Whomp. Whomp.

Her feet left the ground. The creature beat its powerful wings one, two, three times, and they ascended, shooting up into the darkening sky. At first, his movements were uneven, but then a gust of wind blew past, and he began to fly more smoothly, quickly gaining altitude.

Her back was to him. He held her aggressively, triumphantly. Savagely.

Something in her snapped, and she went wild, kicking, screaming, fighting with all her strength until the futility of it all hit her right in the gut.

Stop.

He whispered something to her in a language that was utterly alien, eliciting a cold, dark ripple of terror—an emotion Esania had never felt to this extent, not even when Kivik’s bots and goons had assembled at her gates.

And for some reason, his voice—deep and male and rough—sounded as if it hadn’t been used in a thousand years.

Her legs swayed in thin air as they went higher, higher, higher…

She dared to look down. Ares-with-wings lay on the ground unmoving, and several Vradhu quickly surrounded him.

Was he critically injured? Dead?

Her heartbeat quickened. Her breaths came faster and faster; short, sharp, rasping gasps. At this rate, she was at risk of hyperventilating.

Stop it! Calm down! Pull yourself together!

She couldn’t afford to panic.

With great effort, she pushed aside her emotions. A feeling of detachment came over her as she stared at the scene below.

The people below were shouting, gesturing, running toward the spot she’d been plucked from, their faces growing smaller and smaller until they became tiny flecks in a sea of violet and black shadows.

Then they were gone, and the lush Ardu-Sai stretched out before her, wild and terrifying.

She saw the lie of the land, saw a serpentine river glistening as it was caressed one last time by the rays of the dying sun, saw her reality disappear yet again, turning into a nightmare a thousand times worse than the one she’d left behind.

Once again, sheer panic threatened to burst forth. Esania only barely kept it in check.

She was helpless and utterly terrified, and she hated it.

The man-creature-thing wrapped his legs around her lower body, restraining her completely. There was something strangely reassuring about his powerful hold on her—at least she wouldn’t fall to her death, because he was gripping her so damn tightly.

The air grew thin and cold, rushing past her face. She struggled to breathe as they went higher still, and Esania could no longer make out the landscape below, because night had fallen, and Khira’s moon was tiny and didn’t cast much light.

They shot upward through a thin veil of clouds and moisture hit her face. She couldn’t breathe. She started to shiver. The creature curled one large hand around the base of her neck where her skin was exposed….

And for the second time, he touched her bare skin.

His fingers—yes, they were definitely fingers—sent a ripple across her skin; a tingling, electric, burning sensation that quickly spread outwards, engulfing her entire body.

But his hands… they were ice cold. How could any living creature be this cold?

What is this?

It wasn’t unpleasant.

It was strangely pleasurable, in fact.

And suddenly, despite the cold air and his frigid touch, she felt warm.

Her limbs, stiff with fear, grew heavy and limp. The longer he kept his hand on her neck, the weaker she felt, but maybe it was the lack of oxygen that was making her feel giddy.

He inhaled deeply and whispered something dark and seductive and utterly incomprehensible in that rough, deep voice of his. Instead of making her panic, the sound of his voice lulled her into a languorous state.

What the hell has he done to me?

She couldn’t help it; she closed her eyes…

And soared up into the unknown, not knowing what would become of her human attendants—the women whose fates she was solely responsible for—not knowing whether she would live or die.

A monster of Khira had her now, and his touch was lulling her into a state of detached euphoria, melting away her terror.

Why wasn’t she afraid? It shouldn’t feel good like this. With great effort, Esania opened her eyes and stared straight ahead. They had reached the edge of the sky, where the stars bled into the darkness.

If she were human, she’d probably be unconscious right now, because human hearts and lungs and red blood cells were adapted to very specific conditions on Earth, but she wasn’t human. She was Primean, and so she stayed awake a little bit longer, just long enough to see the very edge of this dangerous world.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, his wings were around her, wrapping her in a pale cocoon. His hand left her neck, and Esania screamed.

But no sound came out.

So weak. What was this feeling? She couldn’t do anything. She was drained to the point where she was almost unconscious.

His powerful body twisted, and he inverted.

One-hundred-percent upside-down.

They plummeted.

And Esania promptly blacked out.