half-hobbled after her, forced to slow down when his boot caught on the curb. “Be careful!”
“Don’t worry!” she repeated, waving as she darted through the gates.
It took Tauran several more minutes to reach the base of the tower. As he did, a large shadow above made him crane his neck.
Valeron leaped from the topmost balcony, wings fanned wide. He ascended fast, releasing a rumbling shriek that drowned out even the sirens for a moment.
Then, Excellor’s massive head appeared over the edge of the balcony. Tauran’s eyes widened. If Falka was with them this time, they meant business.
Excellor leaped from the balcony like Valeron, extending his massive wings. He fell almost half the height of the tower, and the sheer power of the flap of his wings struck Tauran with a blast of air that shook his balance. He steadied himself against the tower wall and watched Excellor ascend after Valeron. Familiar adrenaline coursed through Tauran, the rush of excitement before a flight, the thrilling flip of his stomach at the first, hard leap into the air. The memories trembled through him like a titan’s roar.
Catria had called Sorcha down from the top of the tower and the pair rose into the air from the training grounds beyond, both faster and quieter. Sorcha spun once, catching up and then darting past Excellor like a loosed arrow. A swiftwing could never hope to seriously injure a titan, but a titan also had no hope of ever catching a swiftwing in the air.
“Please be careful,” Tauran whispered again.
* * *
Catria turned out to be right. By morning, the riders had not yet returned. It wasn’t all bad. After tucking Leyra in for her afternoon nap, Tauran hailed a coach to the archive and asked the driver to wait.
Kalai opened the door with a stack of papers under one arm, eyes lighting up when he saw Tauran.
Tauran clicked his tongue and pointed over his shoulder. “Drop those dusty old books. You and I are going training.”
Kalai didn’t need to be told twice. He discarded the pile of papers at the bottom of the stairs, not bothering to tie his boots before they were in the coach. Tauran told the driver to take them to a small bar near the ruined district, from where they could slip away unnoticed.
Kalai was a bundle of restless energy on the entire journey. He tapped his foot and shifted in his seat, stilling only once Tauran took his hand.
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long,” Tauran said, as they pulled up in front of the bar and the driver knocked on the roof of the coach.
“It’s worth waiting for.” Kalai stepped out and paid the driver. They had to be careful moving around like this in the middle of the day, but luckily, few people were out and about in this part of the city on the best of days.
They retrieved the saddle from where they’d hidden it under blankets and behind old bookcases on the fifth floor of the Solar Tower and brought it upstairs. Arrow greeted Kalai with a rumbling coo, nudging his chest before darting around the chamber.
Tauran dropped the saddle on the floor and leaned against the wall. Already, it was a hot day. Too hot for scaling six flights of stairs. Kalai pulled the black shirt he wore over his head and discarded it on the floor, giving Tauran no warning at all.
It was the second time Tauran had seen him without a shirt on, the first time hardly counting for its brevity. Which was shocking in and of itself, since Tauran in the past would consistently have both men and women undressed within a day of meeting them. But with Kalai, it was different, as everything was. With Kalai, even something as simple as feeling the firm, slender form of his body beneath fabric was a thrill. Seeing him like this, chest bare, stretched out on the cool tiles with one leg propped up and an arm folded behind his head, skin faintly damp and cheeks flushed as he caught his breath... Tauran swallowed hard and shifted. Suddenly, the night he had spent with Icren seemed an unbearably long time ago.
The movement made Kalai turn his head toward him. Faint surprise flitted over his face, quickly replaced by a sly satisfaction in the quirk of his lips. He pushed onto his elbows. “Am I distracting you, Mister Darrica?”
“Please.” Tauran rolled his eyes. “I’m a rider of the Sky Guard. I was bottle-fed