Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

THEO

“Great job, buddy!” Sia called out to the smaller dragon, whom I’d somehow been convinced to allow myself to be tied to with a rope.

I swore this was her version of long-term payback for tying her to me on that horse. She could tell me she was over it all she wanted, but I knew my girl could hold silent grudges. I’d be hearing about how I almost killed her the first day we met until we actually did die.

Not only had Kaida ridden on my back for a majority of the trip, but I also had to slow down every time Sia asked me to, to allow him to stretch his wings and fly. I was merely a resting zone and guide for the little shit.

That was a stretch of the truth. I suppose I didn’t have to do anything, but ever since I’d stopped fighting this draw to my wench yesterday, I found myself filled with this consuming need to ensure she was satisfied and fulfilled—my pride be damned. I didn’t want to give her a single reason to walk away from this now that I’d had a taste of her.

I craned my head around to watch him out of one eye, finding him gliding and doing small barrel rolls like I’d taught him in the caves. The end of the rope being tied around his ankle allowed him far too much freedom in my opinion, but after trying to compromise with my wife, we’d ended up doing exactly what she wanted anyways.

Is this what marriage truly looked like?

Pride and annoyance warred for the main slot in my brain as her energy remained focused on Kaida. To say I had been struggling with jealousy since finding her in the quickening with the small dragon would be an understatement.

Light spilled through a break in the clouds, illuminating the pinkness that bloomed on her cheeks anytime she grew cold. Her lips turned up at the corners as she smiled and clapped for the small blue dragon showing off for her. A brightness had appeared within her eyes when she’d bonded to him, to which I was grateful. At the same time, I was insecure of how a bond between us would make her feel if we were lucky enough to establish one.

Would he come first, or would I?

My mother had made it abundantly clear that Sinda would come first before my father my entire life. As a child, I’d never understood how that was possible. We were taught from a young age that finding our mate was of the highest honor and to be cherished. Perhaps it wasn’t the same for the human involved in the bond, only the drackya.

As if sensing my nervous thoughts, Sia’s head turned toward me. While the smile she gave Kaida was full of warmth, it was nothing compared to the way she looked at me now. Eyes wide, her braid whipping in the wind behind her, and utter joy lifting her cheeks as the edges of her eyes crinkled with her smile. The silver hilt of her sword gleamed at her hip, and if we weren’t in the sky, I would shift back, forever tempted to let her ride me in another manner.

She truly looked like a queen.

She looked like mine.

“Hey, handsome.”

I fucking preened beneath her, my wings stretching out further as a shiver ran the length of my body, causing my scales to scratch together. I hated how soft she made me, yet I also didn’t want to go back to who I was before she’d broken through.

“You find my dragon appealing?”

I internally groaned at the eagerness in my tone. We’d never discussed her thoughts of my dragon, and I’d just assumed she tolerated it when I needed to fly us somewhere. While I knew full-well that the curse was created to ensure humans were repulsed by us, that insecure part of me still yearned for her acceptance.

It already felt like a miracle that she’d shifted from the disgust upon looking at me in the council room to accepting my cursed human body. Could she grow to accept my beast in its entirety?

She shifted in the saddle as her smile tapered off, the action sending my hope plunging into the pits of my stomach, swallowed whole.

Perhaps I needed to focus on the wins I’d already achieved with her. They were enough.

I glanced back at the sky in front of us for a moment to check for any threats. The sun was beginning to fade behind quickly gathering gray storm clouds as we approached the southern tip of Andrathya that bordered Sanctum, setting me on edge.

“Appealing may not be the right word,” she hedged and I deflated, having my fears confirmed before she continued. “I find your dragon breathtaking. Your scales glitter beneath the sun, as if clear gemstones have been broken up and fused within them. The way you fly through the sky, as if you’re truly one with it as the clouds wrap around you like a friend. The ice that glistens on the tips of your spikes, deadly and beautiful all at once.”

“Oh.”

Her tinkling laughter filled my mind. “Oh?” she parroted back.

I wasn’t prepared for such a description of myself, and for the first time I could recall, I felt bashful. “Thank you.”

Her hands rubbed across the scales near the saddle, making me rumble at the feel of her not only touching me, but accepting me as I was. “You’re welcome, dragon boy.”

Fuck, I swear I’d find a way to claim her in this life and any other our souls found themselves in. It didn’t matter that we still were unsure of the bonding that would undoubtedly happen. In this moment, she was mine, and I was hers, and everything else that existed outside of that could perish.

Streaks of lightning filled the darkening clouds over the mist-filled central territory of Edath. The rapid intensifying of the storm had me on high alert and second-guessing if I’d made a mistake in allowing the two of them to come. It was as if the sacred space sensed our intent to invade it, warning us to turn back.

To my knowledge, no dragon from Andrathya had ever entered the land. I’d asked those who dwelled within the mountain before we left, and even the most ancient of dragons couldn’t recall an instance of one of their kind, of our kind, venturing to Sanctum. I hoped that even if no one living had, that perhaps one of the elders before them had passed down information. All of their answers had been similar, steeped in fear of the energy that radiated from Sanctum.

I truly believed it was the portal to our elemental gods, or the new home of the witches after being hunted to extinction by dragons. There was no other logical reason for the tales of magic that existed within all of the myths and rumors of the territory.

