Raven Girl

Chapter 41

Stars – real stars – shone pale light down on the four outcasts. Gylfi sat in between Regina and Nadine, with Elias on Regina's other side. They were dark shadows against the roof tiles. No one ever thought to check the roof. It was always the streets and alleys. They liked being close to the sky.

"The dragon blood has worked," Elias murmured. "I'm healed."

"Good. Is Ares safe?" Regina asked softly.

"Yes." Nadine rolled her shoulders. "He's in the woods nearby. You know staying at inns is a bad idea."

"Yeah, but we don't have much time before the whole country knows who we are and are on the hunt. We may as well make this our last inn."

Gylfi glanced shyly at Regina. It had been hours since she had kissed him as they flew – it had been a fast, windswept kiss – and he still couldn't stop thinking about it.

Gylfi felt hot shame rising to engulf him whenever he looked at Elias or Nadine. "I'm so sorry," he said. "They told me you and Ares killed Sven, Nadine. I shouldn't have believed them." He thumped the tile with a fist, feeling grim satisfaction at the pain it caused. "I should have trusted you more."

"Me, too." Nadine swallowed. "I was blinded by rage."

"All it took was the possibility of freedom for me to turn my back on you both." Elias's voice was hollow.

Regina stood up. "We've made our own freedom. Ares is our freedom now, and we have each other."

Nadine pulled the bottle of dragon blood from her pocket and frowned at it. "Dragon blood has healing powers. How many dragons has Kostin bled dry to get a room full of it?" Her voice shook with rage.

"We'll stop him. He's a monster."

"He's also your father."

"He told Svetlana to kill my mother. He's not my father anymore."

They fell silent. They were criminals, runaways, wanted and despised. But they had forged something new with their actions. They had dared to ride a dragon. They had begun to change the world.

"Can we risk going back to Arkanovsk so I can pick up Gavriil?" Nadine said. "And could I leave him with Sven, Gylfi?"

Gylfi softened at the thought. "Yes, of course."

"What then?" Elias said. "What do we do after we leave Havenby?"

Nadine gazed up at the sky. She seemed to flicker in and out of the darkness, her pale face the only indication of her presence. "Then we fly."

"Where to?"

"Somewhere where we can be free. Anywhere."

Gylfi smiled. "I like the sound of anywhere."