Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
“You would never be able to trust me. I’ll turn on you the second you leave.”
“You won’t.” I shake my head. “Because like you said, your staff knows what happened here. You can certainly keep them quiet, but you can’t keep us quiet. Do you truly think your isle would support your next bid for power if they knew you were outsmarted in your own home?”
He clenches his fists as his stomach heaves, but he doesn’t vomit. “How did you do it?”
Now that’s progress. “Arinmint looks just like regular mint, which is why its export is outlawed. By itself, steeped in milk, or turned into tea with lemon or a little chamomile, it works wonders for sleep and healing. But when you combine it with some other pretty ordinary herbs, say the shredded bark of the tarsilla bush, it becomes a deadly poison, and tarsilla grows all along your beaches.” I lean down, careful not to jostle my ribs, so I’m at his eye level. “Ask me why we’re going to fly out of here without you saying a single word.”
“Why?” he grinds out.
“Because you love your sons.” I smile. “That’s why you sent them out of the house tonight.”
Fear widens his eyes.
“Ask why there are only six dragons outside.” I lift my brows and wait, but his breaths start coming alarmingly fast. “If you’re going to be dramatic, I’ll just give you the answer. It’s because the seventh currently sits next to the window at your parents’ house, where your boys sleep—where she’ll stay until she knows we’re out of range of any weapons you might be hiding.”
Approval floods the bond, and I imagine Tairn’s chest puffing with pride.
“That’s impossible.” Faris shakes his head. “Someone would have seen.”
“Not when that dragon is an irid.”
Sweat drips down his forehead, catching in his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t. They’re children.”
“Do you really want to take that risk?” I stand and slide the first glass his way. “Or do you want to drink and live?”
“Faris!” Talia cries. “Please!”
“You didn’t outsmart me. None of this happened.” He reaches for the glass.
“I didn’t outsmart you alone,” I admit. “My father helped.”
He clutches the antidote. “The eyes. I should have recognized your eyes. You’re Asher Daxton’s girl.”
“One of them, yes.” A slow smile spreads across my face. “And the other currently has command of your house. Make your choice.”
He drinks.
Xaden doesn’t so much as look at his mother when we walk away.
• • •
We hover out of cross-bolt range until Andarna joins us, then fly through the night, heading northwest along the trading routes. We only have two major isles left to search for the irids, and as much as I enjoy not being hunted by Theophanie, we can’t stay out here long enough to thoroughly scour all the minor ones. Every day we fly lengthens the time it will take to get home, where the least of our worries will be the court-martial waiting for us if we don’t bring with us the assistance we disobeyed orders to find.
By morning, there’s still no sight of land.
My chest feels like it’s clamped in a permanent vise. Gods, if I’m wrong, I won’t have only almost gotten Garrick killed, I’ll be the end of the rest of us, too.
I sleep on and off in the saddle, my exhaustion the only thing capable of outweighing the pain in my ribs. Luckily for me, the power in the sunshield rune I carry still holds, and my skin remains unburned as the temperature warms. By the time the sun is directly above us, we reach the southeastern tip of the archipelago that leads to Zehyllna.
“Should be another hour until we reach the mainland,” Tairn says as we sail over the first island, which looks small enough to be swallowed at the slightest hint of a storm.
“Can the others make it that long?” Andarna is already strapped at his chest.
“I can’t exactly ask them, but no one has snapped at my wings, which I find to be a good sign.”
Or they’re all too tired to.
I twist as far as my ribs will allow and see that the gryphons are mostly holding the center of the formation. “Kiralair is lagging a little.”
“Is she?” Tairn doesn’t look back. “Or is Silaraine?”
I block the sun with my hand and focus hard on the second row of gryphons. “You’re right. It looks like she’s fallen back to keep pace with Silaraine.” But Cath and Molvic have their backs covered another row behind.
“I know.” We cross over the next island and the aqua water that surrounds it on all sides. “Seems Catriona has found someone worth lagging behind for.”
The thought brings a smile to my face as I settle in for the last part of the flight. True to his estimate, it’s about an hour before we fly past the white sand beaches and their swaying palm trees…and their waving humans.