the wagon. He hardly limped as he jogged to Leyra and threw his arms around her broad neck. “That’s my girl! Your first kill!” He turned to Kalai, all smiles, and pointed at the dead silverhorn like a proud father. “That’s her first kill!”
“That’s impressive,” Kalai agreed, sliding off the wagon to join Tauran and the dragons.
“We can save some of this meat for dinner tonight.” Tauran drew the knife from his belt and pulled the silverhorn’s leg up, exposing its belly. Leyra didn’t pay him any mind, her front teeth working through the hide of the silverhorn’s back thigh. Arrow was content to watch from the side, laying in the grass with his front legs crossed and his wings stretched in the sun.
Tauran split the silverhorn’s belly open, rolling up his sleeves, and despite the gruesome sight, Kalai smiled. This wasn’t exactly how he’d imagined their heated moment to end, but at least something good had come of it.
Tauran was elbows deep in the dead animal, digging out entrails, when he noticed Kalai’s smile. “I… Sorry.”
Kalai shook his head. “No… this is nice. All of us, together. Like a family.”
Tauran blinked in surprise. He seemed to consider it for a moment, then broke into his adorably dimpled smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”
The moment was broken when Leyra spotted the gash Tauran had made and deemed it far easier access to the meat inside.
“Hey!” Tauran pushed against her nose. “Careful! I’ve got sharp objects here!” He chose a different spot and cut a large chunk loose, tossing it to Arrow, who eagerly gulped it down.
A low rumble sounded in the distance.
Both Kalai and Tauran looked to the sky. Most of the clouds were gone, offering them a view of the clear blue expanse. No dragons. No thunder.
“What—” A rolling rumble, much louder than before, interrupted Kalai’s words. He staggered sideways, thinking for a moment that he might faint. But it wasn’t him who was unsteady. The entire earth shook, leaves drifting from the treetops above. “Tauran!”
“Earthquake?” Tauran sheathed the knife and wiped his hands on the grass, returning to Kalai’s side. He pulled Kalai out from underneath the trees.
“I don’t know.”
Leyra hissed and backed up, tail curling along her side. In an instant, Arrow was beside her, fanning a pale wing over her body and growling.
The shaking stopped as quickly as it had started, an eerie silence descending.
“You all right?” Tauran asked, searching Kalai’s face.
Kalai nodded. “This is the second one in just a few months.”
“Third,” Tauran said. “I felt two in Valreus”
“This one was stronger.” Kalai blew out a breath and looked to the dragons. “Good boy, Arrow.”
Arrow cooed softly, lifting his wing off Leyra’s back. Leyra whined and ran to Tauran, pressing her head against his chest.
“How about we finish up this silverhorn and get some rest?” Tauran rubbed under Leyra’s jaw, turning her into goo. “We’ve been up all night.”
“Sounds good to me,” Kalai said.
CHAPTER 31
They slept through the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon with Arrow keeping watch. There were no more earthquakes, and no angry Sky Guard soldiers roused them from their sleep.
They woke, ate, packed up and set out once more as night fell around them. Leyra was in the wagon, Arrow watching over them from above. Despite the day’s rest, Kalai found himself swaying in the driver’s seat. He was more of a morning person than a night owl and the inversion of night and day left him more groggy than he liked. A few hours before dawn, Tauran suggested he take in the wagon with Leyra, and Kalai gratefully obliged, if only so he could take his dose of the pills somewhere not right in front of Tauran. When the wagon bumped over the uneven road, Kalai clutched the vial to his chest, breathing deep to still his racing heart.
The next day came and went in much the same fashion. And the next. And the next, after that. The more time passed without anyone coming to drag them back to Kal Valreus, the more Kalai relaxed, although it was obvious from Tauran’s hard gazes into the darkness that he needed more time to convince him of their freedom. When they slept, Tauran curled against him and held him until they woke. He had initiated no intimacy since their first failed attempt, and Kalai hadn’t pushed.
On the seventh day, Tauran stopped the wagon on a grassy hill overlooking a stretch of land below. The sun rose behind the mountains, turning the