red eyes fixed right on Zylah.

“Stay here,” Raif ordered, before running for the creature head-on.

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