SkyFall (Taken on the Wing Book 2) (34 page)

“
How
‘
bout now?
”
Soar demands of the two dragonkin
assholes who haven
’
t let him past the main
entrance to the Council
’
s mountain for a day and a
half. Yesterday things had become physical more than once, mostly on Soar
’
s part, and the dragonkin had let their
dragons out just enough to overpower him into exhaustion before tossing him out
onto the stoop.

“
No,
”
is the one word answer. It comes in
stereo from the stoic bookends on either side of the tunnel mouth, the same two
who were present when Soar arrived after a four day flight. He asked the same
question many times of another pair who guarded the opening during the night.

He
’
s
been offered food and drink since any visitor is offered the necessities upon
arrival but nothing more. No explanation of the delay. No acknowledgement they
know who he
’
s talking about. No
confirmation she
’
s even here.

Just no.

Soar turns his back on them and faces the
frozen Russian landscape. There
’
s nothing to see out there
either. Rock and ice disappear into the low cloud that began to blanket
everything just after dawn.

If Fury took Cloud back to Skyfall then
why doesn
’
t someone just come out and
tell him he
’
s wasting his time? A gryphon
can only retie his armour so many times to cover up his desperate vigil. Nothing
short of needing the only female he
’
ll
ever touch could ever humble him like this.

Again there are the sounds of more than
just the guard at the entrance but Soar doesn
’
t bother to turn. Patrols in and out and
nobody, not even gryphons he
’
s known for years, pay him any
mind.

“
Soar?
”

Finally someone has come to see him, some
old bureaucrat by the sounds of it, and when he turns she is as much a stranger
as the raw and defeated voice that said his name.

“
Cloud?
”

His female seems barely able to stand on
her own, the weight of the soft, red floor-length robes could be enough to pull
her to the floor. It isn
’
t that she
’
s unsteady, since she is able to walk
past the two dragonkin at the door.

Instead, the past five days have drawn
the life from her.

Cloud
’
s eyes have sunk into bruised circles,
broken blood vessels are clearly visible around her eyes and one eyeball is
mostly blood red, showing only a brave patch of white at the inner corner. The
lustre is gone from her hair. Then there is the peeling red blistering skin
around her mouth and down her neck. Her hands are invisible in the long trumpet
sleeves of the robe but they are clasped low over her belly and appear to move,
scratching at her skin. How the hell far down do the burns go?

“
It
’
s Lady Tempest,
”
she corrects as she
stops, only six feet away.

Soar works the corner of his lower lip in
his teeth and tilts his head to say he hears her but he won
’
t be calling her
that.

“
Are you alright?
”

“
Ah,
”
she tries a weak laugh then has to clear
her devastated throat to continue.
“
I
’
ve
been to Skyfall twice since Fury brought me here. The bee poisoning was far
worse than we thought. In the end the only hope was to encourage my body to
purge the toxins.
”

One shaking hand comes up and waves past
her chin before disappearing into the red folds with the other. After seeing
what happened to the grass when Fury ruptured the boils, Soar understands what
happened to her skin.

“
I
’
m only a few minutes away by portal if
needed.
”

“
Damn it,
”
Soar says.
“
I didn
’
t know about the bees, I swear. Your
suffering is entirely my fault.
”

“
Nothing for it.
”

Tempest
’
s bruised eyes hold Soar
’
s until his guilt is too much and he has
no choice but to look away. He did that to her, almost killed her, and maybe
more than once. All the love and bravery inside his little gryphon was almost
taken and he has nobody to blame but himself.

“
It
’
s time for you to leave, Soar,
”
she rasps and her red eye swells with
pink tears as she works to get the words out.

“
I will wait here for you.
”

“
It
’
s time for you to leave, alone.
”

“
Cloud,
”
Soar
insists.
“
Not alone. Together.
”

“
We
’
ve been mated since I came to your den
five years ago, did you know that?
”
She pauses.
“
Perhaps an error on my part.
Inexperience. Maybe even a lack of options. You were the best choice given the
unattached males in my life.
”

“
You
don
’
t mean that,
”
Soar lowers his voice to a whisper and
looks past the guards and into the entrance for evidence of anyone listening
and sees only the bitch Flay, waiting.

