Chapter 31

31

W e hike through the night, weapons clutched in hand, poised for attackers, but the journey is surprisingly peaceful. With each step we take toward the mountain, I can feel the channel between the dragon and me widening. An inexplicable magnet pulls me toward her, causing me to ignore the burning in my thighs, the blisters forming around my heels, and my aching lower back. We push on and on until the pain grows dull and then muted entirely. We reach the base of the mountain as the sun first begins to peek through the clouds, the promise of dawn.

I stare up at the Mountain of Hysphestus, marveling at its size.

"How do we get in?" I pant as we slow.

Jace points upward. "We have to go up to go down."

"You can't be serious." I throw him a look, fitting my hands to my hips. "Why can't we just shadow walk inside?"

"Because we've entered a vacuum for magic. The dragon's power, even in a resting state, absorbs all the magic within miles of the mountain. Anything we do from here on out, we'll have to rely on our physical faculties."

"Now I understand why you were such a grump about the basics," I mumble, idly nudging a rock with my foot.

"Come on." He motions me toward the mountainside, lowering his hand for me to step into. I grapple for leverage as he hoists me up, and I find purchase.

"So if we fall—" I dare to ask as we scale.

"Don't." He doesn't look at me as he hauls himself higher, gripping a rock above him. "If we can make it to that little ledge, there is a path that doesn't require?—"

"Clinging to the side of a mountain while our impending deaths wait below?" I supply, arms straining as I drag myself upward.

He huffs a short laugh. We climb slowly and carefully toward the ledge some ten feet up. Jace reaches it first, pulling himself up with enviable ease. Then he reaches down and hoists me onto the sweet flatness beside him. I breathe heavily as I press up to my knees.

Jace helps me to my feet, and I dust myself off as I follow him up the winding mountain path. Rock dust and pebbled ash crunch beneath our boots as we curl around the thick mountain for hours. The path is only about two feet wide, so we keep tight to the mountainside, wary of every sharp twist and jagged turn.

It finally opens up to a wider ledge a third of the way up. I risk peering over the edge to assess the height at which we now stand. Jace's hand gently wraps around my bicep, pulling me back.

"I don't like that," is all he says in explanation. I jog to catch up to him as he turns toward the wall of rock behind us.

"Worried about little old me?" I tease. Jace ignores me, placing a hand on the red rock and pressing his slightly arched ear to the surface. I watch in awe as he pulls his palm back and thrusts it forward sharply. The rock crumbles beneath the force of his strike, leaving a hole large enough for us to fit through.

God, that's hot.

He turns back to find me gawking, open-mouthed.

"You just punched a hole through a mountain," I sputter. "I thought you said no magic here."

He shrugs. "Who said that had anything to do with magic?" His smirk is cocky and self-satisfied. Giving his arm a gentle whack, I poke my head through the dark opening.

"After you." I toss him a wary look, clearing the path for him. He bravely steps through and holds out a hand to help me over.

We stand inside the Mountain of Hysphestus on a small ledge. A black chasm waits on the other side. As I dare to peer down, I can feel her in a dreamless, restless sleep. I pull back, realizing that one wrong move and I'll be dragon nip.

The ledge leads onto jagged, rock-hewn stairs that circle down to the bottom of the mountain and into the earth below. We keep quiet and close to the outer wall as we wind the descent. The only light we're offered pours in from the gaping hole Jace created with the brute strength of his bare hand.

Tripping over a loose stone, I let out a sharp gasp. Jace is fast, spinning on his heel and catching me around the waist before I tumble over the side. Our tight-pressed chests heave together in uneven synchronization.

The rock under our feet begins to rumble as something stirs below. Our gazes shoot to the ledge in time to catch the crack spidering out, disintegrating the ancient stairs. Jace throws us against the wall, but it does nothing as the entire ledge splits, and we fall.

