Page 74 of Swift Wings Shadowed Heart
Nothing.
—I think since you’re my dragon now, he feels the same way about me. I’m afraid one day he’s going to jump out of a dark corridor and stab me in the back. Maybe that gives me a right to know what happened. Maybe once I do, I can talk to him, and he’ll?—
—There is no reasoning with a Pyrewing. Do not waste your breath.
—You seem to have a lot of experience with them,I say, attempting to go about the conversation in a circumspect manner.
—Rather enough. Merrill was the fifth Pyrewing to serve as my rider.
—Fifth! Wow, that’s a lot.
—Not really. The Pyrewings are mostly a family of Skyblazes. Thank the stars. But they occasionally produce a Skysinger, and I occasionally get stuck with one of them.
This is good. He’s talking. I think of what to say next, but he preempts me.
—Wyndward?he says my last name in the form of a question.I remember a rider by that last name a long time ago.
—What? Really? When?I’ve always wondered if any of my ancestors were ever riders. My father hated when I asked him about our last name’s origin, and he always replied with a curtI don’t know,normally adding aleave me aloneafterward.
—It was around the time that Heratrix left us,he replies.
Through our bond, I feel his sadness, an emotion so momentous the weight of it leaves me breathless. I bend over, a hand to my breastbone. As quickly as the sensation begins, it stops, and I can breathe again.
—I am sorry, little one. It has been some time since I was last bonded, and I forget how easily my emotions can overwhelm a human.
Clearing my throat, I straighten and take several deep breaths. I thought I understood what it meant to have lost our Goddess, but I had no idea. Zephyros—even now, all these centuries later—is devastated. He still mourns her as if it were yesterday that she disappeared from Embernia, leaving us to fend for ourselves as our beloved dragons face extinction, their numbers dwindling without hope of replacement.
I try to regain my train of thought and realize he has distracted me from my initial topic of interest: Merrill. Did he do that on purpose? I retake the banner.
—So… is Merrill similar to Silas?I ask.
He banks left, providing no answer.
—At the Academy,I go on,I thought Silas was different. I thought he was my friend, but I realize now I was mistaken. He didn’t see me as a friend. He saw me as one of his sycophants. He thought that when he saidjump, I should jump. When I didn’t… well, he showed his true colors.
Zephyros hums again.
—You were lucky to learn this now, he says.Many do not realize the truth until the knife is in their backs.
I want him to say more, but he goes silent again. I feel a certain sense of exhaustion from him, as if it’s not in his nature to talk, and he’s already tired of conversation. I decide to wait to ask him more. It would be foolish of me to ignore the cues our bond provides for me. And oddly enough, annoying him feels like annoying myself.
In the distance, I see lights. Is that Emberton already? It has been no more than twenty minutes since we left Sky’s Edge. When I flew on Fragor’s back, it took longer than that to make the trip. Could be because of all the time Vaylen spent trying to kill me.
—Or because his dragon is no match for my speed, Zephyros pipes in.
It seems any mention of Fragor will get Zephyros talking. Interesting. Maybe I need to?—
—Maybe you need to focus on the task at hand. How do I get to your house?
Damn. I take a deep breath and focus on hiding my thoughts from Zephyros, imagining a barbed barrier with a bigKeep Outsign.
My house is east of the Brightscale District.
I wait. Zephyros keeps the same course. No attempt to go east. Did it work? I remove the barrier.
—My house is east of the Brightscale District, I repeat.
He makes the necessary adjustments. I erect the barrier again.
