Page 22 of Under Restless Skies

And yet I know. My body knows. The cold dread in my gut knows. The dragons are coming.

The boat is going fast, creating a trail behind it. The question is if it will be enough.

Alayel joins me surveilling the sky, but all I see is a flock of birds in the distance.

Oh, no.

My stomach sinks. My breath falters. My heart stutters.

They’re not birds.

“Do you see that?” I barely manage a sound through my constricted throat as I watch some twenty dragons flying in our direction.

“They’re still far.” He narrows his eyes, watching the creatures.

“If they keep coming at that speed, they’ll reach us in what? Five, ten minutes?”

Alayel’s jaw tightens. “We’ll try to negotiate.” The tension in his voice betrays his confident words.

I want to curse past Mayara, who didn’t get as far from this boat as possible when she had the chance. Perhaps I should curse the moment when I had the deranged idea to accept Alayel’s outrageous plan.

A shaky breath comes out of my mouth. “Dragons usually kill on sight, Alayel.”

“We’ll have to hope they won’t do it this time.”

I can’t help but glare at him. “Hope? How’s that going to save us?”

“You never know. I’ve seen death up close before, and you know what? There’s no point panicking before it gets you. Let’s stay close to the eggs and wait.”

“How can you be this calm?”

“I’m saving my panic for when they toast me. No point in suffering twice.”

Somehow, I manage to snort. “Let’s wait, then, and suffer only once.”

But then I glance at the sky, and all my amusement fades at once.

Three dragons are flying fast, ahead of the group—right in our direction.

Alayel crouches on the deck and pulls me down with him, so that the eggs stand between us and the incoming dragons—unless they decide to circle and surround us.

“I might have miscalculated,” he whispers. “And I’m sorry.”

I shut my eyes, waiting, my heart pounding in desperation, horrific moments as I brace for death to take me. Finally, a loud thud startles me, and I feel the boat tilting to one side. I dare to look and spot a light blue dragon perched on the deck, bigger than a horse, but smaller than the dragon who saved me.

His roar is so loud that it hurts my ears. The sound comes not only from him, but the two other dragons approaching—and a fourth one, from another direction. A fourth one… Can it be? The roar is distant, but I hear it clearly. The flapping of wings is also familiar.

The blue dragon on the deck takes flight, then launches a blast of fire in the air, far above the boat, while I stay glued to the ground.

I can’t believe my ears, but it’s true. “Auranius,” I whisper. “He’s here.”

Alayel and I get up as the gigantic Dracolius guardian dragon approaches us, coming from the east, while the group of dragons turns around and heads west, deeper into the riders’ lands. Auranius is at least ten times larger than the other dragons, so it makes sense they’d turn back. Still, why not fight him? There are so many of them.

My body trembles as I watch the dragons retreat, as I consider how close I came to dying—again.

“We’re safe! We’ll make it.” Alayel fists the air, then wraps his arms around me and lifts me.

The action stuns me, clearing out most of my daze, and a new warmth reaches me as I’m pressed against his chest. When he puts me down, he holds my face with his hands, the action oddly tender, a touch that feels strange and right at the same time.