Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I woke to sunlight streaming in around the drawn curtains, slivers of light the only sign that it was day. The smell of food was near but not near enough.

Malachi was resting on my couch in one such sliver of light, a foot draped over a knee while he read a book. He looked up and over his shoulder at me. "One of you finally stirs."

I yawned and stretched. My muscles seemed to scream, my body definitely feeling burnout haggardness. "Did you sleep at all?"

Malachi's lips quirked. "A solid eight hours. I had our guards and your own keep watch. I knew the two of you would be out for the better part of an entire day."

"How long have I been out?"

"It is early afternoon," Malachi told me.

I'd slept for almost a full twelve hours. Huh. How about that. Who knew this soul bound business was so exhausting?

Malachi moved to bring me over a tray with food.

"I could've gotten it."

"You'll more than likely pass out again soon," he told me. "I do not mind. "

I knew Jorah had been exhausted for the better part of a week after her bonding to my brother, but until I felt it myself, I couldn't fathom the level of sheer fatigue. Was it the nature of our specific bonding, or just bondings in general? I was kin bonded to Krew, and I had been a bit tired for a few days, but nothing of this magnitude, nothing like this deep ache. I wondered if it had to do with the strength of the bonds.

I grabbed the bread and sunk my teeth into it, chewing while I could. I was ravenous and tired equally. Who knew on one of the happiest days of my life, I could go from an all-time high, to wanting to sleep for days on end?

I groaned. "I don't want to sleep anymore."

"Your countenance says otherwise," Malachi chuckled.

"I want to wake up and see if it's true. If we really are soul bound." I thought I felt that invisible cord drawing me to Esta already, but we were also so close that it was hard to tell.

Malachi was quiet a moment, too quiet.

"No pep talk this time?"

He shook his head. "No. I was just thinking that should your sages be correct and you are soul bound, half of your battle in Dra Skor just got a whole lot easier."

"What do you mean?" I asked before tearing into another bite of bread.

"You will be seen as something vital to our queen. As vital to her as the crown upon her head. As her soul bound mate, you will be important to our queen, thus to all of Dra Skor. We will protect you just as we protect her."

I gave him a simple shrug.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but you were worried about winning over our people, were you not?"

"I won over Nana Mallick. I would have won them all over eventually," I said with a confidence I had absolutely no business having .

"Insufferable prince," Malachi said, quoting Esta.

I smiled, already feeling that heaviness weighing over me. "Honestly, I am just not going to get ahead of myself. Though that does sound helpful." I yawned "What is it about you that is making me want to keep passing out on you?"

"It's definitely not my ass," he deadpanned, taking the tray from me.

I laid down, wrapping the blankets tighter around Esta. "Not this again."

"Hey, I have a nice ass."

The last words I managed to get out before sleep took me were, "No, you just are one."

I woke the next morning and managed to get out of bed to relieve myself and eat breakfast. I napped until early afternoon and woke to my magic stirring.

I bolted upright, wondering where the threat was, only to find that it wasn't my magic which had woken me. It was hers. And that tether between us had seemed to be tugging me awake. To help.

"How long has her skin been like this?" I asked Malachi, my eyes not moving from the blueish purple lines fading in and out beneath her skin.

"Last few hours," he admitted.

Esta heard my voice and rolled over. "Try to shift."

I looked to Malachi bewildered. I had seen the Enchanted of Dra Skor do so what had to be hundreds of times before, but I hadn't the slightest clue how to go about that. Just shake my body and see what wrapped around my skin? That wasn't terrifying at all.

"Shift?" I asked.

Malachi watched me closely. "Do you feel the need to stretch a muscle that you cannot quite get to? Somewhat like an itch you cannot reach?"

"No?" That wasn't at all what I felt. "I feel sore. I feel like I just went through burnout. But I do not feel like there is a muscle I cannot get to. I just feel like all of them hurt."

Malachi gave me a shrug. "You may not be able to. But if you can, we will soon know."

"Are you going to watch me this closely the whole time?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes."

I turned back to Esta.

"Hi." She sounded a bit hoarse.

"Hi, sweetheart." I smiled at her before I turned to Malachi. "Can you get her some water?"

He did so immediately.

