“Whoooo!” Quinn laughed as I swooped through a cloud. “Man, that was cold.”

I didn’t answer, but he could feel my satisfaction. I loved stretching my wings. It took me all afternoon yesterday, but I finally managed to get a handle on flying. I flew in a zigzag pattern, flitting from one place to another. It probably looked hilarious, but it worked. We were airborne.

Quinn, surprisingly, took to riding on my back like he was born to it. After the flying carpet ride, I was pretty certain he wouldn’t like it much. I was so wrong.

“This is awesome!” He laughed again and I realized how rare it was for him to belly laugh. I suppose in Brandsome’s household he had little reason to laugh. I planned to change that. I’d buy out his contract. I’d need to visit my main hoard to get enough gold, but at least I had it. Or perhaps I could play a game of cards for Quinn’s contract? Either way, I planned to free him from Brandsome once we returned to Lighthelm.

We flew in spurts. My wings weren’t used to the workout flying gave them, so we’d fly a bit and then I’d land and walk for a short while before launching myself back into the air. Quinn didn’t seem to mind, his thoughts giddy each time we’d go up. He could do this all day.

We left Hammershore before the sun even came up. Krofom was nice enough to pack some loaf-of-bread-sized biscuits and star-raspberry jam for our breakfast. We flew for a couple hours before landing to eat. Flying obviously took a lot of energy because I was ravenous. I managed to polish off my biscuit and part of Quinn’s, too.

I’d practiced shifting between forms, and the transformation, while still uncomfortable, wasn’t agonizing like the first time. Each time my body seemed to handle it better. And it didn’t take quite as much out of me. Which was good, because we still had a ways to go.

With our bellies full, I shifted back into my dragon and we took off again. It was amazing to see the Wiffleweather Mountains from the air as we approached. What started off as indistinct spots in the distance slowly grew larger and more impressive. The peaks rose from the ground like giant spires and disappeared into the clouds above. I’m sure from the ground they were impressive, but from the air they were magnificent. The range seemed to go on forever.

“Any idea where Nyx is holed up?” Quinn asked. “I didn’t realize there were so many ranges to search.”

My father said The Huge Hill. Shouldn’t be long now. At least I hoped that was the case. I was tired. Quinn ran a hand along my neck in a soothing gesture. He must have felt my exertion. Understanding what the other thought and felt took some getting used to and I suspected I’d feel weirded out for a long time.

Approaching The Huge Hill, we saw a proto-typical villain’s castle carved in the side of the mountain. It had to be built by magic since a monstrosity like that would take years to construct otherwise. I must say, Nyx had really rotten taste in castles. Dark, forbidding, with a single turret up the center of the structure and two smaller outcroppings flanking it on either side. It strongly resembled a giant erect penis surrounded by a pair of balls. Like I said, my runty half-brother suffered from a never-ending Naphaeleon complex.

I was pretty sure a blind stone mason decided to make this their revenge piece because yuck. I wouldn’t be caught dead living in such an unsightly building.

“Double yuck,” Quinn agreed.

And this was saying something, because I’d always held an affinity for castles. After all, it was an awesome place to get a bite to eat, and arrogant knights, virginal princesses, and vain princes were mighty tasty . . . so I’d heard.

“Stereotype much?” Quinn swatted my neck.

What? Even in my thoughts my voice didn’t sound innocent. I snickered as best I could in this form.

“I thought you didn’t mind humans?” Quinn’s voice vibrated with his uncertainty.

I don’t. But you have to admit royalty and that whole knight thing is kind of annoying. Besides, I’d much rather hang out with brave wizards. I didn’t have to look back to know he was blushing. He hugged my neck a little tighter as I circled around, looking for a good place to land. I spun back the way we came.

“Where are we going?”

I want to set down out of sight of the castle. Darkness is coming on quick so we’ll need to approach Nyx tomorrow—too many things can go wrong in the dark. I wasn’t about to let something happen to Quinn.

He squeezed me tight again. I sensed he thought I was being ridiculous, but one thing I’d learned about Nyx was to face him in the light. Creatures of dark—and he definitely met that qualification these days—didn’t do so well in the light. They needed the confusion of night, the power they drew from the absence of light. And since I suspected my dear half-brother was mixing it up with demons, we needed to be smart about our timing.

I flew over another rise and settled down on a large outcropping of rock. Full dark was falling and we needed to set up camp quickly. I stayed in my dragon form as Quinn unpacked our meager rations. Even if I shifted, there wouldn’t be enough food to hold us over. I was simply too hungry. The energy it took to fly was immense. Fortunately, I saw a lazy river at the bottom of a ravine, just a hop, skip, and flight away.

I launched myself from the outcropping and soared through the skies, then wove through the ravine. An obstacle course made for a dragon. I wanted to roar my happiness, but it wasn't smart to let other predators know we were in the area. Plus, I didn’t like leaving Quinn on his own. I wasn’t sure how close he needed to be to harness our magic. I could be leaving him with only his dagger as defense.

I’m okay, he thought, startling me. Go eat. I’ll be fine.

I flew low to the water and saw another advantage to having fairy wings—hovering. As ridiculous as they looked, my wings weren’t all bad.

A large school of Goldfin Triggerfish swam by and I dove into the water, scooping up a mouthful of the little wiggly critters. I’d never been fond of them in my other form, but they were mighty tasty like this. It only took me a couple dives before I had enough to eat, though I managed to piss off a resident mermaid as she gave me a middle finger salute.

