CHAPTER 60 - MEDRA

The Dragon Court was quiet under the silver glow of the moon. Long shadows stretched from the towering statues of the four dragons, their stone scales gleaming in the faint light.

I walked across the courtyard.

A figure moved in the shadows.

Blake stepped out of the darkness. For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

He looked as if he belonged to the world of shadows and moonlight more than to the realm of flesh and blood. His white linen shirt clung to his lean chest and broad shoulders, fitted enough that I was reminded of his strength. He had a black jacket slung casually over one shoulder. As he walked towards me, he tossed the jacket onto a bench, and my heart fluttered wildly in my chest.

He was... impossibly handsome. More beautiful tonight than I'd ever seen him.

"Pendragon," he said. Then more softly, "Medra."

A small smile tugged at my lips. I wanted this. I'd spent so long pretending that I didn't, but now, in the dead of the night, with Blake looking at me like that, all the denials seemed utterly pointless.

When he spoke my name like that, I couldn't hold onto the anger or the hurt. All I felt was the pull. The irresistible tug that had always drawn us together and that seemed even stronger lately. Urging us to be one, no matter how much I fought it.

His hand reached out, brushing against my cheek with surprising gentleness. Before I could think better of it, I leaned into his touch.

He kissed me.

The kiss was hot, urgent, igniting every nerve in my body.

I kissed him back eagerly, my hands reaching up to tug at the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer, as if afraid if I let go, he might disappear back into the shadows.

His hands settled on my hips, strong and possessive.

Time stopped. There was no guilt, no fear. No past, no pain. There was only this. Only him.

Blake deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding between my lips, and my head spun. How many times had I told myself I hated him? But now, all of that seemed to dissolve.

He'd changed. He'd shown that, hadn't he? He'd protected me. I'd seen how much he protected the people he cared about, how much it hurt him when he failed. He had a softer side. Just look at him with Neville.

Maybe, just maybe, we could move past all of the hurt and the bitterness. Regan was out of the picture. It was just the two of us now. Maybe we could find something real. Forge a true partnership. Find something worth fighting for.

Blake pulled back slightly. He slid his hands up my body and I gasped. Then he raised one hand and touched one of my long, red curls. "You're so beautiful, little dragon," he whispered.

His voice was almost reverent. I found myself melting under the intensity of the words.

Never ever had I been drawn to anyone like I was to him.

He kissed my lips, my cheek, the curve of my jaw. I curled my fingers into the fabric of his shirt, pressing my body closer to his.

His lips grazed my neck. "Medra," he whispered, the words soft and tender. "Let me take care of you."

I could feel the strength in him. Raw power tight beneath the controlled exterior. It thrilled me to touch him, to sense that strength, to know it was for me.

His mouth hovered over the pulse point of my neck. I felt a sense of peace, of trust.

Then I felt his fangs.

A sharp pressure. Then a sharp sting as his teeth pierced my skin.

My eyes flew open as pain jolted through me. For a split second I was frozen, too stunned to react.

Then, with all the strength I could muster, I shoved him away.

He stumbled back. For a moment, he looked wounded, confused, as if he couldn't understand why I'd pushed him.

A smear of my blood stained his lips and I felt a wave of fury flood over me.

His hand flew to his mouth and he wiped at the blood.

I pressed a hand to my neck, feeling the droplets from the two small punctures.

"What the hell are you doing, Blake?" My voice trembled with shock and anger. "You were going to feed on me? Without even asking?"

He took a step towards me but I recoiled. I'd been ready to forgive him, to move past everything, and he had tried to claim me–in the worst possible way.

Blake's expression hardened. "I don't need to ask you."

I think that was the moment my heart cracked.

I stared at him. "I beg your pardon? I think I just misheard you."

"You must know this is the next logical step," he insisted. "It's what we're supposed to do."

I shook my head. "The next step? The next step would be... I don't know. A walk. Dinner. More talking, less fighting." I put my hands to my head. "Not you taking my blood without asking."

His handsome face flushed.

