Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
“You really want to yell at the massive unknown dragon?” Rhi whispers.
“I do,” I answer, looking straight at him. “There is nothing wrong with her. We can never thank you enough for what you’ve done tonight in firing our wards, but if you’ve only come to point out all the ways you believe her to be lacking, you’ll find Feirge’s greeting warmer than mine.”
He tilts his head, then dismisses me, swinging his gaze to Andarna. “Your motives are honorable,” he says. “That was what I was going to say before I was interrupted by the blue.”
“Sgaeyl,” Andarna corrects him, her tone a knife’s edge softer than before.
“Sgaeyl,” he repeats, then focuses on Andarna. “We are separated by many generations but share the same bloodline. Unlike the others you encountered who are of a more distant line, we are of the same den, or would have been had you been raised among us.”
He’s her family. My heart clenches.
“Your human may stay,” he replies to Andarna. “The rest may not participate in our conversation.”
My eyebrows rise.
“I will not leave them unprotected.” Tairn’s claws flex next to Rhi.
“The fact you think they need protection is why my words are only for them.” Leothan keeps his focus on Andarna. “I will only offer once.”
Andarna tenses, then whips her head toward Tairn and Sgaeyl. “I must hear him.”
Sgaeyl startles, and Rhi’s hands jump to cover her ears.
Tairn snarls, and I reach down the bond, but there’s a stronger shield than his blocking us. Leothan.
It’s oddly similar to the effects of the serum they dosed us with during RSC. Every part of me rebels at the disconnect, but I owe it to Andarna to stay with her.
“We will begin once they depart,” Leothan promises.
“He’s cut us off from you,” I say to Rhi, then look up at Tairn. “I’ll be all right.”
Sgaeyl bares her teeth, then pivots abruptly and turns toward the temple, toward Xaden.
“You’re sure?” Rhi asks, worry knitting her brow.
“I’m sure.” I swallow the growing boulder in my throat. “I won’t be the reason she can’t hear him out.”
Rhi looks like she’s going to argue for a second, then nods. “We won’t be far.” She follows Sgaeyl, and Tairn growls in warning at Leothan before pivoting.
Andarna’s tail curves over my head.
“It did not sit well with me that you were judged by the shortcomings of others,” Leothan states, dipping his head to Andarna’s eye level. “Even the dark wielder you seem…fond of.”
Hope flickers in my chest, burning away the expected insults, and Andarna’s scales ripple in shades of black.
“You should be given the chance to learn our ways,” he continues. “To choose our ways.”
“You will stay and teach me?” she asks.
“You will come home with me,” he answers, holding her gaze. “It may take a few years, but the others will accept my decision. By then you will have learned enough to know your truth.”
Years? My stomach launches straight into my throat.
“We cannot leave for years.” Sorrow drenches Andarna’s words.
“You can,” he rebuts.
“By myself?” She freezes.
Oh gods. My spine stiffens, and a terror I’ve never encountered before locks my muscles. He means to separate us.
“I have saved the human you care for by firing the protections in place,” he states, like he’s checking off boxes that might impede her departure. “She will be safe from all but her own kind under the wing of your mentor.”
“I cannot leave her!” Andarna’s head draws back.
My heart thunders a dangerously quick beat.
“You must. This was not meant for you, nor any of our line. Look at what happened tonight. Had I not interfered, you would no longer exist.” His scales flicker, taking on a pearlescent sheen. “There is nothing here for you but war and suffering.”
And me. And Tairn. And Sgaeyl. It takes all my self-control not to scream it, not to ruin this moment for Andarna.
“I am bonded.” Andarna’s tail lowers, curving around me. “Our lives, our minds, the very energy that forms us is intertwined.”
Right. That. Exactly. I find myself nodding.
“So end it.” He angles his head, and the scales above his eyes furrow into a single line. “Bonds are merely magical ties. You are irid. You are magic. Bend it, shape it, break it as you see fit.”
Wait. What?
“I cannot.” Andarna’s tail winds closer.
Air becomes scarce, and my head starts to swim.
“And yet you already did.” He glances down at me. “Who bonded you first?”
This can’t be real. Maybe I’m dreaming. Or in Xaden’s dream. Though we’ve definitely stumbled into nightmare territory. “They chose me the same day.”
He sighs in annoyance, and steam gusts over me. “Who spoke to you first?”
My eyes shift, and I throw my thoughts back to Threshing.
Step aside, Silver One. Tairn’s voice rumbles through my memory.
“Tairn,” I whisper, turning my face toward Andarna. I take in everything about her, from the pattern of her scales, the slope of her nose, the angle of her eyes, up to the swirls on her horns that match his. “You didn’t speak to me until you gave me your name on the flight field.”