Page 37 of Ignite
I haven’t beensureabout most decisions I’ve made the past month, let alone this one. We have our wyverns, and we could easily steer them back to the mainland. This place would go on without us, and we would go on without them.
But is that the wisest decision? When there’s an entire pack of Riders—seasonedRiders from the last war—that could join us in the war to come?
We don’t know what the future holds, or what thiswarwill look like. All we can focus on is what we do know… Which isn’t much. If there’s any chance we can get them to join the fight or learn useful information from them, then we have to take it.
“Nope.” I tap Zeph’s scales at the base of her neck, and a rumble of eagerness vibrates through her throat. “But flying off this island and never looking back doesn’t exactly help us either.”
Aryth shuffles toward the edge of the cliff, his talons gripping a rock that hangs off the side. Calix twists to look at us over his shoulder.
“If anything, it’s good for us all to fly together,” he shouts. “Our fleet doesn’t have an alpha, nor have we bound ourselves to our wyverns. We lost our chance to appeal to Daimon. Now, we need to prepare ourselves to fight.”
My muscles tense. The only thing left to do is learn to fight.
With a final nod in my direction, Calix gives Aryth a tap. He takes flight, disappearing over the cliff. Before I can tell Zeph to do the same, a wyvern flies up from the edge, nose pointing up with its belly bared to us, wings spread wide and sending a rush of wind toward us.
I smile when the beast levels out, hovering while it waits for us to join.
“You guys staying here?” Calix shouts over the wind Aryth’s wings create. His gaze focuses on my left—where Sidra and Niadrus perch on the cliff’s edge. Calix winks, a smirk on his face.
Sidra gestures forward and says, “After you.”
Calix laughs and shakes his head, diving and disappearing as Aryth spirals down.
A small piece of the heaviness against my chest eases as Zephyr eagerly jumps to the edge, her weight shifting as shecrouches down. From the corner of my eye, I see Sidra, Orla, and Maddox all do the same, lining up beside me.
All it takes is a small gust of wind for Zephyr to lean forward, her legs bursting off the ground as she takes flight. My vision tilts as we careen over the side, her wings tucked in tightly in a nosedive toward the sea.
Tears burn my eyes as she hurtles us through the air, her excitement beginning to mingle with my own. My stomach drops as we free-fall, the sea approaching at a blinding speed.
“Zeph!” I scream just as her wings pop out, sending us to a screeching halt to glide above the ocean. Salty water catches on her legs, spraying my calves and thighs.
It takes me a minute to catch my breath, my chest heaving as my vision adjusts to the abrupt change in speed. I look up, finding the rest of my fleet already leveled out above and watching us in amusement. OfcourseZephyr was the only one to free-fall all the way to the ocean.
But I don’t have time to be annoyed, because when Zeph takes us up to the rest of the group, my breath lodges in my throat.
The sun has just touched the horizon, casting rays of golden light onto the water below. It mixes with soft pinks and purples, the hues refracting off puffy clouds and casting a gentle shimmer in the air.
My fleet soars toward the mass of wyverns just ahead of us, keeping close behind, weaving around each other as the sun sinks further and further. Small white birds fly beside us, their little wings flapping ten times the speed of Zeph’s.
For one fleeting moment, I let myself play pretend.
I imagine we truly are doing this for fun—a sunset ride above the seas. In this imaginary world, there is no Moros, no Vidaris. There isn’t a prophecy hanging over my head, nor is there fear of what beinggoddess-forgedmeans for me. Zeph isn’t here for war, and there won’t be a day she’s called back to Zenovia.
My chest tightens as I picture Graylen waiting for me at the cliffside, grumpy that Zephyr wouldn’t let him fly with us. And a burst of amusement would shoot down the bond from Zeph, all too eager to do it just to annoy him.
But then she would circle back around, letting him—and no one else—hop on her back to sit behind me as she glides us into the sunset.
It’s a pretty dream. But that’s all it’ll ever be.
Sixteen
Charoite
As the lastrays of light disappear beneath the horizon, we land on a rocky sandbar. It stretches farther than I can see, the boulders tall and lining almost every inch of sand. The wyverns gather at the mouth of a cave, their Riders stretched out on top of them and lounging with their arms propped behind their heads.
Some of the village Riders have opted for sitting in the sand, their backs leaning against their beasts. Everyone is so content and at peace. Bitterness coats my tongue as I watch them laughing and taking out parchments filled with meat and cheese from their bags.
How do they sleep at night knowing the darkness that awaits the realm?