“
We had a thing, Soar,
”
she turns his own words on him.
“
We were never a thing. We had a thing,
ten beautiful hormone and instinct driven days geared entirely toward
reproduction.
”

“
She tell you to say that?
”

“
Look at me, Soar,
”
Cloud orders. He does and just looking at
the damage to her face is all the blame he needs for her condition.
“
Am I lying?
”

Soar studies her ears, the throat where
it isn
’
t burnt. His heart sinks a
little further with each square inch of perfect, gentle whiteness. No telltale
pink betrays a terrible lie.

“
No,
”
his voice breaks as he looks away, hoping
to find something that doesn
’
t tear him up inside even if
it
’
s the walls but she
’
s so close. The ragged passage of air
through her throat takes what he did to ease her suffering from the dislocated
shoulder and makes it into something unforgivable.

“
Let me make it simple. I do not wish to
have a life with you. Get it? When I
’
m
in season again I will seek you out, but there is no chance of anything more.

“
You are not compatible with what I am.
”

Soar doubles over like he
’
s been slugged. Trust lays beneath her
cold words but somehow it isn
’
t enough to keep her.

“
Tell Dame Shadow my sire survived Welch Peak and I will see her soon. If you claim me as your mate to Shadow and Talon I will
deny it. Better they think you found some obedient little thing while you were
away than nearly killed me in your haste to spare me the dignity of bearing my
own pain.

“
We had a thing, Soar,
”
Cloud turns and head high, keeps talking
as she sweeps past the guards.
“
That
’
s all we ever had.
”

Flay doesn
’
t spare him a glance as she falls in
behind Cloud.

“
Lady
Tempest,
”
Soar whispers. She isn
’
t Cloud any more. His brother was right.
He can
’
t keep a female in his life
for more than a month and Cloud has figured out why.

He always screws it up.

“
As you wish, Tempest.
”

There
’
s no sound behind him as he steps from
the ledge to take the air under his wings.

“
You get used to the burn,
”
Flay
says.

Her hands are magic. Both massage the
portalling muscles up beneath Tempest
’
s
wings. Most of the energy comes from the sky and earth, it only needs a
dragonkin trigger, a spark from the tight, thin muscles. The burn isn
’
t so bad, though. It
’
s the horrible fatigue that does her in.
The warmth of their turn around point on the California coast would put her to
sleep on its own anyway only it would take a little longer.

Flay gets dozy after portalling which is
a blessing. So far Tempest has been able to hide the outright killer sleepiness
that is worse every time they go anywhere. She figures it
’
s the pregnancy and won
’
t get better for a while. At least with
Flay asleep, Tempest can rest with her.

The green dragonkin has been Tempest
’
s mentor and friend for three months
since she recovered in her arms from the abuses of Aledaar
’
s relic. Then only hours later she was
back in Flay
’
s arms, holding back tears. If
tears would have helped wash away the memory of watching Soar
’
s heart break she
’
d have let them loose and only Flay
’
s constant whispering she
’
d done the right thing gave her any
solace at all. The only blessing to the relic
’
s torment was the ability to hide her
lies. She first noticed how easy it had become with the lie to Aledaar. After
that, hiding the lie to Soar was easy even though it was impossibly hard.

“
Are you sure?
”
Tempest asks. The burn is a little nasty
and she hasn
’
t completed a portal yet
without wanting to find a rough tree on which to scratch her back.

“
Yeah, sure,
”
Flay
laughs.
“
Well, no.
”

“
Thought so.
”

“
You
’
ve been quiet lately.
”

“
Thinking about Soar,
”
Tempest admits. Her arms are tucked in,
hands out of sight on her belly. During the past few weeks the firmness has
started to protrude, she thinks, and it won
’
t be long before she can
’
t hide it, much less get her red leather
trousers fastened. Her breasts no longer fit comfortably into her sculpted
leather chest piece. Soon she
’
ll run away, but not yet.

“
Thought so.
”