Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3)

by Rebecca Yarros

Yearning floods the bond, so deep it aches within my own chest, and the pain of it sucks the breath from my lungs. I force my head to nod, feeling everything she can’t say. “I do not know how—” she starts. A shrieking whistle sounds in my head, and then only silence remains. I reach for the bond and find only a wall…then nothing. Andarna whips her head toward Leothan. He launches without warning, springing high above me. His wings snap open, and wind blasts my face as he gains altitude. His scales flicker, turning the color of the cloudy night sky, and he begins to disappear. Andarna roars up at him, and then her gaze swings wildly, focusing behind me, then to the right, then landing on me for the length of a heartbeat. Her eyes flare like she wants to say something, and I throw myself at the wall where our bond should be. But it’s gone. A breath later, so is she. All that’s left is a gust of wind as her scales blend into the sky. A roar vibrates my very bones, and my ears ring as the edges of my vision darken. My heart stutters, and my lungs cease their struggle. There’s no air and no reason to seek it. I was infinite yet moored, and now I’m hollow and adrift in waters too vast to comprehend. My knees buckle, then collide with the ground. “Violet!” someone shouts, and racing bootsteps register a second before she crouches in front of me, her brown eyes searching mine for answers I don’t have. “Are you all right?” I’m nothing.