Page 46 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Her brother sighed. "I know that, but Mother at least wanted me to try."
"Is that why you came?"
"Not the only reason," he said, shifting on his feet. His brows bunched together. "I also wanted to make sure you were all right."
Kallie rubbed a hand across her neck. "I’m fine."
His gaze flicked to her hand. A small patch of pale skin wrapped around her bare finger. "And is Graeson…?"
She dropped her hand and covered it with the other. "He hasn’t caught up yet."
Nodding, Terin stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Will you promise me something?"
"What?" Kallie asked hesitantly.
He took a step toward her but didn’t reach out. "If things go south and you see a way out, take it."
Kallie swallowed the lump in her throat as the world faded around them. The sun dimmed as if its flames were dying. The sky lost its vibrancy, the shade turning into a muted blue hue.
"Promise me, Kals," her brother pleaded, fear spilling from his eyes. "Promise me we will get to be a family again."
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t promise Terin something she knew might be impossible to keep.
But before she could even try to lie, the dream slipped from her fingertips like raindrops falling into her palm.
Chapter 20
GRAESON
For most of his life,Graeson had believed he would die at the end of a blade. The past few days, however, were making him question that theory.
After only a few days of traveling, Graeson had lost count of how many times he had almost died by flight. The first day of flying had consisted of a series of near-death experiences. He didn’t know which was worse: taking off or landing. Every time Nyrri launched into the air, Graeson was thrown back. His knuckles would turn stark white as he held onto the pommel with a deadly grip. Even when he pressed his body flat against Nyrri’s back, the strength of the wind and the pull of gravity threatened to send him falling to his death.
As they flew over the cypress trees, the air, which had previously nipped at Graeson’s fingers, turned thick and suffocating. Graeson yearned to be back on the ground, but he had to keep going.
You cannot lose me when you never had me.
The last words Kalisandre said to him rang in his mind on an endless loop. They twisted together like an infection, and once it was in his bloodstream, he couldn’t shake them.
Was he making a mistake? Kalisandre would undoubtedly be furious with him when he finally caught up with them.
But then Graeson imagined Domitius driving his blade through her heart.
Graeson would find another way to save his mother, even if that meant flying to Ardentol himself. He squeezed his thighs against Nyrri’s back and tugged on the reins. At the signal, Nyrri dove, nose first, spiraling toward the trees. Graeson’s hips lifted, pulling away from the saddle, and he tightened his hold. With every ten feet, he could feel his weight shifting more and more, his life flashing before his eyes as he held on. His muscles strained, and his stomach jumped into his throat.
Nyrri weaved through the trees, her wings rigid as she pivoted and dodged the long branches that threatened to rip them from the sky. The ground barreled toward them.
The moment he thought he was done for, when he thought his luck had run out, Nyrri straightened and landed with a crash. The drakonis' heels dug into the earth. Dirt and leaves flew into the air in a plume of smoke and debris.
When they finally came to a teeth-clattering stop, Graeson’s limbs were nearly locked in place. Somehow he unlatched himself from the saddle and rolled off the drakonis' back. Hitting the ground, he rotated onto his stomach and pressed his palms into the dirt. He pushed himself up on shaking arms and retched.
He finally understood why Kallie despised sea-travel.
What an embarrassment,the god hissed.A god who can’t even handle the skies.
At the god’s insult, Graeson gritted his teeth. His fingers curled into the dirt, breaking the hard earth. As he hovered over his bile for the third time that week, he wondered if he had made a drastic mistake in thinking taking Nyrri would be faster than a horse. They had to have been traveling faster than the horseswere. But right then, he didn’t know if speed was in his favor. They still had to check the ground every so often because of the foliage covering the landscape. He didn’t want to risk losing Kallie and Ellie simply because he had passed them.
Beside him, Nyrri growled, the noise deep and low.
