Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I spun one direction. Then the other. Sure enough, I had sprouted wings. Black wings with a blue hued tint to them, the veins sprawling across them matching the color of my own Enchantment.

"What the hell?" Where was a mirror when I needed one most? When my body decided to pop out wings .

Malachi was laughing. "I thought if I got you moving around enough, it'd happen."

"Was this why you wanted to arm wrestle me the other day?"

He nodded. "I wondered if there was a kind of muscle there that you didn't know you needed to use. Convinced Owen this morning that we needed to get you up and moving. You have been focused on Esta, but not really moving around as much as you normally do."

I spun to the side, reaching back to feel my own damn wings. They were surprisingly smooth and leathery. Just like Esta's felt.

I had wings. Wings.

"Where's the rest of my dragon traits?" I asked. "Am I going to pop out a tail any minute now? "

Malachi shrugged. "If Esta took a lesser form of your Enchantment, it seems you might only have the ability to shift forth wings. Dragon wings."

I rolled my shoulders back, feeling that pinch between my shoulder blades. "I thought I was just sore. How do I use these things?"

"We should go find Esta," Malachi said. "I know wings and can teach you the basics, but not dragon wings. Mine are far lighter. Built differently."

Lighter? My wings didn't feel heavy. Just that pinching between my shoulder blades. I sent Owen a look and took off for the door.

"Keir," Owen called, chasing after me.

The faster he moved, the faster I moved, until I was running.

"What are we doing?" Malachi asked, adding into the chase.

"Do not do what I think you are about to do," Owen yelled after me.

It was too late; I was up a set of stairs and heading straight for the nearest balcony. As I ran, I pinched my elbows in and noted that my wings followed the motion, tucking in closer to my body.

I was hoping that if I threw my arms out wide, my wings would too, or instinct would take over. And if not, I always had my first Enchantment to catch me.

With that thought, I hurled myself over the balcony and began falling toward the gardens.

I threw my arms out wide and though my wings also followed suit, I learned that was it. I had no idea how to beat the things.

"Dammit Keir," I heard Owen state from above me.

I maybe should have waited for Esta. Or let Malachi explain the basics to me. I had wings and was too excited not to try them out. Rash decision? Likely. Regrettable one? Not yet anyway .

I sent my magic to the ground to catch me, a safety net of sorts.

Beat, I willed my wings. And then sure enough, as I was becoming way too close to smashing into the ground, my wings beat. Once. Twice. I found it not all that different from having to will my magic. I had to will the wings to do what I wanted in the same manner. It felt foreign, my head and arms jerking backward with every beat, but hopefully over time flying would become as easy as using my own Enchantment. Less flailing was certainly needed.

Malachi let out a victory yell and then was flying next to me.

I flew in the direction of Esta, knowing where she was down our bond.

She must have sensed something was off or wrong, as she was already almost back to the castle, her and Jorah crossing the meadow quickly. They both stilled as they saw us.

"Any landing tips?" I asked Malachi.

Oh, so now you want tips?

"Yes please?"

Wings out wide as you land, when your feet hit the ground, you can tuck them in.

How hard could it be? "Got it."

I put my wings out wide—this time without my arms mimicking—by will alone and was pleased to find they did as I directed. I began heading toward the ground far slower than Malachi who landed and shifted.

Apparently, I did not wait long enough for my feet to hit the ground, as I fell to the ground in a rush. I quickly rolled, tucking my wings in even tighter so to not get scraped, some sort of instinct at work in knowing how important they were.

And then I was back on my feet, brushing the dirt off my hands. "That could have gone smoother," I told Malachi.

The prick just laughed.

"I felt something was off," Esta said, rushing toward me .

"Nothing bad. I just have wings, as it turns out."

"You have wings!" Jorah exclaimed.

Esta was beaming at me. "You have wings," she repeated, looking them over. "Not small ones either."

"Some might even say above average," I deadpanned.

She laughed and reached for me, hugging me tightly.

"You are going to have to help me," I told her. "I have no idea how to work them. And Malachi was no help."

Malachi, still laughing away, commented, "You didn't give me time to be. His wings finally shifted, and Keir just jumps off a balcony."

"Wouldn't be the first time, nor the last," Jorah offered lightly.

"Keir," Esta scolded. "That is not how we do things."

"I was excited," I argued.

Esta's laughter softened and her eyes went glassy.

"Es?"

"You have wings," she repeated. "Not just wings, but dragon wings."

"Seems that way, though I don't know how to put them away." Hopefully I could, otherwise we were going to need a bigger bed.

"I just—" she swallowed hard. "This is... everything."

"I know the feeling," I told her as we took a moment to just stand there in the meadow. I added down our bond. I love you.

I was exhausted. I had only flown the one time. It had taken me close to an hour to get my wings shifted back, and in the end, I'd had to use my instincts with my own Enchantment, the shoving down of my magic to get them to go back in.

I was thrilled. Both that I had wings, and that they were not a permanent feature upon my person. There were just some things I wanted a full range of human motion for .

"They will eventually find out," Malachi was saying to Esta, the three of us in my room.

"I agree," Esta said. "I just think not telling anyone at first would be helpful to the two of us learning our new Enchantments."

