Kingdom of Ash

said.
Elide reached over to squeeze Aelin’s
hand. “Yes, we did.”
Even if she now wished for it to be over.
All of it. Her every breath felt weighed down
by it, that wish.
They continued on after that, and just as
Aelin spied the fork in the road—the
crossroads that would take them to the salt
mines themselves—a warning cry went up
from the rukhin, soaring along the edge
between the forest and mountains.
Aelin instantly had Goldryn drawn. Rowan
armed himself beside her, and the entire army
pausing as they scanned the woods, the skies.
She heard the warning just as a dark shape
shot past, so large it blotted out the sun above
the forest canopy.
Wyvern.
Bows groaned, and the ruks were racing by,