Kalai hushed him, swallowing the lump in his throat. “It’s all right, love. It’s all right.” He stroked Tauran’s face and Tauran curled into the touch, clung to him like a drowning man. Tauran was so much larger than Kalai. Taller. Wider. An image of physical power. Yet he found his comfort, his sanctuary, in Kalai’s touch. Kalai wished desperately that he could pull Tauran straight through the gap and into his arms.
A click sounded from inside the cell block. Catria and Emilian moved behind Tauran, Emilian slamming his back against the door, keeping it from opening.
“Go, now!” Tauran hissed, his grip on Kalai’s wrist tightening only briefly before he released him and shoved his hands away, stepping out of his reach. Shouts sounded from outside the door, followed by bangs as guards tried to force their way through. “Don’t stay and watch. Promise me, Kalai. You have to go!”
Kalai’s breath hitched, and he sat, shuffling back against the wall, then sideways, out of sight. The guards’ voices sounded suddenly closer as they entered the cell. A punch. A groan. Catria’s voice begging them to stop. Kalai squeezed his eyes shut. He had found Tauran, yet he could do nothing to help him and the others. When they parted ways in Sharoani, he had rejected Tauran’s declaration of love. Now, he wished more than anything that he had said it back.
He pushed to his feet, staggering backward into the shadows. His hands shook. His whole body shook. He had spent his entire life yearning for an adventure, and here he was, right in the middle of one, wishing he could be anywhere else.
He'd been childish to think he'd ever be strong enough. He wasn't a soldier or a sky rider. He was just a small town boy with too many dreams.
Kalai clenched his hands into fists. No, he couldn’t just stand there and cry while Falka took the life of the man he loved. Even if it was hopeless, he had to fight.
CHAPTER 47
Arrow raced so fast that Kalai’s eyes watered from the rush of air. Sniffling, he wiped his eyes, then gripped the neck strap of the saddle as Arrow came to a too abrupt landing, claws digging furrows in the ground. Kalai didn’t bother detaching from the saddle, but rode to where Jinhai had been playing with a pair of young dragons. Jinhai looked alarmed when Kalai approached.
Before Jinhai could ask, Kalai said, “They’re executing Tauran and my friends at sundown. I need to stop it. I want you to stay here and watch over the dragons. If the volcano erupts before I’m back, make Leyra bring all the dragons north instead of south. There should be some caves there where you can wait it out. You’ll have to search.” Nothing was certain. The caves might not be secure. Jinhai might not find them. Leyra might not even wish to leave. Kalai could be flying right in there to get himself killed. But there were no other options.
Jinhai blinked, clearly trying to catch up to the stream of words.
“Got it?” Kalai asked, Arrow mirroring his impatience, shifting his feet and snapping his wings out from his body.
Jinhai nodded. “Got it.”
“I’m sorry. Stay safe!” Kalai barked over his shoulder, Arrow already turning back toward Valreus.
Kalai jerked in the saddle from the force of Arrow’s leap into the sky. Arrow felt his urgency, his fear, glancing over his shoulder at Kalai before picking up speed, wings beating frantically.
The ground rushed beneath them in a blur; Kalai had never seen anything move so fast before.
The sky was tinted purple and orange. When they approached the city, the bells announcing sundown, announcing death, were already ringing.
Kalai released the neck strap with one hand and drew the hunting knife Tauran had given him. It was his only weapon besides Arrow’s teeth and claws, no match for a gun and no match for Falka’s massive titan, but none of that mattered.
Arrow raced over the city wall and banked right to squeeze between two buildings, skirted a greenhouse glass dome and leveled out, the shout of a guard fading behind them. How many times had the bells rung? He couldn’t be too late. He couldn’t. Buildings rushed past them. The sounds of an excited crowd rose when Arrow kicked off the bell tower and fanned out his wings.
Lavender Square stretched before them, full of people and rubble from what looked to have