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Mira had assumed Drake Cordella would say goodbye, as any good captain should. But when she was about to depart for Aretia with Xaden and Garrick at noon, he was nowhere to be seen.
In fact, she hadn’t seen him all morning. Not that she’d been looking for him. It had simply caught her attention, because he was far too tall and therefore so obtrusive that one couldn’t possibly overlook him – even if one tried.
Mira expected to be treated with respect as an important ally, so his failure to say goodbye was unacceptable.
“Has anyone seen Cordella?” she said to Xaden and Garrick.
“Earlier this morning, when he was getting coffee,” Garrick said. “He looked stressed and disappeared right after.”
“Too many have died in the past few days,” Xaden murmured.
Mira drew a deep breath, trying to ignore the crushing worry suddenly spreading through her chest, but every part of her resisted mounting Teine and leaving the Nightwing Drift camp behind.
“I need a few more minutes,” she told them.
Behind her, Teine snorted. He hated waiting.
“You’re not a horse,” she hissed at him through their bond.
Teine snorted even louder.
Mira ignored her grumpy dragon and crossed the camp with quick steps toward the command tent. After all, someone had to tell Drake how rude he was being. But when she stormed inside and found him sitting at the table, she froze.
A surprising mix of disappointment and relief washed over her, because Drake probably would have said goodbye if he weren’t slumped forward, fast asleep, with his face buried in a wildly scribbled stack of papers.
Beside his arms sat Broccoli, watching Mira with narrowed eyes, looking as though she was ready to defend him with her life.
Over the past few days, Mira had seen how little rest Drake allowed himself and how the shadows beneath his eyes had grown darker. The flooding of nearby villages from the relentless rain and the exhausting attacks from the Venin had taken everything out of him. She’d realized this long before he admitted he was overwhelmed, having already noticed how his insufferable grin had turned into a weary smile, until even that had faded away.
Mira reached for the thin blanket hanging behind Drake over the back of the chair. She spread the scratchy fabric over him, then her fingers lingered on his shoulders. Her eyes drifted to his sleeping face, watching the steady rise and fall of his breathing. Since she’d arrived here, it was the first time he didn’t look as though he were constantly at war.
Mira became aware that her heartbeat had quickened.
Maybe it was still the aftereffects of her illness that had made her stop at the Nightwing Drift with Xaden and Garrick.
She leaned down toward Drake, as if her body had gained a will of its own.
It really had to still be the fever making her feel so unbearably warm all of a sudden.
Mira brushed her lips softly over the rough stubble on his skin and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. She told herself it was only to thank him.
However, she’d never thanked anyone quite that way before.
When Mira straightened again, she was trembling slightly. She had to swallow hard, as if that could somehow help calm her wild heartbeat.
Only when Broccoli stretched with a yawn was she finally able to tear her gaze away from Drake’s face. Since the cat seemed to have decided that Mira wasn’t going to harm her servant, she leaned into her fingers and pressed her head against her hand.
“If you tell him what you saw, we’re done,” Mira whispered to her.
Completely unfazed, Broccoli began to purr contentedly.
“Take care of our captain. Promise me.”
Broccoli only purred louder.
Mira sighed. One last time, she stroked the cat’s head before forcing herself to turn away from them and leave the tent.
Actually, she didn’t want to leave Drake. He needed her signet to stay alive. If he were gone, there would be far too many tears to dry, and someone would have to take care of the greedy Broccoli, after all.
Replacing Drake would be a nuisance.
Too heavy.
Most of all, it felt so heavy in her chest just to think about it.
“Can we finally go?” Xaden asked as Mira came back to him and Garrick.
He studied her with that ever‑present grim expression that had only grown darker over the past months. If she hadn’t been Mira Sorrengail, she probably would’ve found him creepy. But since she was Mira Sorrengail, Xaden Riorson mostly just got on her nerves. His only redeeming quality was that he loved Violet and would do anything for her – and that, at least, was something they had in common.
“Other people can leave someone who matters to them too. The world doesn’t revolve around you, Riorson.”
The words had barely left her mouth before Mira bit her lower lip.
Xaden raised his brows without a word.
Garrick’s eyes widened. “Cordella means something to you?” he asked, frowning. “That Cordella? The flier you’re always arguing with because you supposedly hate him?”
Mira walked past them briskly so they wouldn’t notice the telltale flush on her cheeks and mounted Teine. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she growled as she pulled her flight goggles over her eyes. “I had to give Broccoli a goodbye kiss.”
Xaden’s expression grew even grimmer. “If kissing cats is that important to you, we’ll get you one, so maybe next time I can get back to Violet a little faster.”
“When it comes to Violet, you never see things clearly,” Garrick said to him, shaking his head. “Of course it’s about Cor-”
“I thought you two were in a hurry!” Mira cut him off sharply and reached out in her mind for her connection to Teine. “Get me away from these idiots already!”
“All of a sudden you’re in a hurry,” Teine grumbled, spreading his wings as Xaden and Garrick mounted their dragons as well. “You know better than to keep me waiting.”
“And you know it was important.”
Teine said nothing and took to the skies alongside Sgaeyl and Chradh.
From a distance, Mira saw the canvas of the command tent being pushed aside and Drake’s figure stepping into the open. He really was far too tall. Even several meters above the ground, she could clearly see his gaze shot straight to her.
Somewhere deep in her chest, she suddenly felt the urge to ask Teine to land again, but that would’ve been far too ridiculous.
Drake raised a hand in farewell, and Mira told herself it was for the best, since it would’ve only ended in another argument between them anyway. As she waved back, Teine was already banking away, and Drake faded from her sight.
“Nothing will happen to him,” Teine said.
But that was a promise even he couldn’t make to her.