Our shouts echo off the hollowed-out walls as we plummet with alarming speed. Somewhere during the descent, we lose contact, and the sheer terror that lances through me outweighs anything I have ever felt in my life.

I lose sight of him as we are swallowed by darkness, and the sky rains rock and debris.

My eyes close as I brace myself for the splat.

Instead, I plunge into icy water, my screams silenced instantly. Gasping, I push to the surface, my limbs threatening to seize from the cold. I flail and feel for solid ground. My hands find purchase, and I haul my heavy, sopping body onto the stone, choking up water as I go.

"Jace!" My terror bounces off the cavernous rocks, echoing in my ear over and over. I break into a heavy sob. " Jace !"

I wait in silence, the only sound that of water plunking gently from the walls into the waiting stream.

No response.

" Jace !" My wails break the word into three long syllables as I beat my fists against the stone.

He's gone.

"The goal is to wake the dragon, witch, not the dead."

I whirl to find him before me, water sliding down his dark hair and onto his perfect face. I scramble to my feet and throw my arms around him.

"Happy to see me?" He catches me, folding me in his arms.

"I thought you were dead," I mumble into his chest.

"It'll take a lot more than a fall like that to kill me," he says softly, smoothing my wet hair. "You okay?"

"No broken bones. I'll live." I take a step back from him, taking in our surroundings.

"Well, that was certainly one way to the bottom of the mountain," he says without humor, glancing upwards.

"We made it to the bottom?" I ask.

"Rock bottom." He holds his arms out around him. "Literally. This way. "

We drag our shivering, wet bodies through a dark tunnel that stretches as far as the eye can see. I clutch Jace's arm as we feel our way through the void, not even his preternatural sight offering any aid in black this thick.

I feel something. Something big, looming with every step we take. The tunnel opens up to another massive expanse of rock. Light refracts off of a single torch, near the entrance in which we stand. In the darkness, I can vaguely distinguish the cave to be larger than a football field.

My vision is drawn to a high point in the rock above us, the only source of soft sound. Déjà vu hits me as I watch the dark water droplets slowly pool at the tip of a sharp overhead rock.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

They land on my forehead with a soft plink, and I blink my eyes, wiping them away with the pads of my fingers.

When I bring my hand down, exposed to the dim torchlight, my fingertips are stained a deep blue.

Jace follows my gaze upward to where a female body hangs, pinned against the wall with a massive spike through the gut. Thick, sticky, blue liquid slowly, painstakingly rolls off the tips of her boots and onto our heads below.

Blue blood.

Nausea roils in my stomach as I duck out of the way.

"Oh, fuck," I spit, retreating into the black cave. I'm met with something thick and dense against my back. I turn, my fingers gliding over the cold, slick surface. My hands collide with something hard, like bone. I feel my way up the smooth length as it tapers to a sharp point.

"Serena," Jace hisses.

I suck in a sharp breath as the thing before me begins to move. It slithers along the cave floor, sweeping me off my feet. I throw my arms around it, trying to gain purchase as it picks up speed. As I cross into view of the single torch, the moving surface below me is momentarily illuminated.

Deep purple. Reflective scales.

"Oh my god!" I gasp.

I'm being dragged along by the dragon's tail .

Before I can scramble off, the tail begins to lift off the ground. Fumbling around, my hands find one of the tall, lethal spikes. I carefully get to my feet, wrapping my arms around it. My stomach drops as I ascend, the way it does on roller coaster rides.

A dizzying sense of vertigo hits me as the tail curls deeper, rotating me fully upside down.

I can't stop the scream that escapes me.

The tail pauses at the sound. Blood rushes to my head as I grit my teeth, clinging to the spike with wild desperation. But my hands grow clammy and slick. Panic twists in my gut as gravity tugs at me and I begin to slide downward.

My breath whooshes out of me as I slice through the air. I land with a thud, wincing as my back connects with something flat, rising steadily up and down.

The dragon's back.

Then all hell breaks loose.

