Jade

  A crash of thunder detonated overhead, jolting me upright in bed.

  My vision strobed—black, white, black—like someone was flicking a switch behind my eyes. The world swam as I sucked in a sharp breath, heart hammering like it had been sprinting without me.

  When my sight finally steadied, I realized two things at once.

  One: I wasn’t alone.

  Two: someone was holding something black.

  A heavy thunk hit the floor.

  Val just stared at the spot where it landed, frozen, not saying a word.

  …Weird.

  When I blinked, something inky brushed my arm—then fur.

  My heart lurched into my throat.

  “Good evening, Jade…”

  The voice slid across the back of my mind—cold, smooth, and unmistakably male.

  A heavy weight settled on my leg.

  I kicked on instinct.

  Something fox-shaped yelped and went sailing through the air, tumbling end over end before smacking into my desk with a dramatic thud.

  “OW!” the voice snapped, suddenly far less ominous. “Okay, rude. Very rude.”

  The shadows peeled themselves off the floor, reforming into a sleek black fox with too many tails and a grin that screamed this was on purpose.

  Nyx shook himself, glared at me, then sighed.

  Val burst out laughing.

  Like—full-on, hand-over-mouth, can’t-breathe laughing.

  “Oh, my gods,”

  she wheezed. “You actually kicked him.”

  I stared at her. “You knew?”

  She wiped tears from her eyes. “Veyra told me about an hour ago.”

  From my shoulder came a prim, satisfied little huff.

  “I suggested a gentler introduction,” Veyra said. “He insisted on theatrics.”

  Nyx flicked an ear. “Theatrics are important.”

  Smoke curled lazily from the foot of the bed.

  Ashira lifted her head, green eyes flat and annoyed.

  “This is undignified and a waste of time. We could have waited for tomorrow morning.”

  “This is undignified,” she said in my mind. “And a waste of time. We could have waited until morning.”

  Val wiped tears from her eyes, still laughing. “Jade, I had no idea you could summon familiars.”

  When could I? I thought.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “You don’t owe her an explanation,” Ashira snapped in my skull. “We’ll deal with him later. Right now, we need to move—and we need to fly where no one can see us.”

  Yeah. And I’m the Princess of Yarla.

  “We’re going now,” she added sharply.

  Before I could argue, my body moved.

  I rolled out of bed and dressed on autopilot—thick jeans, snow boots, a heavy leather jacket. My hands shook, but they didn’t hesitate. Like some part of me already knew this wasn’t optional.

  Forty minutes later, there was no campus. No lights. No roads.

  Just wind.

  Me, Ashira, and Veyra stood in the middle of the plains, frost coating the grass endlessly beneath a cold, open sky.

  Ashira paced roughly thirty feet away from me, then began to shift—bones rolling and stretching until she reached the same size she’d been the night before.

  I could feel her presence settle at the back of my mind, steady and unyielding.

  “Mount,” she ordered, her voice stern. “Then we go.”

  Just like that, I climbed onto her foreleg and scrambled up behind her shoulders, settling awkwardly on my knees. Her scales were hard beneath my palms—warm, alive—and I could feel the powerful tension in her muscles as she held still for me.

  “No,” Ashira corrected sharply. “Your pelvis needs to rest on my shoulders. You must anchor your weight.”

  I froze. “I—what?”

  Veyra fluttered up and landed neatly on Ashira’s back, meeting my eyes.

  “Jade,” she said firmly, “you need to learn this for survival. Look at me.”

  She lowered herself flat, stomach against Ashira’s spine, talons gripping the ridges naturally. I swallowed hard and mirrored her position, heart racing as I shifted forward and pressed myself low against Ashira’s shoulders.

  That felt… different. Safer.

  Ashira’s muscles tightened beneath us, coiling like a bowstring pulled to its limit.

  I risked a glance back. Her wings were fully outstretched now—massive, trembling with held power.

  I squeezed my eyes shut.

  With one thunderous beat of her wings, we launched.

  The force slammed the breath from my lungs as the ground dropped away in a rush of sound and wind. My hair whipped violently around my face, the air roaring so loudly it drowned out every thought.

  When I dared to open my eyes, the earth was already far below us—shrinking, retreating, like it was trying to escape.

  As we climbed, something shifted.

  Our heartbeats slowed. Matched.

  The panic ebbed, replaced by a deep, steady calm that wasn’t just mine. I could feel Ashira’s awareness brushing against mine—adjusting, compensating, trusting.

  With each turn of her wings, our thoughts aligned more cleanly, edges smoothing where fear had been.

  We weren’t rider and mount anymore.

  We were one.

  The bond slid fully into place—seamless, inevitable—

  Like a missing piece finally clicking home.

  The sky was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  The cold air rushed past us in a steady rhythm, Ashira’s wings beating smooth and controlled now. The bond hummed between us—balanced, calm. I started to believe we’d done it. That this was just… flying. That nothing else was coming.

  Veyra shifted once, uneasy.

  Then she froze.

  Her feathers bristled as she twisted midair and looked east.

  “Jade,” she snapped. “Pocket. Now.”

  I didn’t ask questions.

  She folded herself tight and dove into my jacket pocket just as a shadow crested the horizon.

  Then another.

  Two wyverns tore over the distant ridge, wings knifing through the sky—sleeker than Ashira, narrower, built for speed. Their screeches split the air like tearing metal.

  Ashira felt them the instant I did.

  Hold tight.

  She dropped.

  Not a glide—a dive.

  The world flipped as we plummeted, frost-coated plains rushing up beneath us. Wind screamed past my ears, my grip tightening instinctively as Ashira skimmed low over the ground, wings clipping the air just feet above the grass.

  The wyverns followed.

  Fast.

  Too fast.

  They screamed again—sharp, hunting cries—and Ashira surged upward, banking hard left, then right. My stomach lurched as we twisted and climbed, dodging snapping jaws and raking talons by inches.

  One wyvern overshot us.

  The other veered wide.

  For one heart-stopping second—

  We cleared them.

  Ashira roared triumphantly and climbed higher—

  Then the sky moved.

  A shadow dropped from above.

  No warning. No sound.

  Something slammed into me from overhead, talons locking around my torso like iron hooks.

  The world tore sideways.

  I screamed as I was ripped free, my hands tearing loose from Ashira’s spine. The cold hit like a blade as I was yanked backward, upward—spinning helplessly in open air.

  “Ashira—!”

  Her roar shattered the sky.

  It was mourning.

  Pure, animal fury and terror ripped through the bond so violently it stole my breath. I felt her trying to turn, trying to climb—but they were faster. I could feel it. Feel her desperation as the distance widened.

  Veyra shrieked inside my pocket.

  Not anger—pain.

  White-hot agony flared through our link as her cry cut off abruptly, like something had squeezed the sound from her.

  “VEYRA!” I screamed, thrashing as the wyvern’s grip tightened.

  Ashira’s roar followed me—broken, furious, promising blood.

  And then—

  We were gone.