Yield the Night by Annette Marie

her to her feet. She’d gone the whole flight without it affecting her but once they’d landed ... Maybe she’d been too busy being afraid of falling to her death to be afraid of him?
    “Where are we?” she asked, glancing at their surroundings. It was an unremarkable forest clearing.
    “Just outside Fairglen. Brinford is a couple hours away to the west.”
    “Fairglen,” she repeated. It was one of four cities that neighbored Brinford.
    Ash gestured Zwi over. Piper let him lift her onto the dragon’s back in front of Lyre. Zwi’s body heat radiated off her scales, warming Piper’s chilled skin. She wound her hands into Zwi’s silky mane as Lyre reached around her to take a firm grip as well.
    Ash stepped back. His body shimmered as his glamour fell away. Terror crushed her lungs. She gripped Zwi’s mane as she fought it. He glanced at her, then turned away to face the opening in the dark canopy of leaves. His wings spread and he sprang into the air. Zwi launched forward, taking three running steps before jumping skyward. They lurched higher with each laborious beat of her wings until they’d cleared the treetops. Ash glided above them, a dozen yards ahead, his dark form almost invisible against the night sky.
    Tears of shame and frustration pricked her eyes. It seemed her immunity to the Nightmare Effect, short of drugs, only worked if there was something more terrifying around to distract her. Which meant she would never get to look upon his true form with clear eyes—or without seeing that shadow of disappointment cross his face every time he saw her fear.

CHAPTER 8
    A SH, she concluded, liked high places way too much.
    His hideout in Brinford was also downtown and once again in the tallest building around, which made sense. Attackers could only come at him from the lower levels, making defense simpler, and he couldn’t be cornered—not when he could jump out the window.
    The sky was an eerie blue in the pre-dawn twilight. From her vantage point on Zwi’s back, Piper watched as Ash swept around the apartment tower, searching for the right window. Unlike the last one, this building didn’t have balconies. She was still puzzling over how he was planning to land when he swooped straight for a very much closed window and landed on the tiny ledge. He slid the window open and disappeared into the dark room beyond.
    Zwi banked toward the same window and Piper panicked. No way was the dragon fitting through that opening. Before she could do anything more than gasp, the side of the tower was rushing to meet them. Zwi back-winged just before they crashed, and grabbed the windowsill. The talons on her hind feet scraped the outer wall as she clung precariously to the ledge with her head and neck inside the building.
    Ash appeared, reached over Zwi’s neck, and grabbed Piper. She squeaked as he pulled her swiftly inside, plopped her down, and spun back to help Lyre the rest of the way in. As soon as her passengers were inside, Zwi disappeared in a burst of black fire. The tiny dragonet swooped in with a happy chitter, flying straight out of the room and deeper into the apartment.
    “Whew,” Lyre said on an explosive exhalation. “I admit that last part always makes me a bit nervous.”
    “Yeah,” Piper agreed, still catching her breath. Her arms and legs felt like wobbly blocks of ice.
    “Ash. You’re back.”
    Piper turned to see Seiya standing in the doorway. She swallowed a flicker of jealousy; she’d forgotten how beautiful Ash’s younger sister was, though she didn’t understand her resentment. She didn’t usually feel envy around beautiful girls. Seiya’s raven hair was pulled into a high ponytail that hung halfway down her back and her vivid blue eyes, warm with pleasure at seeing her brother, looked huge in her delicate face.
    Those eyes slid over to Piper and noticeably cooled.
    “Piper,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
    Piper blinked, seriously doubting the honesty of