Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

W e're standing in front of the waterfall where the dragon eggs are kept hidden on the other side. It's a secret entrance only Zepheira and the dragon riders know about. The nursery is the most important part of a nest, so even though the Keep is already heavily guarded, the nursery has more guards patrolling the grounds. There's even an area where the riders can rest and train between flights. Among them are women cloaked in periwinkle robes. They nod and bow as they pass but none of them speak.

"They're nurses," Erax explains when he catches me looking at them. "They tend the eggs when Zepheira isn't around." He turns his attention back to his grandmother. "So how did my men die?"

"How do you think?" Zepheira huffs at him. "They thought they knew better than my nurses simply because they were men. Stubborn little fools. They couldn't tell a dragon from its head to its arse." She looks over at me, her eyes narrowing quizzically. "Do you know a dragon from its head to its arse, my queen?"

"I like to think I do."

Zepheira laughs again. "Then we're all good. If the mother comes back, just do what I tell you and you won't end up like those sorry bastards." At the sight of Erax's disapproval, she quickly adds, "We are all perfectly safe, Erax. Now let us go before we miss it."

Zepheira holds out a black cane with a gleaming gold tip. She pushes the edge into the waterfall, causing the water to split and fall around her. She steps through and I follow suit before Erax can stop me. I can tell by the look on his face that he's still nervous, but he follows me through, his hair slightly wet from the water. I shake my own hair as I look around me, stopping when I take in the view. The nursery is even more incredible than I imagined. Beautiful cascading waterfalls and flowers bursting from every rock make up the nursery. I can feel the magic of this place and the feeling only grows more intense when I see the nests, and the many eggs within them.

The moment Zepheira sees the egg, she halts. "Something is wrong."

She presses her hands to the shell. Both her palms glow, radiating with strange, pulsing energy. Magic?

"What is it?" Erax asks, joining us at the table. "Not another dead one?"

"No." My heart rate increases as I watch Zepheira's palms glow brighter. "Her mother—she should be here." She lowers her ear to the egg and listens.

Meanwhile, Erax rolls his sleeves and prepares to help her. I can only watch helplessly from the sidelines even though I'm filled with a strange instinct to touch the egg. To help.

"When an egg is about to hatch," Zepheira continues, "the mother can sense it, and will do just about anything to witness the birth of their young. The only time they don't is when the egg has been abandoned. But that cannot be the reason. I just fed her before the two of you arrived. Surely…"

Her eyes widen, and both of them turn their attention to me.

"What?" I glance between them. "Surely what?"

It's Erax who replies.

"A mother dragon will abandon their egg if the foetus has bonded with someone. It's the only instance, other than death, they'll leave their young."

A deafening silence stretches between all three of us. I stare at them and then down at the egg, trying to make sense of what they're saying. But it sounds as crazy to me as if they just told me I've turned into a dragon myself.

"It's bonded to you," Erax points out.

"Quick, come here." Zepheira holds out her hand, ushering me to her.

I hurry over. She takes my hand and holds it in hers against the egg. The shell feels like ice, but the moment I touch it, it sizzles as if I've just put a hot stone onto it. Zepheira gasps and slowly withdraws her hand, leaving mine alone on top of the egg. Something within me stirs and that ache under my rib turns into a feeling I can't quite describe. It's not painful anymore. It's almost… euphoric.

"Do you feel it?" Erax's voice carries over me. I nod. "Focus on it. Let it grow."

I place my other hand on the egg, and an electric current zaps through me. I don't let go. I do what Erax instructs—I focus on the strange feeling building inside me, and I hold on to it, refusing to let it go. Something deep within urges me to pick up the egg. I lift slowly, my hands shaking, as a rush of concentrated magic surges through me.

Holding the dragon egg, it truly is stunning. Stunning beyond words really. I'm completely mesmerised by its continuous and stunning shine, surpassing the beauty of any diamond or crystal I've seen in the treasury. It's the darkest shade of blue, but each curve and line of the shell is gold and silver, glittering like stars.

Magic continues to pulsate under my fingertips, vibrating with the heartbeat of the dragon inside. Strong, longer thumps than a human heartbeat. It feels almost like a countdown. The egg's magic swirls in the surrounding air, dancing to a beat of a heart I can hear as loud as the one in my chest. Am I really about to open a dragon egg? Is this even possible?

