Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

SIYANA

“Okay, I know it might look like I’m trying to steal your babies, but I promise I’m just a dumb human that got lost and maybe was a bit too curious when I saw your beautiful eggs.” My voice teetered on the edge of panic at the end, my tone hitching higher and higher as I spoke.

For a moment, the mother only blinked at me, unmoving otherwise, and I remembered suddenly from my studies that dragon’s could understand humans.

Maybe she was a fan of my self-deprecation?

That hopeful thought was short-lived. Seconds later, she was surging forward into the nest, jaws wide as her eyes sparked with the energy of magic I was growing well accustomed to. I didn’t know what magic water dragons were capable of, but I knew it was more than enough to take out one measly human if they so desired.

On instinct, I sank to the ground and wrapped my arms around my body, tucking my head down as much as I could.

This was it. This was how I died.

For a moment, I contemplated reaching out to Theo to tell him I was going to die and that I forgave him for telling me to leave, for the good of us both. It was strange how looming death could, in the blink of an eye, make one realize how trivial their prior issues were.

Maybe I was too sensitive, or felt too deeply, but I wouldn’t change that for the world. What I would work on was listening better, and not hearing what my brain twisted words into—to think before reacting so quickly.

I didn’t want him to blame himself for my death, though, so I shut down the idea of calling out to him. I’d made the choices that led me here. Hopefully, he’d never find my remains and he’d think I’d just left Andrathya.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held myself tightly. Please let this be over quickly . I didn’t want to feel what was certain to be an insurmountable amount of pain.

The ground shook beneath me, and I knew she’d be upon me any moment. My stomach tightened into an iron fist, and I screwed my eyes even more tightly together, unable and unwilling to face the literal jaws of death baring down upon me.

Suddenly, everything was still.

Had it happened so quickly that I truly hadn’t felt an ounce of pain? Had I gone to the afterlife so swiftly? Would the elementals see me fit to experience Elysium? Or had my soul been deemed unworthy?

I prepared myself to face the gods, but as I lifted my head and my eyes opened, I was met with the sight of the same nest surrounding me. What was truly shocking, though, was the baby dragon standing in front of me with his wings out, as if shielding me from the mother.

A hiss sounded, and his scales lifted near the ice-ridge down his spine. The dragon I assumed was his mother had a wickedly sharp-tipped tail flicking around, dangerously close to us. I surged to my feet, barely resisting the sudden urge to get in front of the baby.

She wouldn’t hurt him, would she?

I blinked rapidly, confused by the situation, and unsure whether I should get my hopes up about being left alive for the time being.

The baby dragon began to glow again, and once more, the searing pain above my breast appeared. I tugged at my fur coat, opening it and yanking down my tunic, needing to see why I was in pain there.

“What the…” I breathed out, trailing off as I tried to make sense of the mark on my skin.

A light blue circle was etched into my skin, and as I dipped my head to look closer, I could see what was a dragon that seemed to be curling around to almost eat its tail marked above my breast.

My hands flew to my temples as the walls of my mind were attacked and ripped apart with ease. Pain seared behind my eyes and a deep throbbing began throughout my head, leaving me breathless as I struggled to grapple with the pain.

“You are weak and unworthy of being bonded to my offspring.”

“What? Bonded?”

My eyes were squeezed shut as I fought through the waves of nausea that began to roll through me in combination with the pain. Somehow, I got the impression that vomiting on the floor of the cave wouldn’t endear me to the already infuriated voice in my head.

“Look at me when you are speaking to me, human.”

It hit me then that the rich, commanding voice was a dragon. They were speaking to me as Theo did.

A moist snout bumped against my face and I opened my eyes, squinting as the room spun around me from the attack on my mind. Disorientation in the face of a grown dragon was high up on the list of things I didn’t want to ever feel again.

On instinct I reached out, placing my hands on the baby dragon who’d bravely stepped in front of me, protecting me with his life. The sides of his face were rough, but much softer than the skin I’d felt on Theo’s. It must harden as they age, I reasoned. This certainly wasn’t the time to be thinking such things, but my mind couldn’t seem to latch on to the fact that I was in imminent danger.

