Highland Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon #6) - Genevieve Jack Page 0,19
don’t have to do this.” Avery lifted her chin. “I want to. I’m going to. And the next time you see me, Xavier will be on my arm.” She turned and strode toward her room wondering why she’d put it that way. On her arm. It was a strange way to word it. She shook her head at the bizarre turn of phrase and hurried to undress.
Avery hugged Raven and Clarissa goodbye outside of Mistwood and then climbed into the car that would take her to the Highlands. Traveling to Glencoe from Oxfordshire would take about nine hours. She’d asked Raven, Clarissa, and Gabriel to stay behind. She didn’t want to have the stress of saying goodbye or risk that they’d talk her out of what she was about to do. Only Nathaniel could usher her along this part of the journey, and soon enough she’d have to leave him behind as well. They planned to travel to the bubble today, spend the night in a neighboring village, and then she’d pass through the wards tomorrow.
Nathaniel spent the entire car ride lecturing her on Scottish culture. He’d given her a bag of silver and gold coins that he said were Scottish pounds, the type of currency he assumed was still used where she was going. She’d need it for food and to rent a room for the night as it would be at least two days journey to the castle. Avery tried to listen, but she was far too nervous to absorb much at all of what he said. The information went into her brain and then out again moments later when Nathaniel attempted to quiz her.
She was relieved when she was finally alone in her room in a bed-and-breakfast called the Clachaig Inn, which Nathaniel said was near the gate. Avery flopped onto the bed and, for the first time in forever, slept through the night.
In the morning, after a full Scottish breakfast that included something called Lorne sausage that Avery liked so much she ate until she was almost sick, she dressed in the costume the oreads had made for her and drove with Nathaniel to a mountain called Bidean nam Bian where he said the gate resided.
“Are you afraid of heights,” he asked her.
“No.” There wasn’t much that Avery legitimately feared. She didn’t care for alligators, but that hadn’t stopped her from kayaking through an infested swamp with her sister. Heights she found manageable, even when she’d stood on the edge of the cliff in front of Alexander’s cave and faced Aborella. The thing about Avery was, she didn’t like to dwell on things and so she rarely had time to fear them.
“Good.” Nathaniel grabbed her around the waist, spread his wings, and flew.
Avery should not have eaten that third Lorne sausage. Her stomach dropped as he rose higher and higher, to the very top of the ridge. He perched on an outcropping of stone. It was cold there, and she was suddenly thankful for the layers of wool and linen around her.
“Why are we here?” Avery had to raise her voice to speak over the wind. “I thought you were taking me to the gate?”
“This is the gate,” Nathaniel said apologetically. He didn’t seem remotely cold although her teeth were starting to chatter. Dragons.
“This is the gate?” Avery looked around her but saw nothing.
With a wave of his hand, a scattering of amethyst dust flew from his fingers and caught on an invisible dome that cut through the thin air beyond the mountain’s edge. Avery noted a large rectangle where the dust fell darker before disappearing altogether. The door.
“Is that it?” She pointed a hand toward the general area. “I don’t even think I can jump that far.”
“I’ll fly you over and drop you in.”
All her muscles tensed. “Are you—” Her head whipped back and forth as she stared over the edge. “I’ll die from the fall!”
“You’ll land inside the bubble. It’s only about a three-foot drop. As soon as you fall through the wards, everything you see here will change.”
She peered over the edge, her vision wavering and sweat blooming on her upper lip despite the cold. As she took in the distance to the earth below, she grew dizzy and nauseated and had to back away from the edge to keep from toppling over.
“Nathaniel, if you drop me and I miss the door…”
“You’ll fall on this side of the pocket. But don’t worry. I’ll swoop down and catch you before you hit the ground.”