dulled the stars, but the night was a particularly clear one. They shone and twinkled against a faint band of color sprinkled like glittering dust above their heads. Valreus was a sight to behold, with its fountains and waterways and neatly trimmed flower gardens, but it had nothing on the world that lay above it, endless and breathtaking. Tauran’s world, once.
“Whoa,” Tauran whispered, when the view turned him dizzy.
Kalai’s laugh was soft and sweet as honey when he wrapped his arms around Tauran’s shoulders to steady him.
They leaned against each other. Tauran allowed himself to soak up the moment, let the slow rise and fall of Kalai’s breaths calm his heart.
“Imagine being up there.” Kalai’s voice was a whisper in Tauran’s ear. “Close to the stars.”
“You should see it,” Tauran replied.
Kalai leaned back so he could look him in the eyes. “You really think I’ll be able to fly?”
“I do.”
“But where do I find a saddle?”
“I might know a guy,” Tauran said, and the words tumbled out despite knowing they were trouble.
CHAPTER 12
Kalai could hardly sleep, but not for the lack of exhaustion.
He’d gone straight to bed after their midnight excursion, but it had taken him hours to fall asleep, and he’d risen at the first scarce rays of daylight with two things immediately on his mind: flying and Tauran.
He brought the egg downstairs and made tea, all the while unable to shake the feeling that the previous night had been a dream.
Tauran could teach him how to fly.
They’d embraced under the stars, held each other so close that it would have been easy to lean in and kiss Tauran’s freckled cheek. Kalai had still been debating whether he should take the risk when Tauran had pulled away, a guilty expression on his face. Tauran had apologized, although Kalai didn’t know what for. Perhaps Tauran thought he was making assumptions, but Kalai had never made it a secret in which direction his attraction went. At least, he thought he hadn’t.
A nagging voice in Kalai’s mind told him he knew well the reason, but he pushed it firmly aside. If Tauran thought his condition was an obstacle, he wouldn’t have even suggested putting Kalai on the back of a dragon.
All his life, Kalai had dreamed of adventure, of someone just like Tauran stealing him away from Kel Visal and showing him the world outside his old dusty history books. It would be selfish of Kalai to want more, surely. And yet he couldn’t help the butterflies stirring in his chest whenever he thought of Tauran.
Poor guy. From what Kalai had heard, the Battle of the Broken Wings had been devastating. Tauran was obviously still haunted by it. But Kalai had seen the change in him when he spoke of flying. The way his face relaxed and his shoulders dropped. He’d seen it again on the balcony. Tauran had trusted him enough to brave his fear, and it filled Kalai with pride. Clearly, underneath all the fear, the thought of flying made Tauran as happy as it did Kalai.
Smiling softly, Kalai stroked the egg. “I’m going to fly,” he told it. “Good thing Aunt Iako isn’t here. I’d give her a stroke.”
Picking up the egg, he carefully slipped two fingers through the handle of his mug and returned to the main room. He placed both down and took a look around. Slowly, the cluttered archive was becoming a home. There were still piles of paper and books stacked on the floor and on top of stools and cupboards, but he’d cleared most of the floor space, revealing a lovely interwoven floorboard pattern and half of a rug.
As much as he wanted to keep cleaning, he should focus on translations. He wanted to give the Sky Guard something tangible, some proof that he was worth keeping around. A few stray papers under the chaise lounge by the window caught his attention. He bent to retrieve them. They were more burned documents.
“Huh.” Flipping through them, he returned to the desk. Maybe starting with those could net him some extra points for restoring damaged material.
Kalai pulled his legs onto the chair and gently placed the egg in his lap. He grabbed the first half-burned paper and balanced it on top of the egg.
Proof of the existence of an, as of yet, undiscovered nesting site is building. The temple masters restored 400-year-old documents stating that young apprentices watched the flight paths of dragons and narrowed the area down to a locati—