Shadow Wings (The Darkest Drae Book 2)(30)

Tyrrik dragged an eyelid open. His skin was sallow, and the coloring under his eyes appeared bruised. He really didn’t look great. I’m sure blood loss did that to a person . . . or a Drae. I should get some of the nectar into him pronto.

I cupped the back of his head and lifted, holding the water skin to his lips and tipping a small amount in. The muscles in his neck worked as he swallowed. I repeated the process, tipping in as much as he could handle, and then lowered his head.

He rested his hand on mine as I made to re-cork the skin.

“Thank you for making me vy?iva,” he whispered. “It is a great gift.”

I swallowed, staring at his forehead as I answered, “Don’t mention it. I hope it helps you heal.”

I met his eyes, and my breath caught at the blazing darkness there.

“Nothing has ever tasted so sweet,” he said in a rough voice.

His smoky scent surrounded me. My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth dried. I might want him healed, but I wasn’t going to let him hurt me again. I wriggled my hand out of his grip as my cheeks warmed. “Okay, right. Swell. Great.”

I searched for somewhere else to look and bit my lip, but my gaze returned to Tyrrik like a stupid magpie to a stupid glinting object. I rationalized my reaction by telling myself I was just checking to see if he was still awake, but his eyes were dark pools of secrets, and I couldn’t stop the desire to know their depths. Shouting caught my attention, and I reeled away from Tyrrik’s hypnotizing eyes and shot to my feet.

“People are here,” I said, enormously relieved at the timely interruption until I realized people were here. I whirled toward the voices and squeaked, “People are here.”

“Get behind me.” Tyrrik slurred from the ground.

“Uh-huh.” There’s no way he had enough strength to protect anyone, not even himself.

I narrowed my gaze across the pointy rocks to a band of five hooded figures on the other side. Five against one . . . and a quarter, maybe a quarter. Not ideal. Should I change into my Drae form? I straightened, and relief washed through me when the group pushed off their hoods. “Dyter.”

“Ryn!” he yelled.

Just seeing him made me feel better. My gaze shifted, and I met Kamoi’s intense gaze as he removed his hood. He stood beside Dyter, silver hair lit from the sun, glowing like a halo. He waved.

“It’s friends,” I said over my shoulder to Tyrrik, still studying the rest of the party. I didn’t recognize the other Phaetyn with the rest of our traveling party, but my heart leaped as I took in their violet eyes and silver hair across the lethal rocks between us. I lifted a hand and waved back at Kamoi. His mouth moved, and I tried to focus my hearing to catch what he said, but Tyrrik was right; I’d clearly need to practice engaging my senses more.

However, I didn’t have long to wonder what he’d said. With a grand wave of his arm, a three-meter section of the rocks in front of Kamoi sunk into the soil as easily as a cat’s retracting claws.





13





The party began to cross, and I was mesmerized by the four Phaetyn. They didn’t walk; they glided. Dressed in shining aketons with braided leather belts hanging low on their hips, two carried bows, and another a spear. Kamoi’s hands were empty, and where the other Phaetyn glided, he appeared to be floating. Dyter lumbered toward us with thudding steps that made me smile.

“You found us,” I said, stating the obvious as I threw my arms around him.

Dyter patted me on the back and said gruffly, “We expected you a day ago. We were waiting farther east, but the scouts here rode to Kamoi when they saw two Drae plummeting from the sky.”

“That was us,” I said with a nod.

He rolled his eyes. “I gathered. We rode through the night to reach you here. What happened?”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I redirected the conversation. “Thank the moons you got here so fast. We wouldn’t have been able to move until Tyrrik healed.” I glanced at the Drae. “Oh, he’s lost consciousness again.” My heart flipped. Again. I was diseased; that had to be the reason.

I turned to check him, but Prince Kamoi caught my hand and pulled me back. “What happened?”

His skin was warm on mine, and a pleasant current passed between us. I flashed him a small smile, which faded as I came back to my senses. I withdrew my hand and gave the group a quick recount, noticing the other Phaetyn’s deference to Kamoi.

Kamoi spotted my divided attention and swept an arm toward the other Phaetyn. As I looked closer, I could distinguish there were two females and a male. All three were beautiful, but the men were masculine and muscular with broad shoulders, and the female had definite feminine curves. “Tamah, Makoa, and Akani are part of the guard on the southern side of the forest.” He faced the other Phaetyn, drawing me forward. “This is Ryn,” he announced. “She is one of us.”

The violet eyes of the tallest female Phaetyn widened. “Where have you been? How is such a thing possible?”

Kamoi looked down at me, his eyes searching my face, shaking his head slightly. “I plan to discuss this with our elders, but her existence is surely a miracle.”

A weary groan sounded behind us, and I extracted myself from the prince’s intense attention and crouched by Tyrrik’s side. “He needs rest and food. He’s been in and out of it this morning.”