The Warrior King (Inferno Rising #3) - Abigail Owen Page 0,72
ahead. A pond Samael had spotted during his earlier patrol, a plan that had come about after her use of the pond in the cave earlier.
Their way out. Bait and escape.
The next few minutes happened in a rush as he dropped suddenly, arrowing at the ground. Boulders and jagged edges of the sheer mountains rushed up at her so fast she closed her eyes. He stopped hard, slamming his wings wide, and Meira grunted as her body was forced against the cage of his talons. Rocks tumbled away under the force of the wind his wings generated and Samael landed, careful to keep her upright in his one talon.
Then he released her. In an equally silent glide of movement, as he shrank and realigned, Samael returned to his human form. Then ignited, allowing his black fire to dance on his palm, reflecting in the water of the mountain lake he’d brought them to.
“Quickly,” he said. “They’re coming.”
Without hesitation, Meira took his hand, letting his fire flow over her, seeping into her skin, igniting new flames inside her, which rushed over her in a torrent of red and gold quickly eaten up by the black of his own.
She couldn’t take them back to the clans, certainly not all the way to the gargoyles, but they’d already discussed where to go. She pictured it now, the way Kasia had described it to her. Maul had once shown her a mental image of the place, and Meira held that in her mind as she willed the thankfully still pond to display it. A breathtaking image appeared in the reflection, oddly angled, like they lay on the ground and gazed up at the sky.
“It’s going to be cold,” she warned. “It may be spring, but Alaska is too far north to realize that yet, and we’re starting in freezing temperatures here. Dive head—”
A shadow passed overhead, and, without warning, Samael grabbed her around the waist and jumped into the pond feetfirst.
Plunged into icy darkness, water went up her nose, and she struggled to reorient. Because up was down on the back side of the water. The grip around her waist tightened, and suddenly she felt as though she were being dragged down deeper.
Was he going the wrong way?
Darkness crushed in on her, and panic ignited in her chest. What if they didn’t make it to the surface? Without her fire, she’d never get them out of here.
Oh my gods, I’ve drowned us.
That same panic took over her muscles as flight instinct kicked in and she struggled against Samael’s grip. He clamped down, grip bruising, and, in a vague corner of her fraught mind, she felt him kicking hard through the water.
They burst through the surface, and Meira spluttered even as her lungs tried to replace water she’d sucked in with much-needed oxygen.
“Cold…fuck,” Samael spat as he released her. “If we don’t get out of here quick, we’ll turn hypothermic.”
A dragon, with his own heat source, saying that—and his voice told her he wasn’t joking—meant they needed to move. Now.
Muscles already turning heavy, her blood sluggish in her veins and making it difficult to force her limbs to function, Meira struck out for the shore, swimming as hard as she could make her limbs plow, skin already numb, aware that Samael matched her stroke for stroke. The shore seemed to hover out of reach, not coming any closer, for the longest time. The freezing air in her heaving lungs turned to razor blades with each inhalation. She kept pushing. Suddenly, her fingertips touched a slimy rock bottom, and she knew they’d made it. Meira swam a few feet more before she tottered to her feet on shaking legs that didn’t want to work and stumbled the rest of the way out.
Onto snow-covered ground.
Her teeth set to chattering so hard, she was worried her brain might dislodge.
“Dammit, woman.” Samael scooped her up in his arms, but even his warmth was obscured by the soaked clothing that was already turning crunchy in the night air. “Which way?”
“It’s n-n-nearby.” She managed to stutter the words. “Kasia said you can s-s-see it from the l-l-lake. A s-s-s-small c-c-cabin.”
Vaguely she was aware of how Samael jerked around. Thank the gods for dragon sight, because it took him only a few seconds, then he took off at a dead run, his speed, even in human form, a marvel she was too frozen to appreciate. Meira grimaced against the wind his speed created against her shuddering, soggy form.