Page 46 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
“They are known to stick close to this shoreline.”
“This is a very long shoreline,” I spat.
“One will come,” he said with a nod. “Be patient.”
“I’m sorry, you must’ve mistaken me for someone else. When have I ever given you the impression that I can be patient?” I picked up a handful of stones and started chucking them out tothe water one by one in the hopes that if a monster lurked in the waves it would come. But none emerged. “This is ridiculous. We don’t have time to wait,” I said, crossing my arms tight across my chest again. “We don’t have time for you to stumble across beasts to train when you have one right here.”
“I won’t do it.” I almost wanted to laugh at his deeply serious tone. “I won’t take control of your mind. I won’t take that freedom from you.”
“Your chivalry is noted and currently very unappreciated,” I muttered. I tipped my chin up to the sky. “Practice on Haestas while we wait for this great sea creature, then.”
“What would you have me do? Make her bring you another goat?”
“Tell her to bring me a Wolf,” I suggested. “One with silver fur. Alive. One we can interrogate.Thatwould actually be a good use of our time.”
“Why do you think I spend every evening poring over sheets of music? I have beentrying, but the more involved the command, the more intricate the song.” Navin mused up at the clouds. “And since no song exists to command a monster to fetch a living Wolf, I must write it myself. It will take more time to uncover the right notes, if it can be done at all.”
“Practice something else on her now, then,” I grumbled, ignoring his mounting frustration. “Don’t make my sleep exhaustion be in vain.”
Navin let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
He let out a sharp whistle and Haestas came shooting like a carmine arrow through the sky. She tucked in her shimmering iridescent wings until within striking distance of us and I thought for a second she might crash into the rocky shores, but at the last second, she opened her wings like a sail to a strong wind and slowed to a graceful landing. Her clawed feet sunk into the pebbles under her enormous weight and she let out deep growling clicks as she stalked closer.
She was incredible and lethal and yet I knew by her posture and the brightness in her eyes that she wasn’t a danger to us.
Navin started his low, guttural song, making Haestas do all the things I’d seen him have her do a hundred times before: sit, lie down, even breathe little streams of fire.
“Is she going to light a candle for us? Doing parlor tricks won’t help us in an actual battle,” I said, rubbing the crusted sleep from my tired eyes. “She needs to be trained tokillon command. I know songs have been written about that at least.”
Navin shot me a look but acquiesced, his song changing, morphing to something faster. Haestas sat alert, her pupils narrowing to slits, and then she took flight. With a whoosh, she shot out toward the sea, circling the tall waves a few times before shooting down toward the water. Talons bared, she snatched a writhing creature from beneath the roiling waves. It had the claws of a crab and the long reptilian body of a crocodile with rows upon rows of sharp sharklike teeth as if the three animals were sewn together into one foul beast.
“I’m never swimming in the ocean again.”
Navin ignored me, too focused on his dragon. He let out a whistle and Haestas tore at the monster with her talons, ripping it limb from limb before dropping its shredded remains back into the sea.
“Wasthatthe creature we were waiting for?” I asked, looking at the burnt orange remains bobbing on the surface.
“Yep,” Navin said.
“Great.” With a groan, I stood. “If you can have her do that a few hundred times in rapid succession, we may very well have a chance.” Navin’s expression soured. “Let’s head back to camp, then—there’s only one beast you’re going to be training today.” I smiled at Haestas as she flew higher above the clouds again, released from her deathly performance. “Unless you’d like to try on me?”
Navin turned and scowled. “No.”
“Aw, come on,” I said, sidling over to him. Well, my attemptat sidling. I needed Briar to teach me how to swish my hips in that alluring way she did. I was never one to be seductive, but judging by the heat in Navin’s eyes, it was working all the same. “It could be fun.” I ran my hands up his arms as he arched a brow at me. “It could be a lot of fun—you trying to control me, making me do whatever dark ideas are floating around your head.”
The desire in his eyes betrayed that frown and I knew I’dfinallyfound my in. Navin wasn’t one for playing games outside the bedroom, but oh the fun we had inside it. If I could get him to practice this new powerandget a wickedly fun night out of him, then so be it.
“Never mind,” I said, reeling him in like a fish on a hook. I waved away the thought. “We could just let Ora practice with me—”
“No.” Navin stepped into me, his hands sweeping around my waist and gathering me to him. His possessive fingertips pressed into my leathers. “If anyone trains you, it will be me.”
“Good.” Plan hatched, I rose on my tiptoes and brushed a chaste kiss to his lips. He tried to pull me closer, to continue the kiss, but I pulled away and patted his chest. “Save it for tonight.”
“Tonight?” he asked as I started back toward the forest. I heard the crunch of his boots beneath the pebbles as he followed. “Tonight we’ll be on Galen den’ Mora heading northward.”
“Ora still has that tent, don’t they?”