"Anyhow, don't you have blood brothels for that? Thralls? Willing blightborn? You don't need to do this."

"I don't need a blood brothel. Or a thrall. Not anymore. I only need you."

"Is that supposed to be romantic?" I gave a harsh laugh. "It's not working for me."

"It's the truth. We're bonded. I don't need to ask to take what's mine." His eyes were wild. He was hungry. How long had he gone without blood, I suddenly wondered. I knew he hated to use thralls. When was the last time he had fed? How long could a highblood go without feeding?

"You're insane if you think that's true," I said coldly. "I'm not yours. I am not your property."

He took a step towards me and I held up my hand in warning.

"Just listen," he pleaded. But there was no hint of apology in his voice. "From the moment your lips touched my blood and from the moment mine touched yours, the bond was complete. I can't feed from anyone but you."

"What did you just say?" I stared at him as if I might be able to will fire from my eyes. "From the moment my lips touched your blood?"

He nodded slowly.

"You lied to me." I was shaking with rage. "You said your blood would protect me. You said nothing about it speeding up this bonding process or whatever the hell this is."

"I didn't tell you. I couldn't. I knew you'd say no."

"You're right," I said. "I would have. You lied to me. What you did was a violation. I would never have drunk your blood if I had known that."

"Then you would have died," he said bluntly. "I needed you to trust me. It was part of the process. You can't force the bonding. Or it won't be as strong."

The words crashed down around me.

"Do you really think you would have survived against Regan? Against three highbloods, without my blood inside you?" He shook his head. "You're strong and you're fast and you're the smartest woman I know. But even you aren't that good. You must have known, you must have sensed what my blood was doing for you."

I said nothing. He was right and I knew it. But he was also deeply, horribly, troublingly wrong. So wrong.

I felt numb. I stared past him, my eyes landing on the black stone dragon of House Avari. A deep crack ran down its side. The tremors. The quakes must have been damaging the stone statues. I wondered if they could be repaired.

The crack called to me. Reflecting the one splitting my heart in two.

"That doesn't excuse it," I said, my voice low. "I deserved a choice. I still do."

"If you don't let me feed, I'll die," he said. "So what's your choice?"

"Die then," I hissed. "Because I won't save you. Not like this."

"I've saved your life, over and over again, Pendragon. I've killed for you. Bled for you. I did it willingly and I'd do it again."

"I never asked you to do any of that," I shouted.

"That's what mates do for one another," he shouted back. "Don't you feel it? This... compulsion? We are bound, you and I."

I shook my head. "I don't know what's real. I don't know if anything I'm feeling is true. If I believe what you're saying, then we weren't bound until you tricked me into taking your blood. So what is this I feel now? Wanting you? It's all a lie."

"It's not a lie," he insisted.

"I thought you'd changed," I interrupted, my voice rising. "I thought maybe we could move past everything that happened this year. The way you treated me. The way you spoke to me. But I was wrong."

"Medra, I..."

‘No," I said coldly. "I think I liked it better when it was just Pendragon. Because you don't know me. And I clearly don't know you. You've bullied me, tormented me, humiliated me. I know what you did with Visha. She told me."

He looked taken aback and I felt a surge of satisfaction.

"She told me the truth," I repeated. "You sent her after me that very first day. You, not Regan. You wanted me to fail. I could have died."

"She lost herself to bloodlust. I went and got Sankara as fast as I could," Blake protested. "I didn't want you to fail. I wanted to test your mettle, that's all."

"Sankara. Right. Sankara not you. You could have stepped in at any time if you'd really cared. You could have stopped her, undone what you'd started. But you didn't. You got a teacher to do it instead. And I'm sure you only did that because, what? You were afraid of getting into trouble?"

"No, because even then, I felt something for you," he insisted. "I wasn't supposed to care about you. I never was. But I did. I do. More than you can..."

"I don't care," I cut him off, my voice flat. "I don't care if you cared then. I don't care if you care now. I don't care about any of it." I shook my head. "I don't want you. I don't want this. You think that just because you come from a family, no, an entire culture, of people who manipulate and control one another that you can do that to me with any repercussions? Well, you can't, Blake. I won't let you."

