Page 35 of Cursed By the Dawn

Maker, he’s beautiful. Even when he’s irritated.

We were both wearing black leathers, sharp gauntlets, and scaled chest plates made to move freely with our bodies. The dreamers wore outfits that complemented ours: layers of soft black leather, silver adornments, and thin veils of shadow that skimmed across their shoulders like comforting mantles. We looked coordinated. Unified, even.

“You can’t demand that of me,” Erebus growled. He lowered his mouth to my hair, as if he had a secret just for me to hear. “So long as I am by your side, I am your partner. And partners do not stand idly by when their companions are in distress.”

I made to step away, but he snagged my wrist, stopping me.

“Do you understand?” he implored, twisting so that he could see me clearly. His silver-bright eyes bore into mine.

“I understand,” I answered. “But if—”

“Would you not do the same for me?”

I scoffed. “Of course I would, I—”

His cool breath grazed my lips, tantalizing in its nearness. “So do this on your own.Triumph.But do not deny me the ability to protect that which I cherish most.”

And then, with one last searing gaze, he strode to the edge of the cliff.

With a shaky sigh, I joined him. We were all wingless now, eyeing the dizzying descent in front of us. Staring wordlessly at the sea of sharp spikes lining the ground. My stomach churned as a thin sheen of sweat dampened my palms. This was it. A test of my power and intuition. I needed to succeed—to prove my worth. I needed it more than anything.

Lelantos gave the signal: a sharp, keening whistle that cut through the air.

But before we could step off the cliff of our own volitions, a powerful gust shoved into our backs, strong as any battering ram.

I was a tumbling stone, a useless doll. Wind slapped me, hitting my back and pulling my hair. In the chaos, I was separated from Erebus, Sorren, and Ceveon. A flutter of feathers—of wings so dark they could scarcely be seen—told me some dreamers were already ascending.

My heart soared with them.

Good.

But just as some were brandishing their wings, wingless dreamers were clambering up their legs, grabbing for their arms, their hair, their necks—anything they could use for purchase. I felt my own hand being yanked down—sharp nails pulling off my gauntlet and digging into my wrist—before I was rammed aside in favor of a dreamer who already had their wings. I forced down the instinct to scream. Erebus was justout of sight; he had already regained his wings and was shoving dreamers away, desperate to reach me.

The ground was coming quickly.

Tooquickly.

One dreamer hit the spikes, unable to manifest her wings. I turned my head away, but I was a second too late. Her body dissolved into shadows, but not before I witnessed her stomach split in two. Envisioning it was one thing; seeing it was another.

And I wasn’t the only dreamer who saw.

The dreamers’ threads shivered, vibrating with fear. Festering below it all, however, in relentless waves, was a darkness that united us. A deep, churning shadow that demanded to be sated. The will to survive at all costs, even if it meant the death and destruction of their peers. It wasn’t the mentality thatanygroup should have—let alone a set of dreamers called to work as a cohesive legion against Raelion. I needed to do something about that.

But first, I needed wings—and fast.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to calm my mind. I could feel the colossal trees hovering, waiting to drop. I imagined a set of shadows unfurling from my back. Following Lelantos’s advice, I also flexed my shoulders back and forth in the imitation of wings, helping to connect my body with the new appendages. Then there was the most crucial part.

Belief.

I had to believe that the wings were there. That they took shape, that they were firm, and that they held true to my body. That they could carry me, just as I could command them to move. That they were a part of me until I willed it otherwise.

I was moving before I could doubt myself—another of Lelantos’s tips—flying low and fast.

Concentrating, I imagined a surge of shadow running down the various threads that connected every dreamer to me. I willed the shadows to sate the dark holes in the dreamers’ hearts, blanketing the threads sothey didn’t vibrate so much. It took a lot of mental energy—especially without Erebus—but I could see it working. Many dropped their hands, giving up on clawing their fellow dreamers to the ground, just as more wings unfurled.

Cheers of triumph rang out as an older woman gained her wings, yelping in amazement. Two dreamers carried another, supporting a young man so he had more time. Some dreamers had already reached the top of the cliff, victorious. I smiled. We’d lost only one. I had imagined it would be much worse.

But then the colossal trees, some tenfold the width of a house, began to fall.