A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(106)

“No, you bastard!” Hadriel hollered, his voice hoarse from all the yelling. He hung from a sling around Vemar’s neck. Despite his fatigue, Vemar was doing his best to dip and tilt and swing Hadriel around, much to Hadriel’s continued dismay. It turned out my mediocre butler wasn’t terribly fond of heights. Not while manically swinging through the air below a slightly mad dragon, at any rate. “Just fly normal for one fucking second!”

Micah, beside me, tilted his wings down and looked over. He’d basically been my dragon’s flight instructor all day, subtly showing us various tactics for not dying as we flew out of the mountains and down to sea level.

My dragon matched his movements, and we descended slowly, gliding to save a little energy.

Rage blistered through the bond, followed by intense pain. My stomach pinched, and I wished I knew if I should distract Nyfain with pleasure, as he’d done for me countless times, or leave him to push through it. So far I’d opted for leaving him be, mostly because we’d spent all day in the air, but also because I had a feeling he was in a battle of wills with Dolion. He would want his mind to remain clear.

Hurry, I thought for the millionth time.

The dragon has not thought goodbye yet, she told me as we continued to descend, waiting for somewhere to land. He’s full of rage and brimstone. The fight is not out of him.

Nyfain’s dragon was always the last to give in, though. He held on to hope when all was lost. He’d hold on much longer than Nyfain the man. Maybe that would be our saving grace.

As we steadily neared the ground, Micah looked over, tilting his wings just so. My dragon didn’t take the hint.

You’re going to hit too hard, I thought, tensing.

Her wings did tilt then, but too much, catching the wind and dramatically slowing us down. She overcorrected, exhausted, and we dove, the ground swinging up in a rush now. She tilted her wings again, catching air, then folded them up.

We dropped from the sky like a stone.

Oh shi-it! I thought-yelled.

We hit with a solid thud and then bounced forward, landing on our chest and head.

Give me back control, I thought. I’m more skilled at falling than you are!

Thankfully she relented, magic blossoming around us until my human arms and limbs were flung around, and my body rolled along weeds and dirt.

I tucked and spun, gaining control before stopping the tumble. As I slid to a stop, strong hands found me and pulled me up. A thick arm bent around my lower back, keeping me upright.

“Are you okay?” Micah’s worried face swam into sight.

“Nice spill, Strange Lady,” Vemar called, laughing. “I’ve done something similar a time or two.”

“I’ve got her.” Hannon braced one hand on Micah’s shoulder and pulled me away with the other. “Can you stand on your own, Finley?”

I rubbed my eyes and sagged but stayed standing. “Yeah. I’m exhausted, though.”

“Me too.” Vemar walked closer, a little wobble in his step.

“You wouldn’t be so exhausted if you’d flown straight and not tried to scare the piss out of me,” said Hadriel, staggering behind him.

Vemar laughed. “Worth it. You sure can scream, little man.”

“Oh, don’t worry, no offense taken, you giant wankstain,” Hadriel muttered.

Vemar turned back slowly, a mad gleam in his eyes.

Hadriel scowled at him. “Finley, I’ll be down by the docks asking after the faeries and wolves. Keep that crazy fucker on a leash, would you?”

Tamara and Lucille walked over with grins as they watched Hadriel stagger toward the docks.

“He should’ve known better than to accept a ride from Vemar,” Tamara said, bending over and bracing her hands on her knees.

Leala joined us, her hair windswept and stars in her eyes. “I think he figured they had some sort of rapport, and a dragon he knew was better than one he didn’t.”

“We do have a rapport.” Vemar rubbed a hand down his face. “One I probably appreciate more than he does. He’s fun to taunt.”

“We’ve always thought so,” Lucille replied.

“Okay.” I straightened up and nodded at Micah. “Thanks for helping us get here.”

“Of course,” he replied. “I have to warn you again, though, this port doesn’t typically like to deal with dragons. It might be harder than you expect to get a vessel.”

He’d told me that yesterday, while we were finishing our preparations. He’d relented on leaving at dawn but attempted to convince me to fly to the larger, busier port to the south, which would be easier for dragons to use. It would have taken us twice as long to get there, though, and time was one thing we didn’t have.

“We’ll make it work.” I took a slip from Leala and pulled it over my head. The non-fliers had been in charge of the clothes. We were keeping them simple, however, in case we had to fly again.

I turned and put a hand to Hannon’s arm so that he would step out of the way. The demons waited in a tense cluster, a few of them darting furtive looks at the dragons standing very close. It was one thing to allow the demons to wander a bit while in the mountains surrounded by nothing but dragons, but here, where there were plenty of escape routes, they were being watched closely. I was sure that was Micah’s doing, and it was a good call.