“No wonder Ginny’s glad for company,” Chiara murmured. “This place is so big and so empty.”
“It feels a lot more alive when all the elemental dragons are here,” Jared promised.
They took another small side tunnel that gently wound its way upward—and then, in the distance before them, there was the gleam of light.
Real light. Golden rays of sunshine began to illuminate the tunnel here, and Chiara gasped when she realized that they were walking towards an opening in the rock of the mountain.
When they at last reached the light, Chiara clutched his arm in excitement.
Below them, the mountain spread, rough rock lit by the rays of the sun. They were so high up that beneath them, clouds spread like an ocean of fluffy white. They moved gently, like waves against a beach.
Chiara made an impressed sound. “That’s incredible. It feels so peaceful up here.”
“That’s why I like this place.” Jared pulled her closer into his arms, pressing a gentle kiss to her nape. “This is what my griffin loves. The clear mountain air, the sunlight, the wind, the flowers growing in hidden crannies—I’ve never been as happy as when I’m soaring across mountains.”
Chiara stared out at the scenery before them for a long moment, relaxed and warm in his arms.
At last, she turned around, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “Want to go for a flight?”
Surprised, Jared laughed. “I’d love that!”
“I want to see everything you love,” Chiara said. “I want to know what it’s like to soar wild and free. I want to see your hidden flowers. I want—”
Jared couldn’t remember leaning forward, but suddenly he had his arms wrapped around her, his mouth on hers as she gasped sweetly. Love filled his heart, love so vast it seemed almost impossible to contain.
“Let’s fly,” he murmured hoarsely when he drew back, drawing the pad of one finger down her cheek, brushing her full lips.
Then he took a step to the side and shifted, the body of his griffin nearly filling the stony outcrop that overlooked the mountain below.
A moment later, Chiara had clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He spread his wings, feeling the wind play in his feathers—and then he took off.
Chiara whooped in joy as they soared. He took her even higher, rising and rising in circles around the mountain while the ocean of clouds gleamed golden in the sunlight below them.
When they reached the summit, he touched down only for a moment, his griffin opening his beak to release a proud eagle’s cry—and then he soared once more.
The sun was shining down on them, warming both his feathers and the lion’s fur that covered half of his body. Through the fragile mate bond, he could feel Chiara’s joy and wonder.
He released another proud cry that echoed among the rocks, then allowed the wind to carry him as he soared, his eagle’s wings stretched out as he slowly descended in a long glide.
He didn’t return to the opening in the mountainside where they’d come from. Instead, he continued to descend, this time spiraling around the mountain in the other direction.
Chiara’d wanted to see the secret flowers of the mountain—and there was one place he’d never shown anyone. One place he thought even the dragons of the council hadn’t found, who mostly only came here for work, and who all had homes of their own.
Jared kept descending in an elegant arc, the cool, clear mountain air carrying him easily.
The clouds came closer and closer. They dove straight into one outlier that rose a little higher than most of the cloud cover. Chiara laughed out loud, letting go of his neck to stretch out her arms, as if she was trying to grab hold of the cloud.
Silently, Jared’s griffin laughed, proud that they’d been able to impress their mate.
And then they broke through the cloud at the other side.
Jared heard Chiara gasp in delight as he landed.
Before them spread a tiny valley nestled into the side of the mountain, little more than a gorge. Both sides of the valley were stark rock—but in between, soil had found a home, protected from the elements by the rocks that surrounded it, and shielded from view by the clouds that lapped at the mountain here.
The small valley was half-filled by clouds, a shifting, moving mist that covered the lower part of the valley, like ocean foam lapping at the shore.
And the other half of the valley was filled by verdant grass, flowers in different sizes and shapes, and bushes that were covered all over with tiny, sweet-smelling flowers in all the colors of the rainbow.