Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

W ithout using my Enchantment to help stop me, I was fairly certain a normal human would have fallen to his death.

Esta snorted a laugh beneath me, clearly amused.

"Es," I scolded as I used my magic to put me back in place between her wings. "I am on your back right now, a hundred feet above the ground. A warning would be nice."

She said something to the others, and we left them to bank in a turn, wrapping around the outskirts of Arava. I would like to know how hostile things are in Wylan if I were to visit with you.

"When can we leave?" I asked, longing to take her there. To show her... everything . "It may take them a while to fully trust you, but Nerede made a makeshift raft for Kian and set me on my way immediately, no questions asked. Wylan is not the Wylan you have always heard of."

Since a ship from Wylan is due to arrive tomorrow, it seems unlikely that we can leave right now. In her pause, her massive wings beating was the only thing heard beyond the rushing wind in my ears. I have a proposition for you .

She knew the terrain in this area far better than I did. Still, I noted the lights of the cottages and homes beneath us. I vaguely noticed that we flew over an epicenter of sorts with a larger building, where I assumed the city functions were held, along with a beautiful garden area. And then we were in an open field. An open field above where Arava laid, which reminded me far too much of the mountain of my childhood. My other home.

With one movement, she bolted to the right and I did fall this time. I again caught myself with my power before I smacked into the ground, lowering myself slowly.

And then she shifted, back to human form. I was never going to get used to seeing it. And I wondered how many years of seeing her shift back and forth it would take before I stopped being hit with emotion over the fact that she could. Her nine years of torture were over.

"Bond to me."

My magic flared fast and harsh. Likely because my heart stopped beating, my breath vanished. What was it with these Mallick women and rendering me speechless?

"Keir?"

I inhaled sharply. "Do you know what you ask?"

She cocked her head. "I do know in Wylan these things are done alongside a marriage. That is not off the table entirely, the marriage part of it, but that cannot happen right now. My marriage will be large. And not necessarily about me. My bonding, however, is the only thing which will be for me . Bondings in Dra Skor are done to protect a pairing. My dragon instincts will extend from protecting myself to protecting you. You will become a part of me. A part of my instincts."

My eyes burned as numerous questions came to me. Did she know what she was asking? Did she feel like that about me? Was this all about getting the old bird's somewhat approval? Or had she already been considering this ?

"I do not want to keep worrying myself sick about you. Either having to sleep in your room or both of us in mine. I want to be able to feel that you are all right at all times. And know with certainty when you are not. Until we take care of this threat, that is what I need." A smirk played with her lips. "Among other things I want ."

I knew she cared for me deeply, but if she was offering this then... then maybe there was hope for us. "Es."

She gave me a barely-there smile. "Not like you to struggle for words."

I closed my eyes a moment. I knew from everything the sages were researching in Wylan that my father had bonded to no fewer than five people. And each bond became weaker and weaker. River thought two was the maximum amount of strong bonds we could carry as Enchanted. I was already kin bonded to Krew. So if I did this, this was my last shot at finding my soul bound match. Had I already found her? Or would I risk that possibility, that strength of bond, all on Esta?

As I opened my eyes and found her green ones, I knew the answer. I would risk everything, rattle the very eaves of hell to protect this woman. "Come here."

"May I have an answer first? I do not trust myself where your touch or your Enchantment is concerned." Her lone dimple teased me.

"You'll have to come and get it," I told her.

She began moving toward me, but it wasn't fast enough for my liking, so I sent my breeze out to carry her to me faster. I kissed her gently as soon as she arrived. "Yes. My answer is yes."

She pulled back, looking in my eyes for something. I didn't know what. "Can we do that in Wylan? Would it be safe?"

"Is that why you asked if we could go?"

She shook her head, but then nodded it also. "Yes and no. I want to see Wylan finally. I never got to go. I would like to see where you grew up, meet your family and your nephew. And I would also like to bond to you there. Because I will be weak for the better part of a week after this bonding. The bigger the shifter, the longer the process takes. And should you think I would be safe there, I would like to do so in Wylan, without the scrutiny and whispers here."

There was a lot to consider. "And you could possibly have some of my powers."

"You could have some of mine."

I didn't know a ton about an Enchanted pairing of two different powers, but what I did know was that it could lead to a weaker version of each other's magic. An image of a super small dragon flashed into my mind. Would I shift into a tiny dragon? The mere thought of shifting looked painful.

"Or the stronger magic is rooted in both," she added.

I again pictured the small dragon. "And if I am able to shift into a small dragon, when drake size is everything in Dra Skor?"

"Then it is a good thing your human stature towers over us all," she said innocently. "Though you might have Dra Skor's Enchantment, might not, you would not have to use it. It wouldn't ever overpower your first Enchantment anyway. We truly don't know what our two forms of magic would do bonded together, but I do know that I would be able to better protect you. To not have to worry, to just know . We would be each other's ultimate spy, Keir."

So I wouldn't publicize my tiny stature, should that happen, was what she was saying.

She added, "I am not certain that it wouldn't be your Enchantment which is the stronger anyway."

"I only wish we knew more."

She pressed her lips against mine. "The fact that you would shift into a tiny dragon for me tells me everything I need to know."

As her lips danced and dared my own, all my hypotheticals fell to the wayside. I would shift into a turtle for her. As ugly and slow a creature as I could think of.

We stood together, the sunset washing the sky in orange hues, and a plan began to form. A plan there could be absolutely no turning back from.

A bead of sweat ran down my back. And not in a fun way, unfortunately. In a trying-to-keep-my-neck-on-my-body way. Owen was back from delivering my correspondence to Krew, and better at sparring than Emric was, though I wasn't going to admit that to either man. The new team of men stayed the night in Keld but would be making their way today.

"Again," Owen roared, coming at me.

We weren't supposed to be using our Enchantments, but both of us were. We were just pricks like that, I supposed. We were down in the training ring at the castle, having a morning training session. Esta, Amory, and Malachi looked on. Malachi still had a week to heal, otherwise I was sure he would've joined.

I'd been trying to train with Malachi, Emric, and Dex. But in this one match with Owen, I understood well that we had not been going at it at the pace and aggression in which Owen trained his men. He was relentless. A damn fiend.

"How did Jorah survive your training?" I swung my sword at him, using my back to push me away.

"She whined less than a lot of men I've trained. Though I had to deal with Krew for every bruise and nick." He used his own magic to take a shot at my middle. And then in one quick move, he unleashed his green strands of magic to make the ground beneath me feel as if it were frozen into ice and swung at my head.

I willingly ducked, knowing I would slip and fall. A hurt derriere was better than definite decapitation, I always said .

As I put my sword up anticipating his next move, I felt a pang of familiarity. One I should not be feeling at this juncture.

I rolled, lest I be hit by Owen again from the sword and decided I was done with Owen having all the fun.

I sent my power to form chains to Owen's feet while I spun around him and delivered an elbow directly to the middle of his back.

"Get wrecked," he wheezed.

And then I did something I had learned from him. While he distributed his weight to his back foot with my next advance, I redirected and moved at his shoulder, knocking him to the ground in the brief moment he was off-balance.

I held my sword at his heart.

"Dammit," he scowled. "Using my own moves against me."

"I'll take that as your yield," I laughed.

But then as quickly as I laughed, my own powers flared as dark blue cords of magic wrapped around my middle.

And in one swift move, while I heard the roar of a dragon, I was yanked directly out of the stadium.