air. Fat clouds covered the upper portions of the structure, obscuring it from view. What puzzled me most were the guards walking along the walls. Each held a black cable that stretched into the clouds. For all I knew, another tier of rooms were concealed high over their heads and those thick ropes hung from a... No. That couldn’t be right.
The men walked. The ropes moved with them. Not stationary so... “What am I looking at?”
Raven’s chuckle heated my ear. “You will see.”
Though I should have known better, the glint of mischief in his eyes heightened my anticipation.
What was I about to see? How was he so certain it would blow my mind?
Better yet, why did he care what I thought?
We crested a small hill and were met by an honest-to-God ogre. He was taller than most trees, and the ground rumbled under our feet as the creature’s lips moved. Boulders collided in his voice. His grumbled words sounded foreign to my ears, and they were beyond my comprehension.
Raven answered him in that grating language then lifted his hand, and a pulse of black magic whirled across his palm.
With a tight nod of acknowledgement, the ogre fell to its knees before him, knocking me onto my ass in the snow.
Raven hooked his arm under mine. “He won’t harm you on purpose, but stay on your guard. Accidents with ogres can prove fatal.”
My shoulders stiffened. Was he implying accidentally on purpose?
Maybe the ogre didn’t like playing gatekeeper. Or maybe he just didn’t like half-bloods like me.
I leaned against Raven. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He glanced down at me. “Hold on.”
“Why should I...?”
The ogre speared his fingers into the ground before us, shoveling the frozen chunk of dirt where we stood into his palm and lifting us to his shoulder height before his eye caught mine and he grinned.
My knees turned to rubber. Let him laugh. It would serve him right if I puked on his knuckles.
A strong arm circled my waist—Raven’s—and held me tight against his side. “You’ll be fine.”
“As long as I don’t look down?” I covered my mouth before I emptied my stomach.
“We’re almost there.” His thumb tapped my hip absently. “It will be worthwhile. I promise.”
I elbowed his hand. “You’re half bird, of course you aren’t scared.”
His lips were back at my ear, his breath hot on my throat. “I won’t let you fall.”
Terrified of testing his promise, I didn’t punch him again. Oh, but I wanted to.
I crushed my eyes closed and focused on breathing while the ogre hummed a tune and the world trembled in our passage. I had almost succeeded in convincing myself I wasn’t going to be eaten or flung to my death when the ride stopped and the hand beneath us began moving, threatening to topple me.
Raven squeezed my shoulder. “Look now.”
The cables were a few hundred yards away, and we stood higher than the guards’ heads. I let my gaze travel the length of one strand from a youthful fae’s hand up into the clouds and...my knees gave.
I knelt on a clod of dirt clutched in an ogre’s hand, and I stared up at the impossible.
My voice cracked. “Those are dragons.”
Raven stared up at them, wonder absent in his gaze. “They are.”
“Those don’t exist,” I explained to him very slowly. “Not even in Faerie.”
In search of richer nesting grounds, dragons had followed the first fae into the mortal realm where they were hunted to extinction by humans. All the history books said so. Yet there they were. Breathing. Flying. Alive.
The sleek lizards gliding over my head wore glistening metallic scales, and there were two beasts for each primary color. Their tails were streamers sailing in their wake. With serpentine necks, their heads were the size of entire horses with teeth the length of my arm. Wings extended from either side of their spines on nubby arms. Between finger-like striations, the skin looked as thin as silk.
Each wore a thick leather bridle clasped with a black cable.
“Mother has an affinity for winged creatures.” Raven swept out his arm. “This is her legacy.”
The edge of bitterness made me seek his face. “Not her son?”
“Heirs die.” His eyes hardened. “Bastards rise.” He glanced at me. “Legends are immortal.”
“How does no one know this?” A legend was only as effective as its reach.
“The Unseelie know, when it is important they should remember.” He made it sound like that was enough. “There is an enchantment on the beasts. Anyone may see them while on these grounds. Unless