But again, Brannie could watch a Lightning and from the turn of a head, the slash of a tail, or even the raise of a brow, she could tell where their bolts might hit. The same didn’t apply when nature had its way. All Brannie could do now was wait until the last second and hope she moved fast enough.

* * *

It was like flying through a Mì-runach gauntlet, but instead of dodging the fists and tails of his brethren, Aidan was dodging lightning bolts and tornadoes of water.

Zoya held on to his chain mail shirt and laughed into the wind. The woman obviously didn’t fear death, but Aidan did. He had much more living to do; he didn’t want to die just because he couldn’t avoid a sudden cyclone that sent him spinning wildly up into the air and then farther out into the ocean.

By the time Aidan righted himself—Zoya miraculously still clinging to him—he’d lost sight of the others.

He pushed his way back to where he thought he’d come from, although he was only guessing. He’d spun like a top from those winds and had no idea where the battle-fuck he truly was.

Something slammed at him from the side and he saw brown scales pushing into him, attempting to lead him back.

Uther.

Aidan took his friend’s direction and forced his way through the rain and . . . and . . .

Good gods! Was that sleet? Why was he facing sleet?

Several lightning bolts flashed past him. Aidan felt like they were specifically aimed at him until he saw black scales tumbling down. Caswyn, another black dragon, was on his left, keeping as close an eye on Keita as he could.

So the black dragon freefalling?

“Hold tight, Zoya!” he yelled at his charge and dove after Branwen.

He zigged and zagged past more bolts crashing down around him, the thunder exploding over his head, nearly shaking him off course. But Aidan kept at it. He kept Brannie in his sights until he was near her.

She’d been hit by one of the lightning bolts, the scales on her back, under her right wing, smoking from the impact.

Aidan aimed down, slammed his wings against his body, pushing through the winds that were coming up—which seemed especially strange—and maneuvering himself until he was beside Brannie.

“Don’t let go!” he ordered Zoya before he reached out and grabbed Brannie’s forearms. But her body was still spinning with great force and now Aidan was spinning with her—and heading straight to the ground below.

* * *

Keita turned to one side, then the other, barely avoiding the bolts of lightning clearly aiming right for her.

She dove down and flipped to her right, missing the geyser of water that had risen up out of nowhere.