Heir of the Dog Black Dog - Hailey Edwards Page 0,41

giving me an ulcer.

“Can we trust her?” Not to eat us.

“She will do as I ask.” He dusted his hands clean. “After that, we have no guarantee she won’t fly straight to the Huntsman and tell him where she dropped us.”

We approached, and the great crow’s beak opened.

The Morrigan’s raspy voice issued from its throat. “Rook.”

“Mother.” He inclined his head. “The favor I ask of you is your aid in escorting us safely to the edge of Autumn.”

“You ask much of me, my son.” Her beady eyes raked over me. “Thierry Thackeray. You have been good to me. Therefore, I will grant this one-time aid. I will fly you and my child to the edge of Autumn, where I must leave you to your fate.” She rustled her feathers and puffed up at Rook. “Are these terms agreeable to you?”

“They are.” Rook kissed his pointer finger and faced it toward her in salute.

I fumbled for the right words to frame my gratitude. “Your help is much appreciated.”

“Oh, it is more than worth it to me.” A cackle rose from her throat. “I owed Rook a debt much larger than the paltry favor he is content to redeem it for. Had he asked first, I might have done this for free.”

“You do nothing for free,” he said lightly. “Let us not pretend otherwise.”

He boosted me onto her back and then climbed up behind me.

The Morrigan vibrated beneath us with her laughter. “Now, son, you’ll give Thierry the wrong impression of her mother-in-law.”

I glared at Rook over my shoulder and mouthed, We aren’t married.

A tight smile stretched his lips as he linked his hands at my navel. The caress of his thumbs sent quivers through my stomach. I was queasy. That was it. Or grateful, which was worse. He was not tempting me. Well, okay, tempting me to wring his neck, yes. Tempting me to jump his bones, no. Just so we’re clear.

“Hold on.” The Morrigan spread her vast wings and launched into the sky.

Beneath us, frustrated barks stung my ears as a dozen hounds loped after us.

One hound leapt, snapping his jaws close to her tail. Without warning, she cried out and swooped, catching the dog before its front paws hit the ground, tossing her head back as she gulped him down with a satisfied chirrup. Price paid. Belly taut with dog flesh, the Morrigan soared.

Whirling snow gave way to flurrying leaves below us as the frigid air warmed by several degrees. I had a bird’s-eye view for the changing of the seasons, and it was breathtaking. Soaring over the seasonal divide was like flipping channels from black-and-white melodrama to full Technicolor extravaganza.

Red and orange treetops popped against the browning grasses. Autumn was, as far as I could tell, one endless forest. What an ideal place for a hunt.

Rook’s arms tightened around me before I sensed the subtle variance in our altitude.

“This is as far as I will go,” the Morrigan said. “Have a care, son. Die well, daughter.”

The great crow dipped lower, until her wake made the leaves tremble.

“Hold on to me,” Rook murmured against my neck. “This is where we get off.”

Scenery zipped under us. “Um, she isn’t slowing down.”

His sympathetic look might have earned him more points if his mother hadn’t chosen that exact moment to disembark us by executing a barrel roll. I fisted her feathers and held on for dear life. She squawked and shrugged, sending us into a tailspin. The harder I yanked, the faster we dove.

Rook’s hands covered mine. “We have to jump.”

“Are you insane?” I screamed. “She won’t kill herself to get rid of us.”

“You don’t know my mother. Death is a temporary inconvenience as far as she’s concerned.”

Meaning she came back the same as Macsen did. Great. Everyone here was immortal but me.

Even with the ground racing up to meet me, I stubbornly clung to her back.

“Let go.” Rook yanked on my hands, ripping out fistfuls of feathers. “Thierry, please.”

Fingers sweaty, I lost my hold. He clasped my hands before I could grasp another anchor.

“Good girl,” he breathed, tightening his grip on me and letting go for both of us.

For an eternity, we dangled from the Morrigan’s back by the strength of my thighs as I clenched her sides, but Rook was heavy and so was I. The material of my pants conspired against me, and our weight sucked me from the back of the great bird and sent us hurtling downward toward the spiky treetops.

Leaves swatted me in the face and