Chapter 96: Lavish Nightmare II
Days bled into nights, and her memories faded like mist drank up by the time that kept acting like a drunkard wanderer that people could see only once. A young master would visit, his presence fleeting but constant, teaching her the delicate art of taming Griffins and using her healing magic.
One crisp afternoon, after a long flight across the skies, she stood in a sun-drenched meadow bathed in autumn’s golden hue to catch a breath and enjoy the scenery, gently stroking the feathers of her brown Griffin. That was when she saw it, something dark slicing through the distance. Her Fae eyes narrowed. Massive black wings were flapping, heading her way.
"A Dracon," she whispered, her breath catching. "Finna, let’s go."
She vaulted onto Finna’s back and crouched low, glancing behind her. Her heart staggered in her chest. The creature was closing in, fast and colossal, with jaws big enough to tear Finna in two.
The Griffin launched into the air, wings cutting through the wind with raw power. Finna was the swiftest of her kind, and the princess had been trained relentlessly over the past five years. Her cousin, Azrael, would visit from time to time, offering praise with that cold, unreadable stare. Yet his words always lingered like a thorn in her mind. "Is that what you want, Anarya?"
She never understood what he meant. And when she asked for clarity, he would vanish with a clipped farewell, "I have much to tend to in the Hall of Mirrors."
The wind lashed against her cheeks as Finna soared faster, desperate to put more distance between them and the border. She just had to cross the throne’s barrier. Dragons couldn’t breach the Summer Fae’s protective magical wall. This realm belonged to the Griffin Tamers to maintain peace.
A breathless smile curved her lips. "Yes, Finna, cross the barrier, and we’re safe."
The barrier shimmered like a ribbon of white lace, stretched from the heart of the realm to the heavens, an unseen veil no Dracon or malevolent creature could pierce.