RED

Gravity's leash yanked me down. My organs pressed up against my spine as I plummeted, the land blending into the sky as I spun out of control. Sol let out a trumpeting cry of joy, but something was wrong; nothing was happening or changing. Rya's Blessing was but a fizzling ember in my chest, and the ground was hurtling towards me with dizzying speed. I scrunched my eyes shut, praying the end would be swift.

Crunch. The sound of concaving bone was unmistakeable as something soft and warm slammed into my side, sending us rolling across the rocky river bed and splashing through the shallows. The impact sent me flying again, and the wolf gave way to a man who snatched me from from the air and held me fast, shielding my body with his own.

Sebastian was pale and livid by the time we rolled to a stop, the blue streak in his fringe all the more vivid for the water that darkened his hair.  I blushed when I realised I was straddling him, pinning him to the ground with my hips. The icy water was a cool balm for my bloodied kneecaps.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Sebastian snarled, grabbing my face and turning it this way and that as he searched for injuries. "You could have been killed!"

He was right. I'd tried to come into power on my own and I couldn't have failed more spectacularly. Tears of frustration trickled down my cheeks and I wiped them away on my shoulder with an angry sniff, shoving off him one noisy splash at a time.

Sebastian tried to follow and cursed, his body contracting around his leg. A dark stain was spreading below his kneecap, something white and jagged sticking through the cloth.

I froze. "Goddess, is that —?"

It was. Bone.

I fought the urge to retch as the knot in my stomach pulled tighter, racking my brain for something useful. You spent half of your miserable life in that healing hut. Put it to use!

Lycans healed so quickly that they were typically unused to the lingering agony of a wound. I had taken great (albeit petty) satisfaction from the fuss hunters made when they came into Harry's hut with a broken leg. Bones were a bit more complicated than flesh wounds, as the broken halves needed to be perfectly aligned before they could fuse properly, so by the time they made it to the healing hut they were usually an inconsolable wreck.

Only Gordon had been uncannily quiet. Something in his eyes made me wonder if he'd relished the feeling.

Sebastian barely even acknowledged his broken leg, grabbing my wrist to stop me from leaving. "What's going on with you?" he hissed, searching my expression.

"For once in your Goddess forsaken life, let me look after you," I snapped, surprised by how angry I felt. "Sit down and stick your leg in the water. It'll help to clean the wound."

He let go, but I was too engrossed in my memories to entertain the questions burning in his eyes. First, Harry would clean the wound with a clean towel and freshly boiled water. Then he'd push the bone back into place and strap the patient's leg to a sturdy plank of wood. What followed next was typically a lot of complaining as a poultice of egg whites and minced herbs was packed into the wound, wrapped tightly with woollen bandages. I knew he used to dip them in something that would make the cloth set to plaster as it dried, but I only had the clothes on my back to work with, so I looked around to see what else was available.

I couldn't see any eggs lying around, but I did have a river at my disposal. I prayed the snowmelt was still pure and clean as I washed the dirt and stones from Sebastian's wound, watching streams of blood unravel in the water. Once it was clean, I helped him to the shore, but that was where my luck ran out. My silver cloak refused to tear, along with all my other new clothes, and there was only rocks for miles around. No branches or vines to make a splint.

"Here," Sebastian said gruffly, shrugging off his jacket and offering the linen shirt off his back. His torso rippled with strength as he held it out between us, like a peace offering. "Just use the whole thing."

Our fingers brushed as I accepted it, suddenly very interested in the colouration of pebbles in the riverbed. Focus, I hissed in my head, trying to rip the shirt with my nails, then my teeth. Neither worked.

"Here," Sebastian said, his voice husky all of a sudden. I passed it back, willing myself to stand perfectly still as he bit into the hem of the shirt. It tore easily on his elongated canines, and he passed it back without a word, eyes darkening at the tension between us.

I was still searching for a makeshift splint, the strips of cloth balled up in my fist, when a cloud passed over us. The temperature dropped and a faint breeze fanned my hair, but it was Sebastian's low growl of warning that made me look up.

A dark speck in the sky speared towards us, wings snapping out at the last second to catch its fall. The golden wyvern landed with an earth-shaking thud, sending up a billowing cloud of dust that obscured the grisly details of its transformation into a man.