“Call Kaida down, please. He must stay down as we approach Sanctum and the bordering kingdom’s lands. It is not up for discussion.”

She didn’t argue, instantly filling me with relief as I felt Kaida settle in behind the saddle. I touched his mind, finding it open to me for once.

“If we run into danger, you need to take your rider and protect her. Leave me behind. Do not go back to the humans of our lands, though, no matter what she says. They are not to be trusted yet.”

He didn’t respond, but that was to be expected at his age. I just had to hope he received my instructions.

Our trip had been uneventful thus far, having chosen to skirt the mountains on the western side, opposite my kingdom, to avoid the drackya. Upon crossing through the human’s lands, we’d simply used the low-hanging white clouds to blend in and soar through without issue. I had taken note of the ballistas that had been mounted to the castle walls, though. They hadn’t been present when I’d come to claim my wife, so why were they adding to their defenses now?

The thought was disturbing, and I’d tucked it away to discuss with Sia after we completed the current mission. There was no need to add to her mental load now, when we could do nothing about it at present. Already, her mind was too full of worry with her inadequacies as a human and her limitations, despite more than surpassing my expectations of her skills. It was my hope that in bringing the sword back for her that her heart would settle some.

My eyes quickly swept over the expansive jungle of Eruthya approaching in the distance on our left. Though the forest was thick, I knew their zephyr dragons could be hiding with ease amongst it, or camouflaging themselves with their scales. I detected no movement at the border, only noting small specks in the distance flying around the hearth tree. Rain clouds scattered across their domain, pouring into the lush domain.

“I’ve never been able to see the other lands like this,” Sia admitted, her excitement and wonder clear. “That is the largest tree I’ve ever seen.”

It was easy to forget how sheltered she was as a human in Andrathya. As a whole, the kingdoms did keep to themselves, but it was curious that our humans didn’t bother to educate themselves on what happened outside of their walls.

An obvious reason that they needed this treaty with us to last, if war ever came to our borders. They’d be mere fodder for others to pick off, existing within their small, ignorant bubble.

“That is where the ley line runs to–their hearth tree. It’s where the zephyr dragons and humans live, together,” I explained before tossing my head to the other side. “Can you see the highest mountain peak on our right, in Isomythia? The humans and lithi dragons live inside it, similarly to the cavern system you saw in our mountains. They supposedly have used their abilities to shape entire cities within theirs, built around their ley line within the mountain.”

Before she could respond, an alarm sounded in my head, my beast sensing imminent danger. My head turned in all directions, trying to detect where I felt it coming from.

“Theo, what’s wrong?” she asked, her voice filling with unease. “Kaida and you both began to act on edge at the same time.”

I was relieved to hear that Kaida’s instincts were coming in swiftly. They would need his danger sense if anything happened to me.

The storm in front of us swirled in the sky and strong gusts of wind began to batter my wings. I held strong, cutting lower in the sky as the mist began to flow around us.

“Hang on tightly, both of you!” I yelled at their minds. “I don’t know what we’re flying into, but it doesn’t feel right. Do not get separated.”

Within minutes, we were completely enveloped. Despite my excellent vision, the mist was too thick for even me to see through. I refused to descend any lower, fearful I’d fly us directly into trees, but after what felt like we’d flown for miles with nothing coming into view, I wasn’t sure if anything else even existed in this land.

My wings began to feel heavy as the winds suddenly disappeared, leaving me to hold us in the air at a standstill.

“We can’t stay up here, Theo. We can’t defend ourselves in the sky when we can’t see anything. Let’s go lower and find the ground.”

While I knew there was truth to her words, a gut instinct told me that there was no safety to be found on the ground. Some preternatural knowledge told me there were even further risks waiting for us there. Ones that I wouldn’t be able to defend us from in my current form as easily as I could in the sky.

Could I risk changing into my human form and settle for the magic I could wield to protect us?

It was like the sky itself decided for me, weighing down on my wings and body, making me feel as if I was being crushed to the ground. Tendons strained within me and I knew I’d risk serious injury to my wings if I didn’t give in. I tried to maintain an even balance as we hurtled down, but I knew I was likely rocking Sia and Kaida around as I pitched from side to side.

Please let the ground find us, soon.

As soon as I said the words in my mind, my feet slammed into the dirt-packed ground, sending waves of pain through my legs at the jolting shock. Thankfully, the weight that had pressed us down lifted the second my claws touched down.

“I think it best if I shift back now. How quickly can you and Kaida get off and settled?”

Silence greeted me, and I craned my head around, trying to get eyes on them. “Sia?”

Fear rocketed through me as I tried to turn my head and body in every way possible to get a glimpse of them. I forced myself to stop, focusing on the weight I should feel on my back from Kaida.

I’d been so focused on the force that sent me down to the ground that I hadn’t even noticed I didn’t feel him on my back once the pressure lifted.

“Sia!”

“Kaida!”

No, no, no. I couldn’t have lost them.

A roar ripped from my chest and out of my jaws as despair bowled over me.

How had this happened?

A sinister voice came from seemingly all around me from within the mist. “Tell me, dragon king, what would you give up in order to find what it is that you seem to have lost?”