Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Silver One!” Sawyer’s arms close around me as we tumble off Sliseag’s back and fall into the open air. “Catch me.” Wind tears at my hair, my face, my leathers, but I hold on to Sawyer as we drop in total free fall. I can save him. He doesn’t have to die today. He won’t. One. Two. Three. Four. I count my heartbeats as we clear the ridgeline. “What are you doing?” Xaden roars, and there’s a faint, familiar brush of velvet at the base of my neck, as if Xaden’s power has been extended to its limits. Our fall slows, but not by much as a dark wing blocks out the sky. “What the hell does it look like I’m—” The breath is knocked from my lungs as an iron vise closes around us, halting our fall with a whipping change of momentum. Tairn. “What part of ‘stay in your saddle’ did you not understand?” Tairn bellows, holding us in the precarious grip of his claw and banking left, toward Basgiath. “You couldn’t be in two places at once,” I argue, fighting to draw breath as Sawyer goes limp above me, his chin falling against my shoulder. “You had to kill the fourth wyvern, and Sliseag wouldn’t defend himself if it meant losing Sawyer, so I took Sawyer.” “And you just hoped I’d catch you?” He flares his wings, slowing our speed to a glide. “As if you wouldn’t.” Air flows into my lungs in a trickle, then a stream. He scoffs. Then changes the subject with, “Your brother has mended the stone into one piece but does not feel…hopeful.” My heart rises just to fall. Well, that’s…great. “Why? Can i...