The deafening roar that follows sends the rocks above us cascading down over our heads. An explosion of blue fire shatters the darkness, kissing the rock walls and turning them a searing white. The wave of heat that blasts through the cavern is scorching. It's hard to see anything but that blinding fire in the dark.

"Serena!" Jace's voice bounds off the cave walls. The dragon jostles to her feet, causing me to slide further down her back.

I groan in pain as my tailbone connects with a solid spike. Flipping over, I curl myself against it to keep from sliding clean off. A deep rumble comes from below me, and I know what's about to happen.

"Jace! Look out!" I shout a split second before another round of dragon fire erupts. If I wasn't so terrified, the colors of the flames would threaten to enchant me. I can't see anything but the trajectory of that fire. I can't see Jace—I can barely see my own hands in front of me as they feel around blindly.

The sound of rustling chains pulls me back to the present moment.

Think, think, think.

I push to my feet, following the sound of clanking iron as the dragon shifts, stretching her massive legs beneath me. It's like being on a moving obstacle course. I find the chain by tripping over it and land flat on her scaled neck.

Her annoyed growl echoes in my bones as I grapple for the corroded links. A heavy wind tosses my undone hair off my face, accompanied by a loud flapping sound. I can scarcely make out the arching, spiked wings as they stretch behind the dragon's back and begin to beat.

"Shit, shit, shit," I mutter, grabbing the chain a split second before she lifts off the ground and blasts up from the center of the earth. My body swings through the air like a pendulum, slapping against her hard form repeatedly. Ignoring my straining arms, I hold tight as she drives us higher and higher up the dark tunnel. A loud rumble rattles in her throat before blue fire bursts from her mouth and blows out the entire top of the mountain.

We break through the rock and soar into the skies.

I dare a glance down. My heart drops when I see Jace dangling from one of the tall spikes along the dragon's snaking tail.

His grasp slips, and I wail, watching him careen toward a crag of flat red rock below. He tucks into a roll as his shoulder connects with the ground, tumbling a few times before flattening onto his back. I think I see him moving as we disappear into a cloud.

The air pressure is enough to make me lose my grip, but I am determined. I didn't come all the way here just to fall from a fire-breathing dragon.

No. Fucking. Way.

I try to dive into the channel connecting us, but am met with a wall of disorientation. Recently jarred from a two-thousand-year-old sleep, she's acting on instinct alone.

As I slam into her again, I plant my feet against her scales. Using the chain for leverage, I walk my way up her neck, pausing when I reach her mouth and the razor-sharp teeth I can only guess lie hidden inside.

I have to get higher. I have to get her to look at me. If she sees me, she'll recognize me.

When I reach the top of her head, she thrashes wildly, her annoyance flaring. I wrap the chain around my arm for security, flattening myself against her skull. Another sharp toss of her head has me coasting down the slope of her snout and flying over the edge. Her jaw stretches open. Sweat slicks my screaming fingers as the chain goes taut and I dangle inches from her forked pink tongue and the tunnel of her uvula. A loud sound rises from her throat, and time slows.

This is the moment. This is the moment where I either live or die.

In a second, blue dragon fire will spit from her mouth and torch me into dust.

Kicking my feet into her long, sharp fangs, I bound back and swing my legs upward. My fingers release the chain in time to dig my nails into her snout, arms straining to keep me in place.

I stare up into the brightest green I've ever seen .

The cat-like pupils narrow on me and dilate, the black engulfing the green almost entirely. Heavy, leathery lids close over the sparkling orbs before reopening.

The resistance eddies from her as the channel clears, and I can hear her thoughts as if spoken out loud.

Blackblood.

Her purr is like night personified.

Dragon.

Prophyria.

Without warning, she jerks her head up, tossing me high into the air. I scream as my stomach plummets. But she dips beneath me, catching me on the massive sail of her eggplant purple wing. She descends sharply as we burst through a cloud bank, and the red rock of the mountain comes into view.

