Fire, I realized. Towers of fire.
Yeah, maybe drowning was the better option here.
“Auric,” I started, only to cry out as the guard yanked the strap off my shoulder with a handful of feathers. “Ow!” My wings were still bound and, if possible, even more tangled up than they were before.
“Apologies, Princess,” the guard said, his voice gruff. “The straps are too tight.”
No, kidding, I nearly snapped, wincing.
Auric unsheathed his dagger. “I’ll cut them off.”
“You’re not damaging Reformatory property,” the guard retorted. His fingers dug into the sensitive skin beneath my feathers again.
Auric shoved the guard away from me. “And you’re not damaging royal property.”
Great, I thought, holding back a sigh. I was property of the crown and property of the prison. That didn’t make things complicated at all. How about I just be property of myself?
As if to answer that unspoken suggestion, the plane pitched forward again.
My knees buckled, and I fell forward, my arms flailing for anything to stop my fall. For an interminable moment, I hung suspended against gravity.
Oh, sh—
My arms pinwheeled, my hands seeking purpose, but all I met was air as I tumbled out through the open hatch with my wings still bound.
“Aur—”
I didn’t even have a chance to finish my scream before the free fall took my breath away. I tumbled head over heels three times, then barrel-rolled, my arms waving uselessly. My wings strained against the leather straps, trying desperately to beat at the open air and stop my descent.
Think, Layla. Think!
Arms spread.
Legs spread.
Balance.
I managed to stop spinning, but the wind hummed around me in a dangerous welcome. The last of the day’s sunset gleamed orange on the dark water below as it rose up to meet me.
Guess I’m gonna drown after all.
Something slammed into me, and I spiraled again. This time, I did scream as the world rotated in a disorienting blur of color. Then fingers wrapped around my arm, and I felt the bite of a blade against the edge of my wings. One leather strap sprang open, and then with a second slice, the other strap fell away.
Strong hands gripped my arms, and we rotated until I was facing the ocean again. Those hands moved from my arms to my waist as Auric’s voice drifted to me like a ghost over the roar of the wind. “On three, open your wings.”
I balked at the idea. We were in a total free fall! If we opened our wings to stop now, the pain would be devastating. Not to mention the fading glitter of the water beneath us looked way too close. Even if we did try to put on the brakes, we were about to slam right into the water.
From such a height, we’d break on impact. And the minute our feathers became waterlogged, we’d sink to the bottom of the ocean like stones.
He must have sensed my hesitation, because Auric’s fingers tightened on my waist. “Trust me, Layla!”
Layla. No sarcastic “Princess”? He hadn’t called me by name once since showing up at my chambers to escort me out today. I had glowed like an idiot, ecstatic to see him. At least until he’d revealed our fate.
“Layla!” Auric shouted, repeating my name. It didn’t warm me the way it should. Instead, it left me feeling cold and alone.
I didn’t want to have black wings that I didn’t earn. I didn’t want to go to prison.
“... right now!”
But I didn’t want to die, either.
So I spread my feathers.
The force of my tumble slammed into the underside of my plumes, yanking me upward in a harsh gust of flight. Agony shredded through my bones, causing stars to burst in my vision and ripping a scream from my throat.
This is going to break my back!
Auric grunted as his wings blew open, his grip on my waist bruising. His lips parted on a curse, his strength and agility overpowering mine and taking the brunt of the burden.
Our momentum slowed exponentially.
Then the updraft leveled us out, and Auric guided us into a horizontal glide. My wings throbbed in time with my heartbeat, feeling weak and overextended. Except not broken, I thought. Not entirely.
Thanks to Auric.
His turquoise gaze caught mine, a hint of concern lurking in his depths. But it was gone in a blink, and then his focus fell on the fiery lights looming menacingly ahead of us.
I shivered, my muscles aching from the impact of our bodies and the recorrected flight. However, despite all that, I sensed the air whirling around my feathers, teasing my senses to life.
My wings began to beat at my back, helping to carry us to shore.
Auric released me just before we landed. The unexpected disappearance of his strength and my abnormal forward momentum sent me stumbling forward to my knees against the cement landing platform.
Sharp pain lanced up my thighs and into my hips, joining the agony in my back.
My heart cracked as my world was miraculously reborn.
No one would help me here.
Not even Auric.
And he made that perfectly clear as he stood beside me without a word. The only reason he cut me loose in that free fall was to ensure I survived. Nothing more.
Message received, I thought at him. Not that he could hear me. Nor would he care.
Placing my hands on the concrete, I gasped and let my wings fall forward to wrap around my body. My head still swam from the way I’d tumbled on the way down, and my wings ached as if someone had set them on fire. I clung to the ground, to the way the concrete still held the sun’s warmth.
I’d never been so happy to be on the surface.
That happiness was shattered when two thick black boots scuffed against the concrete in front of me and a man snarled, “On your feet, inmate.”
Still breathing hard, I sat back on my heels and blinked blearily up at the armed guard. He gave me a cold look that rivaled Auric’s stare. Everything about the guard screamed warrior—his shorn, dark hair, his bulging muscles, the lack of any emotion on his rugged face.
Somewhere, wires were crossed inside my head, and I couldn’t quite process what he’d said. I heard it, but my legs and arms didn’t seem to want to cooperate. I quivered, my limbs jelly and my lungs burning from a lack of proper breaths.
The guard snatched at my arm and yanked me to my feet. “I said on your feet. Are you deaf?”
“No, but you’re about to be,” I grumbled, looking for a way to shove a dagger into the idiot’s ear for talking to his princess that way.
Except, I had no weapons. No chance to overpower the male Nora who caught me in a bruising grip.
And right now, I didn’t feel like a princess anymore.
Auric stepped forward and grabbed the guard’s wrist, his movements so casual he could have been picking up a napkin to dab his chin. However, the pop that followed wasn’t casual at all. And neither was the guard’s responding shriek.
He immediately dropped his hold on my bicep, allowing me to wrap my arms around my middle. I backed up several steps, my heart in my throat.
“I’ll only say this once. Keep your hands to yourself,” Auric said flatly, dropping the guard’s wrist.
The dark-haired male cradled his hand against his chest, fury glinting in his gaze. “My apologies. Sir.”
There was nothing respectful about the man’s sir, but Auric ignored him. “Let’s get the princess off the platform before the rest of the inmates arrive, yeah?”