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“You’ve gone pale,” Samir said as we reached the bottom of the stairs and he guided me onto the platform.

“I just…” I looked towards the ship. “I don’t remember ever flying. It looks intimidating.”

“I see.” He gave me a sympathetic smile. “May I reassure you? This particular ship is Matthias’s favourite. He takes considerable care to ensure it is impeccably maintained. You are perfectly safe.”

I looked up at him and nodded nervously.

“I trust you.”

Something softened in his eyes.

“After you, daughter.”

I was about to take the first step up the entrance stairs when something made me turn around.

Eleanor, Ivy and Nora stood in the doorway of Hart Manor.

Ivy had one arm wrapped around Nora. Eleanor stood beside them, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, tears shining openly on her face.

I lifted my hand and waved at them one last time.

Thank you.

Thank you for everything.

Then I turned around and took the first step into my new life.

Three hours into the journey, I’d discovered that flying wasn’t so bad. I couldn’t even feel the ship moving. Every so often, I’d look through one of the huge crystal windows, see nothing beneath us but thousands of feet of air and remember we were actually going somewhere. During the last hour, the desert had given way to sea, leaving an impossible amount of blue beneath us.

The ship was nothing like the aeroplanes I’d seen in movies and on social media. No rows of cramped seats or tiny windows. I had my own cabin with a bed, private bathroom and sitting area larger than my sitting room back home. Then there was the observation lounge, which looked more like a room in an expensive hotel than a place you travel through the sky.

I’d eaten, explored enough of the ship to satisfy my curiosity without looking like some wide-eyed girl from a village, then curled up in one of the wide chairs beside the observation lounge window with the book Eleanor had given me for the journey.

HIGH MOUNTAIN PROTOCOL

The fathers had settled at the other end of the lounge, talking quietly and drinking tea with the seriousness of men sharing a bottle of whisky.

I still couldn’t get over it. Three enormous Alphas sitting around having a cuppa instead of a pint.

I should’ve asked Eleanor whether men drank anything other than tea here.

Surely they did, right?

I was somewhere in the middle of trying to understand why an unmated Omega greeted a High Lord differently from a mated one, and whether becoming Stormforge’s Omega meant I should stop doing one and immediately start doing the other, when movement outside distracted me.

Another ship was travelling beside us.

It was smaller than ours and considerably less pretty, with a narrow dark hull and none of the huge windows I’d spent far too much time admiring. I watched it for a little while before returning to the book, but when I glanced up again, it was still there.

Then I noticed another farther ahead and one more on the opposite side. I could make out four altogether, all flying far too close to us.

I lowered the book.

“Are they all going the same way as us?” I asked loudly enough for the fathers to hear. Matthias moved towards the window as I pointed. “There are loads of them. Is it safe for them to fly this close?”

“They are with us,” Matthias said, giving me a mildly amused smile. “House Vaelor defence vessels. General Stormforge arranged an escort for the journey.”

Alaric.