Page 70 of Under Restless Skies

“Hello!” A hint of panic taints my voice. “Ava? Vos? Hello?”

I walk to the place where I slept and can’t find them. “Ava?”

A soft squeak catches my attention, and I rush to the other side, to a small sandpit. Ava is lying down beside her brother. I crouch, and she flies to my knee, then to my shoulder. Vos follows, even if he’s still staring at me like he doesn’t trust me. To be honest, I don’t blame him.

The hatchlings are fine. They look fine. Feel fine. Then why is my heart still screaming in my chest? Why do I have this hollow feeling in my marrow?

Something’s coming.

Someone’s coming.

Shit. I place the little dragons back on the sandpit. “Stay here. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t make any noise.”

Ava squees softly. Right. Of course she can’t understand what I’m saying. Either way, I leave the room, lock the door behind me—and my heart stops.

There’s a hole in the place where the door of the hallway used to be. A hole. And steps coming in my direction.

I know who it is even before he steps across the threshold.

The rider.

The man who almost killed me.

He wears a simpler circlet this time, but still holds that strange staff, and still looks eerily majestic. His long black hair is wet and loose, falling on a dark robe with strange embroidery, his dark eyes angry and vicious, black blazes directed at me, then taking in my appearance, from the top of my hair to the bottom of my skirt, his stare branding me with a strange fire.

Terror seizes me, cold and sharp. For a heartbeat, I’m paralyzed. Then an image of Ava and Vos, small and defenseless, cuts through the panic. The fear doesn’t vanish, but it transmutes into a single, desperate thought: I don’t need to defeat the rider, just delay him. Buy time for help to arrive—if he doesn’t kill me first.

“Ooooh. Fancy seeing you here,” I say casually, hoping my bizarre, friendly tone will bewilder him. “Are you coming to the ball?”

“Move.” Surprisingly, his voice is not harsh but melodious, like waves in the distance, even if a threat hangs beneath it.

My body shivers, but the image of the hatchlings smothers the fear before it can take root.

Raising my shoulders up and down, I ask, “Like this? You want me to exercise?”

He takes a shaky inhale as if trying to control his fury. “Move. I don’t wish to kill you.”

“You changed your mind? Because last time⁠—”

“I dealt a killing blow. I’m aware.” He raises an eyebrow.

A chill runs through my body as I realize how close I came to dying, but I don’t let him see my reaction and keep my tone light.

“Surprised I’m alive?”

“No,” he says curtly, his gaze sweeping over me as if searching for something. For a moment, he looks beautiful, like a figure from a dark legend. Certainly even more stunning than Alayel, except that the rider’s a murderous brute. “Move,” he insists, his voice strangely calmer.

My strategy might be working, if he hasn’t yet used his strange staff on me. I stretch my hands and touch each wall. “I’m not going anywhere. But maybe you can convince me to let you through.”

He snorts in disbelief. “Convince? You have no clue who you’re up against, do you?”

Someone more powerful than I’ve ever dreamed, the words come to me.

A warning. I ignore the chill raising the hair on the back of my neck and smile. “No. But I’d love to know.”

I’m hoping some guards show up soon, as I’m pretty sure this rider’s patience is about to run out at any second.

Indeed, he points the staff at me, his eyes calculating, thinking.