"Are you alright?" Sol asked, striding to meet me halfway.

Sebastian pushed past me, angling his body like it was a shield. "Stay back."

"Her or me?" Sol asked, smirking at Sebastian's injured leg. Where the lycan was all snarl and tension, the wyvern exuded an easy, almost irreverent grace, as if he didn't even think Sebastian was a threat.

"How the hell are you even standing?" I asked, trying to push Sebastian back. "Sit down, you're going to make yourself faint!"

Sebastian's nostrils flared. "If you hurt her, I'll rip your fucking lungs out through your —"

"Hurt her?" Sol threw up his hands, shaking his head. "I was only trying to help. I owe Red my life."

"Funny way of showing it," Sebastian spat. "I saw you up on that rock. You pushed her."

The conversation had gone on without me long enough. I pushed angrily into the middle, a hand on both of their bare chests.

"I jumped," I snapped, feeling stupid all of a sudden. It was my own damn fault and I wanted this over with. "I thought it might trigger my powers."

"You risked your life for a shortcut?" Sebastian asked, almost forgetting the other man as he turned on me.

Sol snorted. "There was never any risk. I was about to swoop when I saw the wolf leap. I held back for fear of injuring you both."

He sounded sincere, but I hesitated. From my perspective, I was hurtling towards certain death with no mention of a safety net, but it was entirely possible he'd omitted his backup plan to make the experiment more effective.

It was a complete and utter failure, of course. I scowled at my useless body, wishing that for once, just once, it would obey me. I'd never felt like more of a stranger in my own skin, and I was sick of everybody needing to protect me all of the time.

Sol clapped a hand on my shoulder. "There's always next time," he promised, squeezing tight.

"Over my dead body," Sebastian snarled.

"Rya's Chosen is perfectly capable of making her own mind up," Sol sneered. "She doesn't need a filthy mutt to do it for her."

I stamped my foot. "Enough!"

Power ruffled the stones as it passed through the earth, making the stream ripple. Both men turned to look at me with surprise.

"I won't be trying again anytime soon. I have a quest to fulfil and I'd best be on my way," I said, my tone brooking no argument. "Sol, go home. Don't let another woman distract you from freedom."

"A pretty woman," he muttered, drawing a choked sound from Sebastian.

"And you," I snapped, turning on the dishevelled lycan. "You're bleeding all over everything! Sit down and put pressure on that leg until I can find a splint."

Sebastian looked like he was fighting an entire war inside his head, but in the end, he respected my decision and turned around, limping to the shore. Sol, on the other hand, held firm, even trying to pull me aside. I scowled, planting my feet. Whatever he wanted to say, he could say in front of Sebastian.

"Are you sure it's safe to leave you with one of them?" Sol asked, glancing askance at the lycan. "Aren't they the ones who abducted you?"

I looked up at the heavens, wishing Rya would finally emerge, if only to beat some sense into her minion's thick skull. "Sebastian is the only reason I'm standing here today. Fear not, Sol; we shall meet again. Our party will be travelling to the Sun Temple once our business in the mountains is finished."

"I can come with you," he offered. "Where are you headed, anyway?"

"Kirin country," I said. "The less wyverns the better, I'm afraid."

Sol's cheek puckered as he chewed on the inside of it. "Very well," he said, looking to the horizon with longing. "I'll hold you to that promise."

He took my hand, pressing a firm kiss against my knuckles. It made my belly flop, the culmination of all his little compliments in that chaste but unmistakeable declaration of his interest. The moment was soured, however, when he pulled a stick out from the loop on his belt, throwing it at Sebastian's feet.

"Fetch."

He took to the skies before I could utter another word, the wind from his wings threatening to uproot us. Sebastian shied from the spray, but his eyes never once left the wyvern as it winged towards the Grey Fist, blazing with abject hatred all the while.

I bent down to pick up the stick, hefting it's weight. "It'll work," I said with a sigh, snapping off the end and offering it to Sebastian. Sol had been rude, but at least he'd anticipated my needs and gone to the effort to find me a splint.

I offered Sebastian the shorter stick, motioning for him to stuff it in his mouth. "Bite down. This is going to hurt."

He bit down so hard that the bark crumbled. I suspected it had nothing to do with the pain.