"You have my Enchantment, Es," I told her gently. "I can see it beneath your skin."

Her eyes were barely open as she mumbled out, "Does this mean I get to send heat along your body the way you do to mine?"

I laughed. "Of all the things for you to be excited about, it's that?"

She gave me a simple nod.

I handed her the water and moved to physically grab the book Malachi had apparently already finished and sat it on the bed. "The sooner you use my Enchantment, the easier it will be. Can you picture a strand of magic like you've seen of mine and visualize in your head that it wraps around this book and sends it to the table over there?"

As I explained it, her blueish purple magic beneath her skin began to burn brighter.

The result was that her eyes opened farther, and she inhaled sharply, shoving the water glass back at me after only a small drink .

"It can really tingle, but the sooner you use it, the better you will adapt," I told her. "The better you will feel."

She reached out her hand, her new magic concentrating and burning in the most beautiful palm I had ever seen.

I kissed where her cut was almost healed on that palm and then gestured toward the book. "Will is everything to palm magic," I told her. "Will the magic to leave your fingertips. To wrap around the book and move it to the table. Visualize it and it will happen. Simple as that."

She inhaled deeply, concentrating on her hand.

I stayed with her, silently willing that she would be able to do this.

And then just when I felt my own heartbeat becoming more erratic and nervous, she did it. That blueish purple left her finger, magic strands wrapping around the book. She made a swiping motion with her hand and the book went flying. Not to the table, it slapped into the wall with a thud and slid to the floor.

"Oops," Esta whispered.

I laughed. "That was amazing."

"I threw the book at the wall," Esta said, resting her head on my shoulder. "That was not amazing."

I kissed her temple. "On the contrary, I have never seen a single soul with not one, but two Enchantments. You never cease to amaze me and particularly not now."

Her breath caught as she looked down at her hands. "I have two Enchantments?"

I was grinning. "You do. The dragon queen with dual Enchantments."

Her eyes found mine, full of wonder and exhaustion both.

"Jorah will help you get the hang of this one," I reminded her. "You can go back to sleep now." I closed my eyes and felt for that tether that tied her to me, a spot in my head which seemed to be no longer my own, but instead belonged to us. Ours. A place for us tucked safely away from everyone and everything else. A sanctuary just for the two of us. I love you.

Too tired to respond, she fell asleep with her head on my chest, my back propped up by the headboard.

"Grin any harder, and you'll break your face," Malachi commented when she was good and back asleep.

"I'm happy, leave me alone."

"Because she has two Enchantments? Or because you are confirmed soul bound?"

"Yes," I answered quietly, as to not wake her. "She has always been an unstoppable force. Having this extra, this other power to help protect herself—even if I can give her nothing more than a notice of when she is about to be attacked through my powers, it has been worth it. Now she is not only unstoppable, she is unbreakable. And that makes me insanely happy."

Malachi gave me a nod of understanding.

"I cannot think of a single person more adept to have not one but two types of Enchantments."

I chatted with Malachi for a while. He kept a close eye on me, barely leaving me at all. I suspected he thought I would start blowing smoke out of my nostrils or turn into a tiny dragon at any moment.

As we ate lunch, the table in my room the farthest I was willing to go from Esta, I was starting to become annoyed with his constant eyes on me. "You better hope I don't somehow shift into a winged horse."

Malachi leaned back in his chair. "Oh?"

"I'd be prettier than you are. Likely smaller. But prettier."

Malachi's lips twitched. "You can be prettier, small pony. I am stronger."

"I don't know about that," I laughed.

"Would you like to arm wrestle me in this form? Or would a loss only result in your bonding as an excuse? "

"Right here? Right now?"

I was strong. And still exhausted. In combat, I wouldn't blink an eye. I would win. But I knew my strengths. In an arm wrestle one-on-one, I was going to lose against Malachi who had done nothing but gain muscle mass since we healed him. He was beginning to somehow resemble his shifted form even in his human one.

"Yes. Unless the fearless prince finally shies away from a challenge?"

"Never. Unless I know I'm going to lose them."

Malachi laughed. "I?—"

What was sure to be a taunt to me was never finished as my door was wrenched open after a quick double knock.

And there, standing in the doorway, was the queen of Wylan, tears streaming down her face.