The baby’s wings were now tucked at his sides, and he gave his back to the looming threat that was his mother. I didn’t like how exposed it left him, guilt gnawing my insides raw at the thought of being the party responsible for any harm that came to him. I stumbled around him as I dropped my hands to my side. Lifting my arms out at my sides to make myself a bigger target, I planted my feet in front of him.

I attempted to reach back out mentally as I’d done with Theo, but was met with a block, so I settled with yelling out, “Will you hurt him for protecting me?”

Her pupils narrowed to slits as she brought a large foot up before slamming it into the ground. I tried not to focus overly much on the way my legs trembled in response to the earth-shaking stomp of her massive, clawed foot. Her talons dug into the ground, the screeching sounds of rock being gouged through stinging my ears.

“Do not insult me. We protect our young with our lives.”

I kept my arms up, despite feeling him nudge at them from behind me.

“I’d also give mine up for him,” I answered, lifting my chin and trying to muster all the false bravado I could find within myself. “I owe him that, now.”

Her large head jerked back and a chuffing sound came from her, over and over, like she was laughing.

“You owe him far more than that, rider. He awoke at your presence, sensing the soul he found worthy of a bond. Your lives are now intertwined.”

Her large eyes blinked before her massive head swung down to sniff at me. I’d thought Theo’s dragon large, but as she loomed over me, I realized I wasn’t even tall enough to reach above her ankle. The undine shifters must have far advanced magical abilities over the full-blooded undine dragons to even stand a chance in a fight.

I tilted my head back to look up into her eyes. “I don’t understand. I’ve not heard of a human in Andrathya bonding to a full-blooded dragon. How did this happen?”

She shifted her nose to the left of me and I watched her long tongue snake out to lick at the baby behind me. Dragon spit bounced off my face and I flinched, waiting to see if it hurt me in some way. When I realized it wouldn’t, I barely resisted the urge to wipe it off, disgust filling me. Who knows what had been in her mouth recently. A deer or a bear, perhaps.

I dropped my arms, sensing no animosity from her other than her finding me wholly inadequate. The baby dragon I was supposedly bonded to now wobbled out to stand under her large head. She cleaned him off, seemingly ignoring me for now.

I took the moment to glance around, remembering the tiny spawn that also hated me. Sure enough, the smaller baby was wobbling toward us, seeming weaker than my friend. I moved toward them, wanting to help, but once more, it hissed at me.

“She is angry that she was born early and is weak because of it.”

“Was she born early because of me?”

“The connection as twins is strong, and she didn’t want to be without her brother, but now that you are bonded, she will have to be.”

Remorse filled me as the smaller twin hobbled by me. I watched as she plopped down under their mother’s head, seemingly exhausted from her short trek across the nest.

The mental block I felt in my connection to the mother disappeared before she spoke once more.

“Fret not, they will be able to communicate with each other as we are when they come of age. They just have not developed the skill. It won’t matter how far they are from one another.”

Guilt gnawed at my heart from stumbling upon the nest and awaking these two babies before they were ready.

“Is there a way to remove the bond? I don’t want to rip him from his ? —”

She snapped her head up as I spoke to her mind, narrowing her eyes on me as her jaws opened, revealing hundreds of sharp teeth. The lead weight of fear dropped in my stomach, threatening to pull me to my knees until I was prostrated in front of the mother dragon.

“Are you saying my offspring isn’t good enough for you now?”

My hands snapped up as I reasoned with her.

“No! I just don’t know anything about being a rider, as you called me, and I don’t want to take him from his family! I feel like this was a mistake.”

A whine sounded from my bonded as he turned his white eyes to stare at me, like he could sense my feelings.

“Buddy, I’m sorry,” I pleaded, finding myself a lot more comfortable with the big feelings of animals than those of humans. It was only days ago I was considering asking Tillie to stop crying. How far I’d come in such a short time, at least with the upset baby in front of me. “You are worthy of the best human out there. I just don’t know how to take care of you.”

Here I was, wanting to wrap my arms around this dragon until he made happy trilling sounds again. I’d grown soft.

“His name is Kaida and his sister is Katla. I am Sinda. If I am to guess, you are the new queen?”

