I let out a relieved laugh. One hand still brushed her cheek, and the other held her waist close.
I couldn’t stop looking at her mouth. The corner of her lip pointed up, and her dimple tucked inside her cheek.
A question awakened between us, a question I didn’t say out loud. I traced her neck with my fingers and she closed her eyes, her body arching up. Her fists clenched around my shirt, coaxing me toward her.
Well, if she insisted.
My lips brushed against hers. She growled softly and kissed me the way she argued, with every bit of her. Her body pressed against my chest and I cinched her waist tight, my fingers entwined in her stays, but not close enough.
She stepped toward me. The tingle from traveling electrified every sense, the taste of her sweet as whipped pie, sparks crackling between my fingers and trailing every inch of her, my lips burning embers against her mouth, her neck, her jaw.
In a tunnel of speckling light, I lost all sense of direction, but she didn’t stop moving, rocketing us through step after step. One step wading through rivers, while her fingers gripped my hair and lights shot past us. The next step thrust us through a circling wind. It rattled my clothes and froze the sweat up my back. She tugged my shirt up and touched the bare skin. I flooded with heat. Those enchanted boots transported us farther through a snowbank, a crunch of snow pressing to my knees as I lifted her higher by the slope behind her thighs and we stopped shooting forward. I walked us instead, until her back hit a stone wall, and finally, finally, we were close enough.
And right when I was about to surrender all sense, her lips parted into a smile.
I pulled back and we breathed together. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she wouldn’t look at me.
I cocked my chin. “’Sup, girl.”
She threw her head back and laughed.
I chuckled with her, everything else in the world forgotten except the way her lips curled into a smile.
20
GRIGFEN
There were seven Savak Wingships, all aiming bursts of fire at the King’s Crypt. They flew above the ruins of the burnt town while Dagney and Ryo ran into their flames.
I’d have to set a distraction. A right good one too—fierce, strong, and quite a ways from where I hid. I climbed up a shadowed tree and made my way out onto the largest branch, arms held at both sides for balance. Through the cover of the leafy branches, I called for the spirits, bones, and ghost beasties hidden in the forest surrounding me. Indicators lit over the bones. I glanced through my list of spells until I knew just the song to sing and words to say to enchant them.
I settled down on the branch, legs dangling, and gathered my balance on the swaying branch. I twisted my fingers. The flame-parched earth cracked. Dusky skeletons emerged from the billowing ghostlight. First a human arm, an antler, and then a skull. The bones congealed into one creature. But it wasn’t distraction enough. I hummed an ancient made-up word, and a cyclone surrounded the bone monster, spinning ghostwind swirling in a dance around the distraction.
It worked. The Savak turned away from Ryo and Dagney’s goal and attacked the creature.
I grinned and popped a hibisi in my mouth, watching the battle like it was a movie. The battle could last for as long as my health held on, so I kept chewing on hibisi blossoms as my magic usage dimmed my health, creating new skeletons whenever my magic and health were strong enough.
I kept going until my head ached and my fingers stiffened in a chill that didn’t seem to be caused by the weather. Even healing couldn’t repair the exhaustion that settled into me.
I couldn’t hold the bones any longer. The skeleton collapsed in a scattered heap. Oh. A nap would be so fine right about now. I settled back against a branch. Well done, Griffin.
Hopefully that was distraction enough.
I felt the branch give before I heard the crack. I threw my hands back to catch myself.
But it was too late.
I more slipped than fell. I tumbled down. Thick branches slammed into my stomach. My head. My vision flashed black.
When I came to, the world was drawn at an odd angle. The King’s Crypt had gone all scallywampus in the background.
Two Savak Wingships marched toward me, just meters away. A pilot cocked her head to