Page 76 of Rage of Her Ravens

I looked behind me to see if he was pointing to someone else. Had he mistaken me for my twin? Either way, if they thought I was her, I could use this to my advantage. “Heed my words, trolls,” I commanded, my siren voice ricocheting around us. “You will leave this place and not bother the Ravini again. You will return to wherever you came from, and you will wait. If the white witch needs you, she will summon you. Do you understand?”

“Da,” they all said simultaneously while stumbling to their feet.

“Good.” I pointed to the forest behind us. “Now go!”

Blaze swore and grabbed me before shooting into the sky like a backward bolt of lightning. I had no idea he could fly so fast. We cleared the giants’ heads as they walked past us, their heavy stomps rattling the air around us like claps of thunder. I looked down to see Draevyn and the other winged mages barely clearing the massive monsters’ heads.

Blaze flew me toward the castle walls, moving so fast, everything passed in a blur.

“How?” I asked once we reached a long wall on top of the castle looking down at the flattened trees and the river below that surrounded the fortress.

“I’ve always been able to fly fast.” He slanted a smile. “A blessing from the elements.” He nodded toward his brother and his aerial army who flew toward us. “How else do you think I was able to bust up his face without getting a scratch?”

I pressed a hand to his warm chest, wishing he didn’t have to leave me, but comforted in the fact that he’d find the girls and Nikkos soon. “There’s much we need to learn about each other.”

“And we will.” He pressed his lips to my forehead, murmuring against my skin, “When I return.”

He jumped into the air and blew me a kiss. I caught and returned it, and then I swore my heart imploded when he turned his back to me and flew in the opposite direction.

Draevyn and the rest of his aerial army landed on the wall beside me. When Draevyn opened his mouth as if to speak, I turned from him while doing my best to fight back my tears. My heart was utterly shattered without Aurora and Ember safely in my arms, and I knew it wouldn’t heal until they were returned to me, and my mates were safe with me, too.

When Draevyn cleared his throat, I took a chance and looked over my shoulder, ignoring his piercing eyes while searching the darkening sky for Blaze.

“Nobody flies as fast as my brother,” Draevyn said, a note of pride in his voice. “He will return with them soon.”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I silently nodded while keeping my gaze on that disappearing speck in the sky. He looked as small as a bird as he flew further and further away, taking my hopes and heart with him.

* * *

Ember Lykaios

Ember sat up with agasp, then slid off Uncle Nikkos. She looked down at her sister who laid against their uncle’s bare chest, her eyes closed. Nikkos’s black wings were flattened beneath him on the ground like a blanket. His eyes were closed, too, and he had a bloody bump on his head. What had happened? One moment they were flying, and the next she heard a snap and a thump, and they were falling through the clouds. Had Rora brought them here?

It was getting dark outside. Too dark. It looked like they were in that bone cave they had slept in that time Uncle Blaze got into a fight with Draevyn.

Three dark figures hovered beside them, their spirits blinking in and out, their expressions grim.It isn’t safe here,they told her.You have to go.

Aurora let out a groan and slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What happened?”

Ember squinted at her sister in the dim light. “You took us here, Rora,” she said accusingly. “I don’t like it here. It’s too dark.”

Rora’s mouth fell open as she looked around the cave. “I don’t know where else to go.”

A bone-chilling howl resounded in the distance, and Ember grasped Aurora’s hand while trembling with fright. “Take us somewhere else.”

Aurora grasped Nikkos’s shoulder and took Ember’s hand, then held her breath as if she was diving under water.

Ember screamed as they fell through space and time like they were tumbling off a cliff. They hit the ground with a hardthudand Ember scrambled off Nikkos again while looking around the small yard of their home.

“You brought us here?” She gave her sister an accusatory look. “What if Pappo and Yaya take our memories?”

Aurora scooted off Nikkos’s chest and stood, dusting debris off her stockings. “Nobody is here.” She waved toward the henhouse. “Look.”

Ember squinted in the darkness and noticed the henhouse door was open and there were no more hens. She spun a slow circle. The pigs weren’t in their pen and Wolfy wasn’t on the porch.

“Where’s Wolfy?”

“He’s gone,” Rora said. “All the animals are gone.”