Rolling her eyes, Cordelia turned away from their squabble to keep on trudging up the steadily rising brown slope. It wouldn’t take much longer to reach the hills themselves; she’d been telling herself that for the last half hour, just like she’d been telling herself for a long time that she didn’t need a drink. She was on two legs, not four anymore, though, and she felt unbalanced by the shift—and by the loss of the harness she had worn. There was nothing tethering her down with the others anymore; she could just soar alone into the sky and—

“No!” Strong hands seized her right arm. “No changing shapes! I can see you thinking about it.” Short black hair mussed and cheeks bright red, Rosalind glowered at her ferociously. “You are not flying off and leaving us to work out everything for ourselves. Not this time! Just because we happened to fall asleep doesn’t mean you get to go all feral and—”

“Oh no.” Giles stared at her, slack-jawed. “Please tell me you didn’t go into a panic and sneak us all away from Grandmother without telling her!”

Cordelia clenched her own jaw hard.

“Cordelia!” He clutched his rumpled hair, eyes squeezing shut in agony. “I know you didn’t take to her, but you have to use your brain sometimes, not just your almighty animal instincts. She’s—”

“I saved you!” The words burst from between Cordelia’s teeth. “You didn’t just fall asleep, you fools. It was a potion that she fed us! And Connall said—”

“Connall was there?” Rosalind’s head swiveled around, searching. “Where—?”

“Connall found me in a vision, and Lady Elianora wanted to trade us to the dukes. That was her plan all along! She was going to use us to get back into power—just like she took Connall prisoner years ago, just to get Mother back under her control.” Cordelia wrenched herself free from Rosalind’s loosened grip. “I got us away from her while you slept. You’re welcome. Now you can both take care of yourselves!” She flung herself into the air in a furious whirl of feathers.

It should have been a satisfyingly dramatic escape—but Giles lunged upward and caught her by one thin bird leg.

She hated how tall he’d become!

“Shh,” he said as she screeched at him and flapped her wings in challenge. Ignoring all her struggles, he tucked her against his side, his grip firm and inescapable. She would have to genuinely hurt him to get free … and they both knew she never would.