My belly pleasantly full, I returned to Quinn. He’d obviously finished his meal too and was curled up in a blanket. The mountains were much cooler at night than Hammershore Outpost. I could see him shiver. Well, I’d take care of that. I landed on the outcropping and flopped down, causing him to bounce.

“Hey, watch it.”

I ignored him and settled down around him. Using my front teeth, I snagged the back of his tunic and lifted him off his feet.

“Twig, stop it!” He scrambled to hang on to his blanket. I dropped him by my side and before he could complain, curled around him, making sure my tail boxed him in nice and cozy. I groaned in pleasure. I liked having him touch me. As often as possible. Turns out my dragon was really tactile. At least with our wizard.

Quinn slapped my side, shooting me a dirty look, but I sensed his pleasure. It only took him a moment to settle down, snug as a wizard in a dragon hug.

“You sure you don’t want to shift back?” he asked. “We could keep each other warm in other ways.”

My ears swiveled. Hmmm. I licked my chops, and I’m sure my eyes gleamed.

He laughed.

I ruined the effect by yawning, the long day of flight catching up with me. We’d made remarkable time, but at a cost.

“Fine. Go to sleep, then.” He patted me again and laid his head back.

My eyes slid shut in no time and I let go.

“You were magnificent today, Twig,” Quinn whispered.

I might have rumbled in happiness before sleep claimed me.

* * *

“You have a plan?” Quinn asked as I winged my way toward the castle, the sun barely warming the cool morning air.

Sort of.

“Care to share?”

Sure. I swooped down at the castle at full tilt. Quinn screamed and clasped my neck tight.

“This is not a plan!” he hollered.

I begged to disagree.

We just came within arrow range when a huge volley shot our way. I breathed fire, turning the arrows to ash. Another volley. This time Quinn raised a hand and muttered something under his breath. The arrows stopped in mid-flight. With a flick of his wrist, the arrows reversed course, sailing back the way they’d come.

Shouting from below let me know that at least some of the arrows found targets. I suspected by the foul words and even worse smell that Nyx kept orcs to protect the battlements. I hated orcs. Not only were they smelly, but they possessed beady little eyes and avaricious natures.

Those fuckers loved to raid dragon hoards.

When I’d started my first hoard a platoon of orcs found my treasures. It took me a solid six months to hunt down every last one of them and retrieve what items they had left. It took another six months to find all the treasures they’d sold. I didn’t mind the loss of gold so much—nah, that was a total effing lie, I was pissed—but I’d collected a lot of valuable stones of both the precious and magical variety.

So orcs weren’t my favorite magical creatures by a long shot. By the tensing of Quinn’s legs around my neck, they weren’t his favorite, either. Unfortunately, I was bound by the Alphae Guild’s stupid ‘do no harm . . . first’ rule and I wasn’t sure if volleying arrows while we were raiding their castle counted legitimately as aggression or would be thought of as self-defense.

“You’re over thinking it,” Quinn grumbled. He flicked his wrist toward another volley of arrows and we watched as they turned back on their archers. I did my part by turning more rounds of projectiles to ash, but didn’t directly attack the orcs. More’s the pity.

Well, maybe I couldn’t attack them, but they didn’t know that.

Swooping low over the battlements, I raced just over their heads. The orcs naturally assumed I was trying to rake them with my fierce claws and more than a few jumped off the ramparts. To fuck with them, I threw myself in reverse and after another pass the vast majority of the orc force had taken one long swan dive off the walls. The remaining force sailed off the wall when Quinn pointed in their direction. My tongue lolled out, and I chortled.

“Don’t be smug.” Quinn’s voice, of course, was smug as fuck.

Once the battlements were cleared, I fluttered to the ground, tucked my wings in tight. I wasn’t sure, but I assumed they weren’t as sturdy as normal dragon wings. I spun in a large circle making sure Quinn wouldn’t be in any danger before lowering my neck and letting him climb off.

Unfortunately, my current form was too large to fit through any of the entrances. I grumbled. Quinn shrugged. Fine. I shifted until I stood on two feet once more. I braced my arms against a wall and took a few deep breaths, willing away the jolt of nausea that still came with shifting between my forms. As soon as I nodded, Quinn handed me clothing from the knapsack. I quickly donned it as he watched the perimeter for stray orcs.

Once I dressed, I randomly selected an entrance, placing Quinn at my back. Fortunately, my stubborn wizard didn’t argue with me.

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“No, but I figured I’d just head toward the stank.” I winked before turning my attention to the next set of passages.

“Funny.”

“I endeavor.”

We continued on until we came to a set of stairs. We could go up or down. Turrets were popular places to lock princesses, right? Nyx struck me as the type who would love to play on that idea. Besides, it would be just like my half-brother to spend his time at the tip of the penis. I didn’t roll my eyes, but it was close.

After some debating, we headed up the steps. We climbed for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only fifteen minutes. Damn spiral staircases.

We continued until we crested a small platform with a thick metal door. I tried to open it. Nope, we couldn’t get so lucky as to find it unlocked. Ah well.

“Stand back, Quinn. I’ll see if I can bust it down.” I retreated a couple steps to build some momentum.

Quinn sighed, like he was disappointed in me.

“What?” I grumbled.

He jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. “Uh, wizard? I think I can open a door.”

“You don’t need to get testy.”

He shot me a dirty look before turning his attention to the door. Closing his eyes for a moment, his brow scrunched under his concentration.

“There.”

Before I could move in front of him he shoved the door open.

“Quinn!”

A ball of fire engulfed us.