Page 133 of Black Wing and Shadows
By the time my father left the courtyard, the weight in my chest hadn’t eased. Even with his absence, the air still felt too thin, too sharp. Featherwing didn’t linger in the shadows the way I wanted to. Sadie looped an arm through mine, tugging me toward the edge of the crowd. “You look like you saw a ghost, Auri. Come on. We’re still alive. Let’s act like it.”
“I mean, I have seen three dead people in the last three days. Soooo— I don’t think acting like it means I can breathe again,” I muttered, but I let her drag me anyway.
Micah appeared on my other side, a grin plastered across his face. “Did anyone else see it earlier? Professor Hildegard nearly got squished by Orix earlier when Akira couldn’t get him to stop banking in circles. It looked like Orix drank a little too many times.”
Akira shoved him from behind, scowling. “He listens, just… selectively.”
“Selective?” Lorenzo snorted, striding up with his usual swagger. “He nearly flattened half the practice field! The only thing he listens to is his own ego.”
“Like Rider, like flier,” Thora muttered, earning a chorus of snickers from the group.
Even I cracked a smile, the knot in my chest loosening a little. For a moment, it was just us again—bickering, teasing, then laughter.
Esme stirred in the bond, her tone rich with amusement.“You humans mock each other endlessly, yet it makes you closer. Strange. But… not unpleasant.”
“Hmm, I somehow feel like fliers are just as equally mean, just based off of you,”I shot back at her, shaking my head.
Zane drifted closer, his shoulder brushing mine. He didn’t say anything, but the warmth of his bond wrapped around me, steady and reassuring. For the first time all day, I felt my lungs fill completely. The murders and threats weren’t forgotten. But for this sliver of an evening, Featherwing was together, alive, loud—and maybe that was enough.
We should’ve gone straight back to our chambers. That’s what the orders said, anyway. But instead, most of Featherwing and Zane ended up shuffling in the small practice gym, the smell of leather and chalk dust thick in the air.
Micah produced a bottle from his satchel with a grin that made me want to roll my eyes. “Found this little treasure in the Healer’s wing storage closet. Pretty sure it was meant for tinctures, but, well—what’s medicine without a little fun?”
“Pretty sure that’s called malpractice,” Sadie muttered, but she still reached for the bottle first.
Lorenzo snatched it out of her hands. “If anyone’s going to test this for poison, it should be me. I’m already halfway invincible.” He tipped it back with an exaggerated flourish—then immediately doubled over, coughing.
“Invincible, huh?” Thora deadpanned, arms crossed. “Looked more like you swallowed a wasp.”
“It burns,” Lorenzo rasped, wiping his mouth and shoving the bottle toward her. “Your turn.”
Akira snatched it instead, sniffed, and winced. “Smells like turpentine.” She drank anyway, then hissed through her teeth. “Tastes like turpentine, too.”
Micah was rolling with laughter. “Oh, this is so much better than drills.” He raised the bottle high. “To Sandorg—may it not implode before we return.”
“To Sandorg,” Sadie echoed dryly, taking the bottle to take her swig like it was penance.
The bottle made its rounds, each of us coughing, wincing, or swearing in turn. By the time it landed in my hands, my stomach already hurt from laughing at the others.
Esme stirred faintly in the bond, her voice sharp with disdain.“You all willingly ingest liquid that tastes like paint. You’re all mad.”
“Maybe,”I thought back,“but it beats thinking about cadets hanging from walls.”
She huffed but didn’t argue.
I tipped the bottle and nearly choked on the burn. “Gods above, this could strip rust off armor.”
Zane took it last, his face blank as he downed a full swallow. He set it down calmly, cleared his throat once, and said, “tastes fine.”
We all groaned.
“Show-off,” I muttered, my face still burning from the alcohol.
“Bro, I’ve told you before, but you are feral,” Alex said.
Micah flopped onto the mat, arms spread wide. “If we survive history, murderers, and flight training it’ll be because of this bottle.”
“Or it’ll kill us first,” Lili added flatly.