I spy Jace below—a blip on the large, flat expanse built into the mountainside. A landing strip, I realize as we grow nearer.

He waves his arms above his head as Prophyria dips low and banks, angling her wings downward so that I slide off above Jace. I tackle him to the ground, and we roll a few times before stopping, my body pinning his, our chests rising and falling heavily.

"Hi," I breathe.

"Hi." He breaks into a gorgeous smile that crinkles his golden eyes. I ease off of him, and we get to our feet. I look to the skies. Prophyria has disappeared, along with the loud flapping of her leathery wings.

"It's not over yet," Jace says. "You have to seal the bond by successfully mounting her and taking your first ride as a bonded pair."

I walk to the cliff's edge, Jace by my side, staring down the mountain's jagged descent. Quiet settles for a brief moment. Then a brutal wind tears across the gray skies, sending the loose strands of my hair swirling around my head .

"Call her," Jace says, looking at me. A secretive smile blooms on his lips.

I close my eyes, centering myself. Deep, steady breaths. Then I dive into my own mind—into the channel carved between us.

Prophyria, I whisper into the darkness.

A gentle nudge at the edge of my consciousness answers, like a pet brushing its nose fondly against its master. The sound of wings, beating heavy and hard, grows closer. I open my eyes to a purple-scaled shooting star as she streamlines into sight, cutting through storm clouds and diving toward us.

"Get ready," Jace cautions me steadily.

The large gusts from her wings push back the skin of our faces, making it hard to keep our eyes open. My hair swirls around me like Medusa's snakes as I struggle to keep my feet planted on the uneven ground.

I can feel her approach through our bond like a leash pulling her nearer.

"As soon as she gets close enough, you grab the chain and swing yourself upward with all your strength. Pull hard and use her side to push off. You get on that saddle, and you're safe. And whatever you do," he shouts over the winds, bracing my arm, "don't let go."? *

The earth begins to rumble. Small stones crumble from the mountain's edge, plummeting into oblivion.

Prophyria approaches at a wild speed, and I suck in a sharp breath against the raging wind. Her thick, weathered wings beat fast against her sides as she lowers herself overhead. I dare one last look at Jace before I either make a successful mount or plummet to my death. He nods assuredly.

"On my mark," he shouts, barely audible above the winds.

"Three." My stomach begins to drop.

"Two." I freeze, my muscles locking.

"One."

I remain unmoving as I stare up at the underside of this massive creature. She casts a dark shadow above us, eclipsing what little light the sky offers. The heavy chain dangling from her worn saddle cuts through the air, threatening to take us out.

"Serena, now!" Jace's voice snaps me into action. I launch myself forward just before the chain flies out of reach. The downbeat of her wings nearly knocks me to the ground as I dangle ten feet above the rock. But I latch onto that chain and hold on for dear life. Its aged rust cuts into my fingers as my weight takes me down a few inches.

The pressure of her upward trajectory alone is crushing. Grunting through clenched teeth, I drag myself up the iron links. Once I'm close enough, I swing my legs forward and brace my feet against her underside, using the chain's resistance to scale her body. My arms bleat, straining against the wind to maintain balance. A loud cry escapes me as I haul myself, higher and higher, until I can grab one of her spikes and climb the remaining few like a rock wall. I throw my leg over the half-disintegrated saddle and lift my head.

Then finally, finally , hands bloody and torn, muscles screaming in protest, I sit triumphantly on top of my dragon.

My dragon.

Our bond begins to shimmer in the darkness of my mind, like a glowing chain connecting my heart and head to hers. I grip the reins and pull, and Prophyria responds as if we share one mind. It feels as if we are one soul—she the extension of me and my will. We soar higher and higher, cutting clean through storm clouds. I glance around, terrified and exhilarated, as the opaque mist surrounds us. I loose a laugh when we come out the other side, and I look down at the mountain that now looks miniature from our altitude.

The moment I think about banking right, she obeys.