Kaida. The name felt right, and as I gazed at my dragon and the sadness radiating from him, I knew I’d never be able to walk away from him. He was mine. And I was his.

I walked over to him and ran my hand along his cheek, loving the way he leaned in to my touch and closed his eyes. “Hi Kaida, my name is Sia. Do you want to figure this out together with me?”

A trill of happiness sounded and I laughed, already shocked at how easy it was to sense his emotions. I wished more than anything that we could speak, but for now, I hoped our bond would allow me to know his needs.

Glancing back at his mother, I nodded.

“Yes, I am the new queen.”

She stopped licking Katla and regarded me once more. “I was bonded to the previous queen. Perhaps you will live up to her and become worthy of Kaida.”

She had to mean Theo’s mom, right?

The thought had me reeling with shock, and then it hit me how profound of a loss that must have been, if they were bonded. It had been mere minutes since I had bonded with Kaida’s, and already I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing him. Nor could I imagine how much worse it must be for the dragon, who would live for centuries without me if I were to die young.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

Her large body settled as she sank to the ground, and instantly Katla got up and wobbled to curl up against her mother’s chest. Meanwhile Kaida settled onto the ground next to me. I glanced down as a tickle ran along my ankle and smiled as I found the tip of his tail wrapped around me possessively, or as if he didn’t trust me to not leave him.

“Thank you. She was everything I could have asked for in a rider. Regal and beautiful. Strong yet soft. When our souls touched, it was instant, like you and Kaida, it seems. She didn’t deserve what that foul king did to her.”

I felt the immense sorrow in Sinda’s voice, aching at the loss of a woman I’d never met, yet seemed to mean so much to those I was now meeting.

While I didn’t want to pry, this could be a chance we wouldn’t get again. I wasn’t sure of Theo's knowledge or relationship with Sinda, but I had to try and gain information, anything that could help bring an end to this curse damning the drackya and the women of my kingdom in turns.

“Did she ever tell you of the witch who cursed her husband and all of the drackya? Did she ever mention that she might know how to break it?”

Sinda’s chest swelled as her eyes glowed and sparked with magic.

“I don’t know, but if I could get my jaws on that witch, I’d tear her apart limb from limb, slowly. Why she had to curse an entire species of drackya instead of just killing the king is something none of us will ever understand.”

My shoulders drooped as the excitement of possibly getting some answers fled like a rabbit into the underbrush in the face of a predator.

“But, if you are seeking an answer, you should go to the elementals’ domain. They have the power you are looking for.”

Dread and pride swirled within me in the strangest combination. On one hand, I was thrilled that perhaps I was on the right track of thought with the elementals, but also, they were sentient beings. I was just a mere human asking for help. They could, and likely would, strike me down for wasting their time. Would the reward ever be worth that big of a risk? Yes, I decided in an instant. Yes, if it saved more women and released Theo from a curse he did not earn yet shouldered the weight of daily.

“I thought the same, but I don’t know how to reach them; and if we do, would they even help us?”

Her rumble shook the ground beneath my feet as her head settled down on the ground.

“You would need to cross into the forbidden lands. It is rumored if the gods deem you worthy of entering their world, a portal will appear. If you aren’t, they take your life to feed their own energy, in retribution for seeking them out.”

Instantly, my dread swelled to new heights, completely snuffing out any ridiculous pride I’d initially felt for my idea.

“You mean Sanctum?”

In the center of Edath, bordering all of the kingdoms, was Sanctum. The territory was a neutral ground claimed by none. I heard tales of many disappearing from each kingdom and never being seen again, but the myths I’d heard were that there were sirens within, calling out to lone travelers and drawing them into the mists that covered the land there.

Perhaps the sirens were truly the gods.

“Yes, now take a seat or lay down. The twins will need to sleep deeply to gain strength after their birth, and you cannot leave until Kaida has awoken.”

I glanced down at my dragon and smiled before gently lowering myself to lay next to him. Reaching out, I ran my fingers along his cheek, needing to feel just how real he was as I questioned if this was all a dream and I’d really been killed by his mother.

He purred and tightened his tail around my ankle.

Who would have thought the denial from a drackya would lead me to finding the bond I sought in a full-blooded dragon?