I glance over at Erax. He only brought me here to tell me the truth. I doubt he planned for me to claim my own dragon. Will he be angry? Will he try to stop me because having a bride who hates you becoming equally as powerful as you could be considered a threat to him, couldn't it? But this is the moment I have been unknowingly waiting for. It just feels right to be here, at this moment, holding this dragon egg like it's been waiting for me all my life.

Footsteps echo behind us. I know we are no longer alone here, but none of it matters as much as the egg cradled preciously between my hands. We are a bond now. A jealous-filled wave of emotions wash over me as the soft blue glow radiates down my arms, across my chest until it's around my dress too. I can't do anything but stare at it, completely in awe, as it cracks down the middle and the shell falls apart in my hands, revealing a beautiful dragon curled up in my open hands. The dragon is a deep shade of ice, with white spotted spikes running down its back, from the tip of its nose down to its arrow-head tail. Its claws are the purest colour of water, just like its crystalline eyes.

The moment it stares up at me, yawning with its little mouth, I know we are bonded for life. A bond that is different to the one I made with Erax. A bond that is timeless and infinite. The baby dragon looks up at me, and it blinks in only the way a newborn animal can. No, not it.

She .

I know she's a girl as if she whispered so into my heart somehow. And then her name comes, rolling off my tongue like I've always known it.

"Hello, Freyren."

I forget the new arrivals until suddenly Freyren hisses at them. A dragon roars somewhere from above, echoing with more roars from other dragons that join with them. They're celebrating. I look over my shoulder, just for a second. Erax is holding his hands in the air. There is no mistaking the pride in his eyes. Erax is proud of me? My heart pounds for a new reason, and I find myself wanting to smile at him. To thank him for being proud of me when I can't remember the last time someone ever was.

"Disturbing the bond is never a line anyone should cross, but my queen does not know your ancient ways."

I know he is speaking in dragon tongue to the dragons, and I'm shocked that for once I can understand him. Freyren hisses. She wants to eat him. I gently stroke her cheek. I can't let you eat my husband yet .

Because if anyone is going to kill Erax, it will be me, even if the thought doesn't make me happy like it used to. Traitorous heart, this is all your fault.

"Mist, you need to go into the water right now to complete the bond and save both your lives."

Freyren snarls at him, climbing up onto my arm. His eyes widen as he gets a full look at her, and there is no mistaking the awe in his voice. "I'm no threat, ice dragon, but even you will not come between my queen and me. Now both of you, in the water, before it is too late."

My hands shake as I carry Freyren over the remains of the broken dragon egg, and step into the blue shimmering water before the waterfall. The warm water itself glows where I walk and the dragon's smoke from above almost makes me choke as I keep walking, knowing they are watching me from above. One breath of fire, one bite and I'm gone. I can't stop shaking as I sink deeper into the water, and I only look back when I hear Erax shout.

The dragon riders, all of Erax's friends, fill the cave, but Erax holds a fist up, stopping them at his side. His eyes do not leave me. He is supporting me, even in this. I turn, looking up at the waterfall I'm coming up to, water spitting all over my body the closer I get. I don't want to soak this poor little dragon as it brushes its head under my chin from my crossed arms. I frown, looking down at the heavy falling water, right before Freyren jumps out of my arms. She dives into the water as the current pushes me through the waterfall. Heavy water blasts down on my body and when I come out the other side, I wipe my eyes, hardly believing what I'm seeing.

There's no longer a small baby dragon but standing in the middle of ten cluster nests of faded eggs is a fully grown, massive ice blue dragon. My dragon. Freyren. She has silver horns now, curling around her head, and a chest of blue fur, but she looks the same. Only bigger. Much bigger. She lowers her head, blowing cold air out of her mouth and an icy breeze makes me shiver more than fear.

Freyren walks around me and settles down in the water, stretching out her magnificent, almost see-through blue wings. It's hard to look away from her, but when I do look back, all I feel is sadness at the eggs sitting out here alone. They're different from the others. None of them glow like Freyren's did and they're not radiating with pulsing magic. It's like they're… dead. Or dying. Is this what Erax wanted to show me? Did my parents have something to do with this?