I let out a wild howl, and she does the same, her roar one of defiance and triumph and pure, unadulterated joy.

She is happy, I realize with a smile.

She has a rider. She has a bond again. She is awake and alive.

My power hums beneath my skin like a song to the tune of freedom and wild, wild will. I lose myself in the euphoria of the ride, the intense wind nipping at my nose and cheeks and hair. I savor the dips in my stomach as we dive and loop, decorating the bland sky with purple chemtrails.

Eventually, I steer us downward to where Jace waits, small as a speck on the cliff's edge. As we near him, I can see the elation I feel echoed on his face.

An obedient purr reverberates through my body as I call to mind a landing. The wind pushes back Jace's dark hair as we descend, casting the mountain in shadow. When we touch down, the ancient rock takes a moment to settle beneath us.

Prophyria's wings gently tuck into her sides. I grip the chains and scale down her massive side until I can make the small leap to the dusty ground. I rise from my crouch to see Jace standing ten feet away.

One look at him, and I know.

I know that everything has changed.

I know he's done fighting. Done pretending there is nothing between us. And so am I.

His shoulders sink helplessly as he shakes his head at me. We each take three long strides toward one another. He reaches for me at the same time I reach for him, welcoming me home into his arms. Our lips connect at the exact moment our bodies do, his hands finding my unbound hair, mine clasping his face .

The kiss is hungry, as if we'd both been starving ourselves for months. I want to drown in his campfire scent, bottle it, and drink it. My mind empties completely as his lips work their magic around mine. We hold each other so tightly it's hard to breathe. But I won't let go. Won't allow one inch of space between us.

When he reluctantly breaks the kiss and pulls back to look at me—his hair messy, lips swollen, as I know mine are—I know we have crossed a line. And there won't be any turning back.

The look we share is one of acceptance. Acceptance of the consequences. Whatever may come.

"You made it," he whispers to me, smiling.

"Did you doubt that I would?" I ask as he leans his forehead against mine in a way that threatens to break my heart. He chuckles, golden eyes twinkling.

"You looked like a queen sitting up there on top of the most fearsome creature in all of Solterre."

"I thought I was the most fearsome creature," I smirk up at him, fingers twining behind his neck.

"You are frightening in many ways." His arms tighten around my waist. "But you don't scare me."

"Does this mean I can stop training, and you'll start being nicer to me?"

He huffs a laugh, interlacing our fingers and brushing his lips against my knuckle.

"I told you. I'm never nice," he reminds me, but a look of sadness crosses his eyes, his brows furrowing.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I have wanted you for so long," he admits, distracting himself with my hair, my leathers, my hands. "The only way I knew how to push you away was with cruelty. If I could make you hate me, then there would be no chance for us. I said so many things I didn't mean—did so many things I regret. I tried to hurt you purposefully. I did hurt you. I am more sorry than you could ever know." He is still unable to look me in the eye. I take his face in my hands and force him to look at me.

"I have wanted you since the moment I saw you. Since you threw me in a cell and stabbed me in the leg." I laugh, shaking his arms. "And I want you now."

"Even after everything?"

"Had you done even a single thing differently, I wouldn't be standing here right now. I would not have been able to do this—" I point to where Prophyria rests. "You showed me how to be strong, even when it hurts. I needed someone to push me. I needed someone to push against." I give his chest a playful shove, earning a small tweak from his lips.

I brush my mouth against his in a gentle kiss. He stills, his eyes closing. I kiss him again, and some of that tension in his face dissolves. Another kiss and it is gone completely. He groans against my mouth, pulling me in deeper. I let him take the lead, and he devours me. My knees actually weaken as he wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me off the ground. I squeal.

Prophyria heaves an annoyed sigh at the PDA, not even bothering to be stealthy about it. Jace puts me down, and we stare at her, still holding each other.

"Now what?" I ask.

"We fly home."

* ? Cue: Risk by Gracie Abrams