Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her about it, make her understand. But I must truly thank you for your kindness towards her. She’s never had friends before. I’m grateful.”

With those parting words, she bowed and showed me to the exit.

Magnolia led me up to the ramparts of the castle. Once outside, the burning heat immediately brought budding beads of sweat to my skin, only to be swept away by a stiff, salty breeze blowing in from the east. I couldn’t see the ocean from the castle, but the wind was unmistakable, and it all but confirmed that I was right about my assessment of the castle’s location.

In the distance, the sands of the Badlands loomed. Swirling sand dunes extended as far as I could see; waves of heat rose from the baking surface. On the furthest wall of the castle rose a tower ringed by parapets. Jasmine was at the top already, and we headed over.

We were at the highest point in the castle, and I still couldn’t see out past the dunes. The sun scorched mercilessly overhead, and even with the soft breeze, standing around wasn’t doing any good. What’s taking Raven so long?

Jasmine smiled at me, her hair drifting in the breeze as she reached into her uniform and pulled a long emerald green cloth from her uniform. “I have a gift for you.”

She held it out to me, and I took it, confused. Is it a scarf? No. Too long. Jasmine smiled at my obvious confusion. “It’s a sword sash. It can be worn horizontally or across your chest, whichever you prefer.”

“Thank you, Jasmine. I’ll see you around,” I said, removing my sword and wrapping the green cloth around my waist.

After tying it, my new sword slid into the hole by my belt nicely, and the rich green accented the black of my armor well, even if it was a bit too ostentatious for my liking.

“Till we meet again.” She bowed and departed with her mother, sparing me a glance just before she went back inside.

She really is a nice girl, but that’s not going to end well for me.

Before long, Raven joined me on the tower. It was just the two of us now, and I wanted to set some ground rules. I turned to her.

“I’ve made my feelings on you accompanying me abundantly clear. I don’t trust you, but if we are going to be working together, I want to make sure you understand. You do what I say, when I say. No debates, no discussions. Do you understand?”

She nodded, bobbing her head up and down rapid fire. “Yes, Master.”

“Yeah, no. Don’t call me that. That’s rule two. I’m nobody’s master.”

“Okay, then what would you like me to call you?”

“My name, if you must. Now let’s get going, we’re burning daylight.”

Without further conversation, Raven backed up and shifted, going into her giant bird form. Her voice came from nowhere, even though her beak remained closed.

“Climb on, Duran. And please be gentle, my feathers break easily.”

Grumbling, I did as she asked and hopped on as gently as I could. Her feathers were incredibly soft under my hands and warm to the touch. It was like the world’s softest down comforter, and I indivertibly spoke aloud.

“These feathers feel amazing,” I said before I could stop myself.

“That’s kind of you to say,” Raven said.

“Whatever, let’s just go.”

Raven knelt and launched herself in the air so fast, I had to grab handfuls of her feathers just to keep myself from falling off. She soared high into the sky before opening her wings and leveling out to glide forward.

I looked back to see the castle, already well behind us on the cliff face, the speed Raven at which flew rapidly turned the large castle into a dot on the horizon behind us.

The air was cold despite the heat as we climbed higher. Wind whipped past as we flew through the air. It took more than a few minutes for my heart rate to settle and get used to the sensation of flying, but when I did, I laughed aloud as the sands of the Badlands raced past at frightening speed. I lowered my head and clung to Raven’s warm feathers and found a nice balance between the chilled wind and the desert’s heat.

The Badlands were nothing but vast stretches of sand, easily hundreds of miles wide, so I settled in for looking at the same hues of brown for a while, and we flew in silence for a few hours.

A shrill tone interpreted my daydreaming. A name flashed across my interface. Miguel.

”Problem with the Gloom Shrooms?”

He laughed, breathing heavily. ”Not at all. Delivery went smoothly, dropped off the payment.”

”Then what do you need?”

”I have a job for—”

Click.

I closed my interface and stared at the ocean in the distance. By the third hour, I was getting sore and tight from staying in one position for so long, and without a proper harness to sit on, my ass was killing me. I wanted to stop and rest for a few moments but wasn’t about to complain in front of the shifter.

I’d just about resigned myself to enduring the aches that wormed into my muscles when we passed low over the wastes. I could make out dozens of small dots below us, walking in disorganized chaos, or shambling as it were.

Roamers, and quite a large horde of them, too. I was itching to do anything other than continue riding at the moment, and a delicious thought came over me.

“Raven, slow up and circle back.”

“Of course, but why?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just do it.”

She slowed down considerably and dipped low over the dunes, kicking up a gust of sand in the process. She lowered one shoulder and circled around, spying the horde of