"The only catch to that being that Keir would have an extra level of protection once the rest of Dra Skor learns of your soul bonding," Malachi countered.

She let out a sigh. "Dual Enchantments will be a big change. I am sure one which will earn my brother even more support."

"That's ridiculous," I chimed in. "We are stronger together. Each of us having both."

She spun from where she sat under my arm to look at me. "I know that. The rest of Dra Skor will learn it too. People just balk at what they do not know and cannot understand. It will take a moment. With everything else going on, I just don't want to dump too much on them too fast. This way it will give us time to learn each other's Enchantment."

"Put a time limit on it though," Malachi insisted. "A secret this large won't keep for long. They never do."

"No longer than a month was all I was considering," Esta stated. "Of course, the guards we brought with us?—"

"Will not be a problem." Malachi's voice was laced with determination. "Say no more. The reason they're here at all is their loyalty to the both of us. Leave it to me."

"We leave for Dra Skor the day after tomorrow," Esta reminded us. "I would like to get a better feel for Keir's powers and he needs some flying and shifting lessons."

"If we can rouse him tomorrow," Malachi laughed. "The man is dead on his feet. He just shifted today. You know how those first shifts take it out of you."

"I'm fine," I argued. "Other than the disappointment in not being able to breathe fire. "

Esta laughed and gestured to Malachi. "Go. We all need the sleep. We will discuss what to tell my advisors and family tomorrow."

Finally, we were alone in my room. I felt the heaviness of sleep calling to me, but there was something we needed to discuss first.

"Esta?" I asked gently.

"Yes?"

She looked as sleepy as I felt. "Is there a reason you have not spoken to me down our bond?" It had been bothering me all day. I had tried twice now, and though I could have sworn she heard and felt it, she'd done nothing back. Said nothing back. Was the tether not as strong for her or something?

"I—" she paused. "Let me be clear. It is not that I am disappointed we are soul bound."

I grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, giving her the space to explain and fighting my urge to get defensive.

"I just know the gravity of what it means. I do not reject it. Do not reject you. Just please let me come to it on my own terms. I am a bit surprised."

"I thought you wanted this?" I asked her. "It was your idea."

"Keir, again, I do not regret this," she said her eyes on mine. "Not for a moment. This is just more than I ever could have imagined. Heart bound was what I wanted and thought I needed, but to find out we are soul bound ?"

"What is your issue with soul bondings?"

"The issue is that I am angry. At myself. For the way I treated you when you first arrived. The way I shoved you away. The way I assumed we could not be... this . The way I ever foolishly assumed I could get you out of my system." She inhaled deep and closed her eyes a moment. "I do not regret this at all, but I am not ready to forgive myself for the way I treated my soul mate."

"Es," I tried. "There is nothing to forgive." She was punishing herself and it was entirely unnecessary .

She brushed at a tear. "I will get there, okay? Give me some time? I feel it. I know it's there." She looked at our hands and again repeated, "I just have to come to it on my own terms. Our heart beats are the same rhythm now, Keir. And it is the most beautiful but terrifying thing to me. I can protect myself. I would die for Dra Skor. But I cannot and will not lose you." Her voice caught and dragged over the words, "I just cannot."

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered.

"I know," she agreed. "But I heard you say to Malachi when I was in and out of sleep that I am now unbreakable. Which simply isn't true. If something were to happen to you, I would break so hard I would never possibly be whole again." She took a shaky breath. "My nana and my grandfather were soul bound. When he died it took her years to recover. I have seen what a bond like that does to a dragon shifter when they lose their bond. She felt him in life, and she also felt and suffered his death right along with him."

I tried to picture that against the strong woman I knew her grandmother to be. How deeply life and love had cut her.

"You are my greatest love, also my greatest weakness because now all of Dra Skor will know that to get to me, all they must do is get to you. And my dragon instincts want to burn whomever and whatever would dare come near you. I've suspected before now that they are after you, but knowing what you are to me, my instincts are raging at me to keep you safe." Another pause, one long enough I wondered if she was fighting the urge to shift. "That was why I pushed for this to remain a secret for now. Because until we unmask the real monsters of Dra Skor, I do not want them to know how closely we are tied."

"How fiercely we choose one another," I added, finally understanding where she was coming from. She was scared. Not of the bond itself, but of all that it meant, of how it would all play out back in Dra Skor. Her intention was to protect. "I'm not sure I can keep myself from using our bond," I told her. "It feels too natural. Too right for me to do so."

"You may use it." She smiled at me. "And I will use it back when I'm ready. I just need to come to grips with how close I was to destroying the best thing that ever happened to me. And that whatever is going on in Dra Skor may come for you because of this. Because of me. I foolishly thought I needed this to keep you safe, I should have considered this possibility more, what our being soul bound would do. The danger it now places you in."

"They've been coming for you for months, Es," I reminded her.

"They can come for me . That I can handle, but I cannot handle them coming for you . I would set the entire realm ablaze, flying high in the clouds while I watched it all burn, before I would allow them to do that."

I smirked. "That's rather violent of you."

" Fierce ," she said, repeating my earlier word, "you will soon learn does not even begin to cover how a dragon shifter feels toward their mate."