Page 29 of Ruthless Fae
It was a statement, not a question.
I shrugged, wanting to change the subject. “What’s happening down there?” I peered into the little porthole next to the one my aunt’s, yet I saw nothing but clouds.
“The humans have upset you. It isn’t surprising. They will continue to do that.” Her tone allowed for no argument as she put her hands on her hips and stared down at me.
She sounded like Bael with his “stick to your own kind” mantra.
I bristled at her words. “They’re trying to do their best.”
And now I was defending them when just moments ago I wanted to punch a hole in the wall for what they’d asked me to do. Yet, I didn’t like my aunt’s tone, which seemed to suggest humans were all bad, and I should have expected nothing less.
She dismissed my comment with a wave of her hand. Turning back to the window, she gazed down at the clouds as if she could see more than the rest of us.
“Yes, the humans can help us, but they serve their own interests and always have.”
I darted my eyes away, but she gripped my arm to get my attention before speaking again.
“You need to remember to whom you owe your loyalty. You are my blood. That is all that matters. We save Sinasre and then the three of us get out of here.”
I blinked at her. Could she be serious? She would have us abandon everyone else even after they risked their lives to rescue us? I stared at her face, realizing that once again someone I cared about was trying to manipulate me into doing their bidding.
Slowly, I pulled my arm from her grasp. “I can’t just leave all these people. They’re my friends.”
She sniffed.
I wanted to try to change her mind about the humans, but something bright caught my eye. A sizzle red light was approaching the ship from the ground and coming in fast.
“What is tha—”
There was a horrible crash as the ship shuddered, throwing me and Kiana off our feet. Suddenly, my stomach lurched like it did when I attempted a steep dive.
Pressed together in a tangle of arms and legs, my aunt’s eyes locked into mine and we knew.
The ship had been attacked, and we were going down.
Chapter Thirteen
The entire shipsloped at a thirty-degree angle, the damage from the attack appearing severe. My aunt and I crashed against the wall. My head banged against the porthole, sending my vision spinning while my aunt struggled to stay on her feet.
Screams broke through the silence as the ship plummeted from the air, breaking through the clouds and giving me a view of the sparkling ocean and the tiny island below as I stared out the porthole in terror.
“Tally, Tally, where are you?” Vaughn called for me, his voice raw and desperate. He came staggering down the passageway, holding onto the wall.
I blinked, trying to see straight. My temple pounded from the knock to the head. I made my way toward Vaughn, one hand on the slanted wall. He snatched me into his arms and squeezed me hard when I reached him, a quick show of affection and relief that would have warmed my heart if we weren’t about to die.
“What do we do? We’re going to die!” Kiana yelled over the screams and the groaning of metal as the ship disintegrated as it plunged.
Vaughn’s eyes darted from side to side as if searching for an answer. He grabbed at his head.
“I don’t know.” His green eyes returned to me, then drifted toward my wings. “You can fly. Leave! Save yourself!”
He started punching at one of the portholes as if to open an exit for me while clouds whizzed by outside.
“No. Stop,” I pleaded in desperation. There had to be another way.
A rumbling like an engine starting came from below. The mechanisms and magic that kept us floating among the clouds had been silent up until now, but it seemed the engines were still functioning, even if not as smoothly. Hope reared up in my heart for an instant. Someone was righting the ship. We would get out of this alive.
Listening, Vaughn paused his desperate attempt to break the porthole.