Freyren spreads her wing further, blocking the fall of the waterfall with one wing, and I see Erax talking with Noble on the other side. Both of them swiftly turned to look at me.

"You need to come out," Erax shouts.

"I know, but..." I look back at the eggs, feeling wrong about leaving them.

I can't just leave them here. The same feeling that prompted me to pick up Freyren's egg prompts me to swim back to them. I drift to the nearest clusters of eggs and only then I feel hot air on the back of my neck. An animalistic growl echoes in the air, and I glance up, seeing a dragon I don't know above me on a ledge, watching my every move. This one clearly feels threatened by me. There are so many dragons here, all of them hiding in the caves, their eyes always watching. I should leave, but I can't seem to bring myself away.

In the nest at my feet are twelve eggs. Two of them are still coloured. Red and green, but the others are dull grey. The glowing eggs are not mine to touch but the grey ones… my hands itch to touch them just once. Going by pure instinct, I run my hands across one of the eggs. The first shell burns a deep red, the grey slowly fading the longer I keep my palm there, as if I'm breathing life back into it.

I touch the others, and one by one each egg returns to its vibrant colour. The dragons growling and hissing above me instantly stop, and silence fills the cavern while I touch the eggs. I move from nest to nest, working my way through the many grey eggs, until the glow from all the brightly coloured shells make it look like a rainbow has burst through the darkness.

The final egg bleeds into a brilliant gold, a different colour to all the others, and something tells me this one is special.

Out of nowhere, I gasp, nearly falling over as sharp pain lances through my stomach. Freyren swings her head towards me and roars loud enough to shake the very ground at my feet. I don't hear the shouting to begin with as I crawl through the water to my dragon. To my home now. We belong together and I never once thought there would be a chance I'd find my home in this world ever again. Everything has just changed.

"You need to ride!" Erax roars, with nothing short of desperate panic in his voice. I let myself imagine for a second it is worry about me lurking in his tone. "Get into the sky! NOW!"

I can't ride a dragon alone! I can't make the words come out of my mouth while the pain is this bad. If I wasn't used to pain, I don't know how I would make my legs move. Erax is already in the water, running to me when a red dragon lands in his path, blocking him. His shout echoes through the cavern. "Get on the fucking dragon before the bond kills you for not completing it! I nearly died at this moment you're in and the longer you don't fly, the longer chance the bond will stop your heart!"

With every bit of strength and determination not to die that I have left—I get to my dragon's side. She is in pain, too. She lowers herself down for me and I grab any scales, crawling myself to my feet even when my body screams for me to give up. To listen to the pain and just give up. Somehow, I climb up my dragon and onto her back, sitting wobbly in a smooth gap in the thorns on its back. It roars, but it doesn't move. "Fly!" I scream but with horror lancing through my heart, I realise she doesn't understand me, and I don't speak her language. "Fuck. Fly, fly, fly. Please!"

"Not in that language!" Erax barrels through the air. " NIVAROSS !"

I barely know how to pronounce it like he did, but I try, anyway. "Please, nivaross . Please."

How did Erax do this on his own for the first time? How did the king not die?

My king, my husband, is brave and I hate myself for loving that about him.

Freyren's clear eyes turn back and land on me. There is a sharpness in her gaze, a strength I've only ever seen in my own eyes in the mirror. We are both the last of our people, and we will not give up. We will rise together and this world. It can be shattered into ice and remade after fire.

She slams through the waterfall, lashing me with water so strong that I nearly fall off. The air feels tight in my lungs as she flies up and up. I hold on tight to the scales in front of me, scales that feel like warm leather. The pain fades away as she flies straight up through the cavern and by the time we kiss the skies, it's gone. The air is frosty up here and immediately my fear of heights makes me scream. Freyren is gentle, letting me get used to her as we fly higher until we are going through the clouds. My stomach feels like it's made of jelly, but I lift my head, forcing myself to look like my ears ring and pop.

I can see the entire kingdom.

I'm left feeling stronger than ever as we glide into the open skies, nothing but sunlight and clouds for miles.