His eyes darkened. "What's done is done."

I stared at him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we're bound, whether you like it or not. I can't undo that, even if I wanted to."

"And you don't," I whispered. "Do you?"

He didn't respond, just took a step towards me.

"We're mates now. Of the highest order. I can't feed from anyone else, even if I wanted to. And your body..." His voice softened, but a dark undertone remained. "Your body will respond to my call. Whether you want it to or not."

My mind reeled. "That's not true. It can't..."

"It is true." Blake cut me off, taking another step closer. "You feel it, don't you? The pull."

"No." My voice was sharp with fear, but a traitorous warmth was spreading through my body, despite my protests.

"I'll have to show you," Blake murmured.

I turned on my heel, my only thought escape.

"Stop," Blake commanded.

I froze. I couldn't move. Couldn't walk. My body was betraying me.

Panic ebbed through me. Invisible chains pulled me back towards him.

I gasped. "What are you doing to me?" I choked out. "You're using thrallweave."

I slammed up my mental wards, trying to shut him out. But there was nothing there. I couldn't feel him in my mind.

Yet my body was clearly under his control.

Blake stepped closer. "I'm not," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. "This is the bond."

His eyes were dark and hungry. "I'm sorry it has to be this way."

His mouth hovered over my neck. His hand lifted the hair away.

"No," I whispered. I was trapped, caught in a spell I hadn't even known was being worked upon me.

Blake didn't hesitate. He sank his fangs into my neck with sudden force, piercing my skin.

I gasped. The pain was instant, sharp and hot.

I could feel the blood pulsing from my veins into his mouth. My body shuddered.

My breath came in quick, shallow gasps. My mind screamed for me to push him away.

But my hands wouldn't move.

The pain began to fade. Something almost like pleasure replacing it.

I lifted my hands, not to throttle him, but to tangle them in his hair. "Blake," I pleaded.

"I feel it, too," he murmured, between pulls. "We can't deny it. We aren't supposed to. It's never been so good. You're mine now. Always."

Blake's fangs were deep in my neck, his lips pressed firmly against my skin as he drank.

He wasn't stopping. The pull of my blood called him.

Something was changing. Energy was draining from me. My body, once warm with heat, was beginning to grow cold. I tried to move, tried to shove him off, but my limbs were weak.

"Blake..." I gasped.

He didn't stop. Or he couldn't. His hunger, his need, seemed all-consuming.

His grip on me tightened as he drank deeper, more urgently.

My vision began to blur, the world around me starting to slip away. I felt my body shaking. The ground was trembling.

But it wasn't just me.

The stones of the Dragon Court were shaking.

Suddenly, we were thrown to the ground, Blake's fangs ripping from my neck, as our bodies collided with hard stone. I cried out in pain but my voice was drowned out by the deafening sound of stone erupting around us.

The entire courtyard was vibrating with incredible force.

Blake rose up over me, wrapping his arms around me, and shielding my body with his own. "Stay down," he growled, his voice harsh.

"Get off," I choked out, struggling weakly against him.

But he wouldn't move.

A huge chunk of stone crashed nearby, sending dust and debris swirling into the air.

Then another fell, striking Blake on the head.

I screamed as blood began to trickle from a gash on his forehead, dripping onto me. But still, he didn't move. His breathing was heavy, his muscles tensed as more stone rained down around us.

Amidst the chaos, something caught my eye.

The stones that were falling. Every single one of them was black.

The ground shook again, harder this time.

There was a shuddering roar. I watched Blake's eyes widen.

But I already knew what was happening. Maybe part of me had known all along.

I watched Blake turn his head just in time to see the black dragon's stone shell begin to crumble and the ancient beast beneath begin to move.

Layers of rock slid away from the dragon's body, revealing sleek, midnight-black scales.

It shook its wings free from the debris, unfurling them with a powerful snapping sound.

With another, earth-shattering roar, the black dragon stretched its wings wide, blocking out the moonlight.

