Page 118 of I Dream of Dragons
So I can raise my hands.
I will grab your claw and you can lift me up to the lowest palace terrace.
“That’s a terrible plan. You will fall to your death.”
I won’t. Let’s do this before I become fish fodder. Here we go. Lower!
He dips a little lower and I propel myself upward, grabbing his talon, as the serpent jumps out of the water, snapping razor-sharp teeth at me. A line of fire blooms on my leg and I hiss, clutching the talon, gathering my legs up as best I can.
Fly! To the palace!
“You’ll slip,”he says in my mind.
Just… fly, Keres! Flap those big wings of yours and carry me to safety.
“As you wish.”The tone is sullen, but I can’t worry about that now, not when I’m hanging and twitching from his talon like a worm on a hook, gusts of wind slamming into me, making me sway precariously. My arm muscles are screaming, and my damaged shoulder from the first trial feels like it’s about to pop out of its socket.
All the while, at the edges of my consciousness, I feel the birthmark in my lower back throb, just as I feel the hot slide of blood down my leg, the cut burning and scorching my blood.
My head spins. Darkness threatens to seep into my sight. I shake it to clear my vision and the dizziness worsens.
I tighten my hold on the talon, but my sweaty hands are indeed slipping. Its surface is rougher than I thought but it’s still impossible to hold onto it for so long while the drak’s beating wings sway me back and forth.
As I swing from the dragon’s claw in midair, I realize Keres is right. I’m going to fall. This was a terrible idea.
My last terrible decision.
“Someone is coming,”Keres thinks and I glance to the side to see a black drak flying toward us, a rider in black sitting astride.
Jai? Can it be him?
But we fly on and I lose sight of him. My hands are slipping down Keres’ talon. Gritting my teeth, I dig my fingertips into its surface, press my hands to it harder, lock my arm muscles.
To no avail.
I slip another few inches, a cry caught in my throat, and then I’m falling again, tumbling through thin air, my hair cutting into my eyes and mouth, arms windmilling, my heart in my throat?—
“Hold on!” a deep voice underneath me calls while my fall slows, and it’s Jai’s voice. “I’ve got you.”
I was right.
It was him.
The relief filling me is overwhelming. I know he will catch me. He’d never let me fall.
As I slip further, shadows circle my waist and support me. They wrap around my limbs, slowing my tumble even more.
Then they yank me down and I scream before I slam into a powerful male body, while Keres flies away, a pale shape against the sky.
“Here,” Jai is saying, his hands on my waist, “sit in the saddle. I’m here. You’re fine,makhair.Breathe.”
But I can’t. Can’t breathe, the panic still squeezing my chest, crushing it, and after a moment, everything goes black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
RAE
My brother’s throat is slashed to the bone, blood pooled around him. He’s crumpled to the floor, sprawled and still.
