Page 129 of Court of Lies and Deceit

Then he snaps his wings out again, drops of water bursting out from them like gleaming gemstones.

Lightning crackles through the air. But Draven meets it with a white bolt of his own. A deafening boom echoes across the forest as the two lightning strikes collide. I squeeze my eyes shut against the blinding light that explodes across the treetops.

“We need to find the portal before whatever the hell that is gets here,” Draven says as he takes off again.

More lightning and fire and water roar through the air after us.

“Can’t you shift into a dragon?” I call over the rushing of wind and crackling of magic. “A real dragon. And just torch that fucking group in bronze armor?”

“No. I tried when we were first attacked. It doesn’t work.”

A snarl of frustration rips from my lungs. But it makes sense. Hana has pulled this part of the forest into her reality, which is inside the Unseelie Court. That means that the wards that suppress the dragon shifters’ ability to shift inside the Unseelie Court now also covers this part of the forest that is inside Hana’s pocket reality.

Lightning cleaves the air again.

Draven throws us to the side and rolls through the air. My stomach turns as the ground and the sky switch places over and over again. Gasping in a breath to steady myself, I redouble my efforts to find that goddess damned portal.

We’re getting closer to the center of the dome now.

But so is that massive thing that is flying towards us from behind.

Arrows speed straight for us. But they clatter down on the treetops behind us as we at last start putting some real distance between us and the group in bronze armor on the ground. I snap my gaze back and forth as Draven hurtles across the trees, his wings booming in the air on either side of us.

My mind churns as I scan the woods ahead.

The portal will likely be hidden so that it can’t be seen straight away from above, since Orion knows about Draven’s ability to use the half-shift. But it can’t be too hidden, because Yster is probably using that portal as his vantage point to look inside the pocket reality and project it to the crowd. So something that shields it from above but leaves the sides open for maximum visibility.

I snap my gaze from side to side, searching desperately for something that fits that description.

A cluster of boulders. No, too limited visibility.

An open meadow. No, too exposed to the sky.

Nothing seems to fit. And there is no hint of glittering blue.

Fire roars through the air behind us where the group of natives is sprinting after us on foot, but we’re now too far away to be within reach. At least for another few minutes until they catch up.

I cast a panicked look over my shoulder.

That thing in the sky is drawing closer at an alarming rate.

Flicking my gaze desperately over the forest, I try to spot any hints of glittering blue.

The domed ceiling of the pocket reality reaches its highest point above us. Anticipation pulses through me. This is it. This is the center. The portal has to be here somewhere.

Winds snatch at my hair and clothes as Draven banks, taking us in a wide circle around the very center. I suck in rapid breaths, straining my eyes as I stare through the mass of leaves and twisted tree trunks and hanging moss and lichen-covered boulders. It has to be here. Please, Mabona, it has to be here.

That creature in the air is now speeding towards us.

A strangled noise of utter desperation escapes me as I scan the landscape before us over and over again while Draven flies us back and forth with rapid turns.

Come on, come on, come on, I beg.

Dread sinks into my stomach as a sudden thought hits me.

What if there is no portal.

What if they never actually opened a portal out.

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