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)
“I don’t think this is going as well as she thinks it is,” I sign to Ridoc.
“Why? She’s incredible,” he signs back. “Brave. Fierce. Vicious. Everything the Empyrean respects.”
But the way the irids look at her says otherwise.
“And we slowed time so that she could strike!” Andarna tells the story with an enthusiasm that belongs onstage. “But it was too much magic to channel, and I was still small. My body demanded the Dreamless Sleep…”
By the time she brings the irids to the present day without mentioning how we’re trying to cure Xaden, several hours later, they’ve all stopped asking questions. In fact, they lie in eerie silence as she finishes.
“That’s why we’re here,” she says. “To ask if you’ll come home to fight with us. To see if the knowledge was passed down of how the venin were defeated during the Great War, or if you know how to cure them.” Her tail flicks with expectation. “And I’d like to know about my family.”
The male in the center narrows his eyes on me. “And you allowed her to channel as a juvenile? You took her into a war?”
My mouth opens, then shuts as guilt settles on my shoulders. He’s not saying anything I haven’t questioned of myself.
“It was my choice!” Andarna shouts.
The female to the right sighs, blowing sand down the beach. “Show us your wing.”
Andarna tenses for a moment, as if deciding, then flares her wings. The left one buckles, and she forces it to extend, but the gossamer webbing trembles under the effort. “It doesn’t usually shake. I’m just tired from flying.”
The female glances away, the sun catching on her curved horns. “We’ve seen enough.”
“I can fly!” Andarna snaps her wings shut. “I’m just missing a second set of muscles and can’t carry Violet. The elders said it has something to do with the delicate balance of wind resistance and tension on my wing, and her weight on the spinal discs that run under my seat. But that’s all right because we have Tairn and he works with me every day—and the elders, too. And when I get tired, he carries me, but only on long journeys.” She glances down at her harness and shifts her weight nervously.
“Please permit the effrontery of our need for a moment of privacy,” the male in the center says.
They’re so rudely…polite.
Andarna sits, the irids’ voices slipping out of my head.
The six of them walk into the water, their scales changing to colors only a shade darker than the ocean.
“I think we’re blocked,” Ridoc signs.
“I think so, too,” I reply.
Andarna’s head angles toward us, and I offer what I really hope is a reassuring smile.
A moment later, three of the irids launch straight from the water, then disappear into the sky.
“That’s not good,” I sign.
“Maybe they’re just going to get the others,” Ridoc signs slowly.
The three left are the quiet male with the horns similar to Andarna’s, the one from the center, and the female from the right. They walk toward us, their scales changing back to shades of pale blue as they emerge from the water.
My chest constricts. They could have the answer to everything…or they could be as clueless about our history as we are.
“Did I pass the test?” Andarna asks.
The slide-whistle sound plays again, and I wince as it screeches so high I’m sure my ear is going to bleed.
“Test?” the male in the center asks, peering down at Andarna.
“You were just testing me, right? To make sure I’m fit to visit our den? Where is it, anyway?” The hope in her voice would cut my knees out if I were standing.
“You were never the one being tested.” The female sighs and looks over at me. The hair rises on the back of my neck. “You were.”
My head rears back and my stomach drops clean out of my body. “I’m sorry?”
“You should be.” The female flexes her claws in the sand. “You failed.”
Tairn growls, and this time Andarna doesn’t stop him.
“Violet has never failed me,” Andarna argues, thumping her tail against the ground.
I slowly rise to my feet. “I don’t understand.”
The trio blatantly ignores me. “The fact that you defend her actions is a testament to their failure as a society,” the male says to Andarna.
Ridoc stands and folds his arms beside me.
“Violet loves me!” Andarna shouts, her head swiveling between the three of them.
“She uses you.” The female’s eyes fill with sadness, and the scales of her brow scrunch. “She took advantage of a vulnerable child. She used your power as an instrument of warfare, forced your premature growth—and look what you have become.”
I fight to swallow past the rock that suddenly fills my throat.
“You think I’m broken,” Andarna hisses.
“We think you’re a weapon,” the male responds.
My lips part, and a rumble works its way through Tairn’s chest.
“Thank you.” Andarna’s scales flicker to mirror theirs.