The sight was horrifying. Utterly magnificent. Utterly terrifying.

I pushed against Blake. "Move. Blake, move." My voice was hoarse, desperate, and this time, he did as I said.

I scrambled to my feet, my body weak. I shook my head a little and stepped towards the dragon.

He was looking back at me.

The creature was immense. Seeing the skulls had been one thing. This was another.

His wings stretched wide, every inch covered in shimmering black scales, an impenetrable-looking armor.

His eyes were deep-set, reptilian, glowing like embers in the dark.

His head was long, graceful, and crowned with dark, spiraling horns.

He lowered his head slightly and his jaw parted, revealing rows of razor-sharp, white teeth.

My heart raced, but still I took step after step towards the dragon.

Then I heard him speak.

"Thank you for waking me."

I froze. He was speaking in Classical Sangrathan, his mind to mine.

"I didn't wake you," I replied, my voice trembling slightly. "I think perhaps there's been some mistake."

"No mistake." The dragon's head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing as he regarded me. Despite his massive size, there was an elegance to his movements. "You spoke the words. You severed the binding. You brought me back."

"I don't understand..." I began. Then my thoughts flew back to the incantation I had performed in the very same courtyard, months ago. The one I had used to break the soul-binding.

"By blood and breath, by night and sky," I whispered. "The binding of souls I sever."

The dragon inclined his head slightly.

"Let what was trapped be freed to fly,

No longer bound forever.

From heart to soul, from blood to bone,

Let life return where stone has grown.

What's locked away, now shall take flight,

Awakened be the soul tonight," he recited. "Old words. Powerful ones."

"I don't understand," I whispered back. "The ritual. It was meant to end the binding. To set a soul free."

"And it did," the dragon pointed out.

"But I didn't mean...to bring something back."

"Perhaps the pages of your book were stuck together," the dragon growled, voice tinged with amusement at my predicament. "You performed a ritual meant to end a soul binding, yes, and to return a soul to life. And now, I am awake."

The dragon's wings beat slowly, sending gusts of wind through the courtyard that rattled the pebbles and debris and blew my hair back.

My mind raced, frantically trying to remember everything I'd read in Professor Rodriguez's books about dragons.

Dragons weren't mindless beasts. They were intelligent, ancient beings with vast wisdom and power. They lived longer than blightborn. Most could live longer than highbloods. Bonding with one was an almost sacred act and a dangerous one. It required initiation. Bonding was the only way to tether a dragon's loyalty.

I couldn't believe I was actually thinking of attempting it. Not after what Blake had just put me through.

But if I didn't at least try, what would happen to me?

My thoughts scrambled as I sifted through what I could recall about the rituals, the methods. I could feel the dragon's eyes on me, watching my every move with a sort of detached curiosity.

Time was slipping away.

"Nyxaris, Duskdrake of House Avari," I began. My voice was trembling. Would this ancient creature really respect anything I had to say?"

"Ah, so you know my name," the dragon rumbled. "And are you of House Avari, young one?"

"No, but I... I need to initiate the bond," I stammered. "I can't let you leave. I'm the only dragon rider in Sangratha." The words sounded absolutely ridiculous as they came out of my mouth.

The dragon must have thought so, too. He snorted, hot puffs of breath washing over me. I flinched.

"Nyxaris of House Avari, you... you are magnificent. Your scales shine like the night itself, glistening with the wisdom of the ages." I wracked my brain, trying to remember the words I had read. Why, oh, why hadn't I devoted more time to those books? "Your beauty... It's like the stars. Each star must quiver as they see your majesty. Bound to you in reverence."

The dragon's eyes narrowed slightly and I could feel his amusement growing, but I pressed on, my voice gaining strength.

"You are the most powerful being this world has ever known. You've endured centuries. Seen empires rise and fall." I had no idea if any of this was true, but it sure seemed possible. "No one else, not even another dragon, could possibly match the depth of your knowledge or the breadth of your courage or the strength of your powerful wings."

