“Of course.” Brynn spoke that time.

So relieved I could barely breathe, I turned to peer over the heads of the birds surrounding us. Fifty feet away, Kaci stood pressed into Jace’s side, his arm around her shoulders. She shook with the cold, and likely with fear, but the moment she saw us she stood straighter, determined to show her strength.

“I’ve done my part.” I dug my phone from my pocket as I turned back to Brynn. “Call off the rest of your birds.”

She nodded, and I flipped open my phone and autodialed my father.

He answered on the first ring. “Faythe?” he said, tension thick in his voice.

“Yeah. We have Kaci, and we’re coming home.”

“Thank goodness.” In the background, I heard masculine cheers and my mother’s massive sigh of relief.

“Can you give your phone to Beck?”

“Just a minute.” My father sounded exhausted, and I wondered if he’d slept at all since we’d left.

I tossed my phone to Brynn, and when Beck’s voice came over the line, she told him to execute a full retreat. When my father came back on, he promised to release Kai to his Flight mates immediately.

By the time I slid my phone back into my pocket, two of the largest thunderbirds were already ferrying Lance’s body up to their nest. I nodded once at Brynn, an all-purpose thanks-and-goodbye, and turned to leave. Then her hand landed on my bare arm.

I turned to find her watching me in the closest thing to friendliness I’d seen yet from one of her species. “We are in your debt, for the return of my daughter,” she said. “And we would like to repay you as soon as possible.”

The sentiment was more of a “We’d rather not be in your debt” than a “Thanks, how can we ever repay you.” Still, it was better than a swift kick out the door and a plummet from two hundred feet.

“Um…okay.” Saying thank-you seemed simultaneously trite and inappropriate. “I’ll let you know if I…come up with something.” But an idea was already beginning to form. As cold and ruthless as they were—or perhaps because of those very qualities—the thunderbirds would make a formidable opponent in war. My Pride had already seen that firsthand, and I had little doubt that my father would be just as eager as I was to turn the proverbial tables on Malone.

I was still basking in that possibility when I folded Kaci into my arms a minute later.

She squeezed me tightly, and only let me go long enough for me to put on my jacket. Exhausted, I forced a smile for Kaci’s benefit, trying to ignore the way Marc and Jace went out of their way to avoid each other, yet stay close to me. Then I slid one arm around Kaci’s shoulders.

“Can we go home now?” she asked, staring up at me in exhaustion and uneasy relief. Neither of us would truly feel safe until we were far away from the thunderbirds and their prison in the sky.