Page 128 of Under Restless Skies

He shakes his head. “Neither will Ledeia. That said, remember my father gladly sent me to face dragons in their own territory, so I wasn’t always safe.”

“But he recognized you as his son.”

“After I survived. I don’t know if he realized his plan backfired or if he thought I was blessed by Foros, and therefore was truly his son.” He looks at me, a wild glint in his eyes. “He’ll accept you too, you know? Last night, I think he was in shock, but he’ll see how incredible you are. Everyone will see.”

“And yet you thought⁠—”

He places a finger on my lips. “That I had to hide you. I was wrong, and you made me see it. Will you come to my room tonight?”

“Same time?”

Leaning his forehead on mine, he whispers, “Come before the rain. We’ll eat together and then watch the thunderstorm from my window while I fuck you.”

I grimace. “Is this supposed to be romantic?”

He grins, then grabs my chin and kisses my lips. “It’s supposed to be realistic. See you later.”

His steps fade into the distance while a glider lands on the sand. I look up at the sky again, hoping to find Celine, and see three gliders up in the air, except that I can’t identify who’s steering them from this distance.

For a moment, they remind me of the flock of dragons I saw, even if the image was terrifying at the time, and even if there are fewer gliders than dragons.

Maybe this was our way to defy the legendary creatures. Look at us, we’re also flying! Of course, the problem is that we can’t launch fire and don’t have huge, sharp claws or teeth, so our defiance puts us in a vulnerable position. Not us. I don’t know if I’ll ever fly.

Another glider lands on the sand, still not Celine.

The recruit grabs the flying apparatus, folds it, then carries it away from the beach. Four gliders are in the air now, and for some reason, something about the sight makes my heart weary. But it’s nonsense—they’re gliding far from each other.

Or not. I blink, unsure if I’m imagining things, if my mind is creating a horrific image that doesn’t exist. No. I’m not imagining things. One of the gliders is tilted. Too tilted. My heart pauses and my insides turn cold.

A cool gust of wind hits my face. Up above, the glider tilts sideways, then spirals fast straight down. Straight onto the rocks at the edge of the Outer Hill.

My feet are running before I can accept what I’m seeing. It has to be a nightmare, an evil illusion. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. Gliders don’t simply fall out of the sky like that. They don’t.

21

Shards of lacquered bamboo and torn canvas lie scattered across the rocks, quivering in the wind. Amidst them, a person in the dark academy uniform lies on the rocks—an image so horrific my mind shies from it. And yet I can’t fade it, can’t quench the scream ringing silently in my head.

As I step closer, my heart clenches and my hands tremble.

No, no, no. It can’t be.

And yet it’s a small woman with blond hair, now turning red with blood. My friend—hurt. A strangled grunt leaves my throat, while the beach and sky darken and blur around me. Nothing makes sense.

I kneel by Celine and hold her hand, part of me still clinging to the strange belief that this is some kind of nightmare, that it’s not real. It can’t be real.

But it’s her face, except that her eyes look nowhere and everywhere. Cold, lifeless eyes.

And her pulse is limp—a still, silent nothing beneath my fingers.

My heart falls into a pit of emptiness, a pit of pain. Celine’s gone.

No. These words are a lie. My friend can’t be gone. Not like that.

“Celine!” I want to bring her back, want to yell her name loud enough to return her soul to her body, but I can’t.

If I’m really her friend, I need to do the right thing: ensure she crosses over in peace.

Tears blur my eyes as the words of the final prayer fall from my lips, strange words that I never thought I’d recite. “Stay steady on your path, and allow Thantos to guide you. Bare before him your deeds, the best and the worst, and everything in between. May you find joy in your new life.”