Nyxaris let out a low rumble. "Flattery, little one?" The dragon's voice was ripe with amusement. "You think you may charm me into submission?"

My heart raced. "Not just flattery, O Black Nyxaris. Sincerity. I see your greatness. I sense your wisdom. You deserve to be honored, revered... and to have a rider worthy of you. Someone who can carry your legacy forward and stand loyally by your side."

I took another step closer, my eyes locking with the dragon's gaze. "Let me be that rider. I'll be your companion, never your master." Somehow that seemed important to say. "I will never bind you or hold you back." As if I could if I tried. "Together, we can..."

Nyxaris made a low resonant noise. The sound vibrated through the air, shaking the ground I stood on, and I wobbled, throwing my arms out to keep my balance.

It was a laugh, I realized. The dragon was laughing at me.

"Let me stop you there, child. Enough. Do you think I am so easily swayed by flowery words?"

Panic flooded through me. I closed my eyes, searching for the words I had read, the phrases used by riders who came long before me.

I raised my hands, palms up, and sank to my knees, trying one last time. "By blood and breath, by night and sky, I pledge myself to you, Nyxaris of House Avari. Your beauty, your power are unmatched. Let my soul be bound to yours, my life to your flight. Together, we will..."

"Stop." Nyxaris's massive head tilted slightly, his eyes growing brighter and more cold. "Do you not think I have heard these words before, spoken by riders now long dead? Do not waste your breath. I will not fall for it again."

My heart sank. "What do you mean?"

The dragon moved backwards, his wings beating a little faster.

He was getting ready to fly. He'd leave me here behind and never return.

"Nyxaris, please," I begged, my voice cracking slightly. "If you leave, I think they'll kill me. They'll kill me if they think you aren't coming back and that it was my fault. I can't survive without you."

Nyxaris's eyes remained locked on mine, cold and unwavering. "Then, little one, you had best get very good at lying," the dragon growled. "Make them believe I will return, if you wish. But I have no plans to do so."

Something in the dragon's eyes softened as he looked at me.

"You have freed me from a cursed slumber. Restored my soul in an unasked for gift. But make no mistake, that is the only reason you are still kneeling there on the stone. Any other creature, I would have already burned to ash." I felt a shiver go down my spine. "Especially that highblood man skulking behind you," Nyxaris added.

"So you do not consider yourself bound to House Avari?" I asked, trying one last time.

"No. Even if I did, you are not of that house. Are you?"

I shook my head wordlessly.

"Do not mistake this for kindness, little one." The dragon's words held a quiet, terrifying power. "It is simply gratitude. Fleeting as it may be."

Nyxaris gave a final, dismissive glance towards me, and then unfurled his wings fully, beating them against the air with a force that rattled the stones.

Slowly, the dragon's black-scaled body rose up from the courtyard.

My breath hitched as I watched the dragon lift higher and higher, his great wings stirring the air like a storm. The wind was whipping through my hair, pushing me backwards, and yet I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Nyxaris was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen and in a moment, he'd be gone forever.

With another powerful beat of his wings, the black dragon rose up over Bloodwing Academy. As he soared, he roared and the sound echoed across the stones, shaking the walls of the courtyard.

Every student, every professor at Bloodwing would have heard that roar, if they had not already felt the tremors. Many had no doubt rushed to their windows and even now were witnessing the dragon's ascent.

Nyxaris banked sharply, wings catching the wind as he turned in the direction of Veilmar. He flew away from me, across the moonlit sky, his black form slowly becoming nothing but a distant shadow over the city.

For a moment, I stood there, frozen, the courtyard now eerily silent. The wind had settled. Yet I could still feel the echo of the dragon's presence.

The enormity of what had just happened settled into my bones.

I had awakened a dragon.

Finally, I turned around.

Blake stood behind me, his eyes wide, still staring up at the sky where the dragon had vanished. His face was pale, streaked with blood from the wound on his head.

Our eyes met, the weight of everything hanging between us unspoken, too vast for words.

A dragon was free. The world had heard his roar.

There would be no going back.

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