Blood Runner: Book Three of the Empress Saga

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Falling to his doom, Ban opened his eyes.

The unclean presence inside Kimpo unraveled and pulled away. The corrupted bond unlocked. What was severed was reunited. As two raindrops meeting on a pane of glass, Ban's etherlight flared red.

Whole.

Ban gasped as his body flooded with the golden warmth of ether. It poured into him from... elsewhere. He couldn't understand how it had happened without a bond forger and didn't feel he needed to. All that was taken from him that day was his again. Only his. And hers. As it should be.

He snapped out of his daze, grabbing Kimpo's scales and taking the rider's position. "Kimpo?"

The pause after he called out was the longest of his life. Waves, but the ground looked big.

"...Ban?"

"Waves take you, floundering lizard, heal!"

This, he hadn't missed so much. Life wrenched from deep within him. The wound he'd inflicted on Kimpo's neck sealed closed. She unfurled her wings and soared.

"Gah!" Ban cried out, nearly losing his last meal from the sudden lurch. "Your belly will have grass stains after that one."

"Ban?" Kimpo shouted again.

He laughed, long, loud, and joyous. He wouldn't have been able to stop even if he wanted to. Kimpo's rapturous laughter joined him, and she spun as she soared higher. Jubilant and free.

"Ban!"

"I'm here, love."

"It's not a dream? I heard you?"

Ban threw his arms out wide and raised his face to the sun. "You heard me!" he crowed.

"Elise?"

"Evicted from the premises."

"My Storyteller?"

"Ticked off, I'm sure, but a smooch or two will set it right."

"And our beloved?"

Ban's eyes went wide, and he put a lid on his laughter. The red etherlight in his sigils pulled back until it was just enough to fill the lines. It left behind crimson scorch marks over the black lacquer. "Waves and tides. Acting like a groom on his wedding day when there's a floundering battle to win."

He looked over his shoulder. The Sky Corps was still on approach, and they'd arrive within the hour. There was much left to do and little time in which to do it. If the army wasn't clear of the Melcians by the time those floundering contraptions arrived, Shan Alee was finished.

"You're not still bamboozled at all, are you?"

"I remember," Kimpo declared loudly. "I remember my family. You were right. Flames, you promised, and you were right! You lit the stars, love." She swung a wing to swat at his perch. "Blazing lout! You might have done it without tearing out my jugular."

Ban bit back a sharp retort. "We'll hash that out later. Elise is on Draxa and must have reached Enfri by now. What say we teach her to keep her thieving mitts off other people's bonds?"

"Oh ho, you read my mind, little warrior. I've a score to settle with the hag."

Ban leaned forward. His heart was pounding, and it felt... so floundering good. "Fly swift, my Huntress."

Kimpo beat her wings and flew through the battle. Dragons from both sides dove out of her path. As they went, Ban flared his sigils to show them all that Kimpo the Huntress had her true Ruby Knight with her at last.