Page 38 of Of Flame and Fury

“We’d probably all die. But it’s our own fault, isn’t it?” Heshrugged. “Maybe if we’d never started collaring them in the first place, we’d have figured out a way to coexist. But it’s too late for that.”

Unease slithered through Kel, making her toes curl. She’d expected Coup to disagree, to say it was misguided to even consider that world. That his income counted on phoenixes remaining collared—controlled.

But then again, so did hers.

Behind closed, heavy lids, Kel tried to imagine Savita in the wild. If Savita was truly free, uncollared, would she be happier? Would she fly off, never to be seen again?

Kel shook her head, trying to hack the thought from her mind like a stubborn weed.

“Maybe if we’d never collared phoenixes, we could’ve learned from them, like Ryker did,” Coup mused softly, as if speaking to her through his own daydream. “Maybe they could have even taught us to grow our own wings.”

Kel shifted onto the dirt and leaned her head against the log. “Then I suppose we wouldn’t need phoenixes to race.”

Coup laughed softly. Kel turned toward him. In the dim, overhead light, his chestnut curls had turned to shadows, his amber eyes like cooling embers.

As silence drifted between them, Kel felt herself stiffening, from both the cold and the strange, unexpected truce she found between herself and Coup. She fidgeted with a corner in the notebook, biting down on her lip when a papercut sliced the tip of her middle finger.

“You all right?” Coup asked. When she didn’t reply, hetsked. “Careless, tamer. How do you survive seventeen years owning a phoenix and still manage something as thoughtless as a papercut?”

“Says the rider careless enough that he’d rather burn himself alive than lose a race,” Kel replied, sharper than she’d intended.

Whether it was caused by the darkness or the papercut, she felt a strange, sudden vulnerability. She needed him toleave.

Coup stood. “It’s only careless if it’s not intentional. At least I’m willing to do what it takes to get where I need to be. At least I don’t have to lie to myself about any of it.”

Coup left the aviary before she could retort, leaving her to the quiet dark, punctured only by Savita’s glowing silhouette.

SIXTEEN

“Anew saddle isn’t going to stop you from falling face-first,” Kel muttered. She pulled the buckles around Coup’s ankle tight enough to bruise.

Coup shrugged. “Savita would catch me.”

Kel huffed and stepped back. Maybe if he cracked his skull, some of the arrogance might leak out.

Part of Kel did want to wrench open his skull, to see what else lay inside. When she’d first seen Coup this morning, he’d been even snarkier than usual; biting quips and bitter comments.

There was no trace of their unexpected truce from last night, and so she quashed any hint of understanding she might have been tempted to throw his way.

Kel moved back until she stood beside Dira. To Dira’s right—veryclose to her right—stood Rahn, then Bekn. Rahn had woken them at dawn, far too animated. Already dressed in a uniform consisting of a pale blue coat and white shirt, Rahn dragged them to their new training track. She offered them uniforms of their own, black and burgundy.

Coup had wriggled into his riding leathers faster than Kel could blink. Where his old gear was worn and faded, his new uniform glistened like dark metal and fresh blood. It fitted him like a tailored glove. The dense padding inside the leathers broadened his shoulders and puffed his chest. Two brown curls fell across his forehead, his hair otherwise perfectly coiffed, and the faint stubble across his cheeks only sharpened his jaw. He’d undoubtedly have a Vohre fan base soon enough.

They all watched as Coup adjusted the buckles around his legs. Rube had been talented, but even his gear looked like junkyard scraps compared to Cristo’s tech. Savita jostled beneath the new saddle, bridle and reins, stretching her wings to their full length.

Kel didn’t miss Coup’s slight wince as he adjusted his weight.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, thinking back to the lethal stunt he’d pulled only days ago. He’d pressed against his phoenix’s saddle so tightly. Was his front covered in burns and blisters? If she asked to see him shirtless, she doubted she’d ever hear the end of it.

“Not enough to need a lecture,” he sighed, grimacing as he pulled himself further forward.

Confusion snaked through her. “You flew with me the other night—why didn’t you say anything?”

“You’d just have used it as an excuse not to let me come.”

Kel rubbed her face, smothering her growing irritation. “Just take it easy, okay? You shouldn’t be flying if you’re still injured.”

Coup brushed nonexistent dust off his arm. “I’m fine. Besides, if I die, you’ll get to tell Dira and Bekn ‘I told you so.’ I’m sure you dream about that.”

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