Chapter 14

Corin

"You are certain we can't take you any further?" Zsekhet asked me. We were standing side by side at the top of a slight hill, looking out over the rolling, lush terrain in front of us. It was heavily wooded but wet, like the marshlands of the Copper Tooth Clan combined with the forests of Thunder Rock. We had well and truly traveled beyond the territories most of us ever managed to see.

At Zsekhet's question, I tapped the silvery disk that hung from a string around my neck. It didn't look like much, but that little disk was the only way a Naga could ever hope to find the Sacred Shaman Training Grounds. Not only was it an invitation-only kind of place, and those invites were offered only to individuals with an aptitude for the job or to Queens, but the Sacred Training Grounds moved. So, if you ever lost your invite, you'd never be able to find them again.

"Yes," I said to the Serqethos male. Shamans and Serqethos dragon riders were the only ones who could travel Serant at their leisure. Zsekhet had seen far more of the world than I could ever hope to see, and I envied him for that. Standing next to him, so close to where the Sacred Training Grounds were located, made me feel that thirst for knowledge keenly—the very desire that had once put me on the path to becoming a Shaman. "Any closer, and you might as well come all the way. The Shaman leaders won't be happy if you learn their secrets."

Zsekhet looked horrified at the prospect, and that almost made me laugh. I would have if I weren't so nervous about coming back here. I didn't know what my former teachers were going to think when I showed up. Sympathetic for Reid's plight, of that I was sure. But me? I might end up shunned. My fists closed around the disk I'd worn without fail for the past twenty years. I might lose my invitation. It was a stupid thing to hold onto, and it was worth losing if it would save the life of my friend.

"What about your mate?" Zsekhet asked, and it was my turn to look horrified. He laughed, his black horn glinting in the early Serant light, but that laugh faltered when I couldn't manage to get my expression under control. My mate? Why was he using that word? I must have slipped up. Did I look at her too long? I didn't believe for a minute that Min-Ji had said something to another Naga male; she was too loyal for that.

Then I yanked my eyes from the golden twinkle in Zsekhet's and looked over my shoulder at the two females. They were at the small makeshift camp, sitting beside Reid—one crown of black hair, the other a bright copper hue—bent close together as they whispered. She would have told Cosima, maybe, and Cosima would have told her mate. I'd purposely closed my ears to the noises coming from their little tent last night, for obvious reasons. I had missed the part where the couple talked about us.

"You tell anyone, and I will kill you!" I hissed furiously. Protective instincts surged through my veins, fear for Min-Ji's life clouding my mind. It was foolish to attack a Naga male with a dragon friend. I had no hope of winning against a sky beast like Sesethul, but I didn't even remember the dragon at that moment. All I cared about was making sure that Zsekhet would never talk and put my mate in danger.

I didn't even remember that I'd pulled a knife, but it was in my fist when I surged forward and pinned Zsekhet against the trunk of a tree. He fought back, rage flashing in his eyes, but he didn't fear for his mate the way I did. I was stronger this time. "You cannot call her my mate. It is a death sentence. You hear me? Her life is in mortal danger if you tell anyone. And I'll know who to blame if she dies! I'll hunt you down and gut you. Understood?"

Zsekhet deflated beneath the arm I'd pressed against his throat. His sharp, black horn had stabbed me in the arm, and I hadn't even felt it. I didn't pay attention to the slow trickle of blood, either. It didn't matter until I was certain he understood how important this was. I had not even told Zathar or Iave, my closest friends, and I knew I could trust them. Zsekhet was a former Serqethos and still new to Haven. A former spy... I wanted to believe that he'd have my back on this, but this was Min-Ji's safety we were talking about; I didn't take risks with that.

"I swear," the golden male hissed, his hands opening at his sides, palms turned my way in a sign of surrender. "I will make sure that Cosima and I never speak a word of your mate bond until you release us from this vow. Please, what is this threat you speak of? I would send Sesethul to vanquish it for you. Nobody deserves the misery that comes with denying a bond… It doesn't end well."

The dragon had not even raised his head from where he lay napping in the clearing just beyond the females. When Zsekhet said his name, his huge nostrils twitched, and one eyelid slowly blinked open. So the beast had heard our scuffle, and he hadn't cared; that was very lucky for me. I couldn't believe I'd taken such a risk, now that my head was starting to feel clearer.

"You can't vanquish this foe for me," I said, and winced when I sounded forlorn, dejected, to my own ears. "You can't kill a queen without starting a war." I raised my eyes from the dragon and the two females sitting at the campfire in front of him, still talking animatedly in hushed whispers. I'd do anything to solve this problem, to make her happy. I loved nothing better than watching her smiles, her genuine smiles when she solved a problem or helped someone. I loved her.

But I couldn't kill a queen, especially not one that commanded superior numbers to ours, made up of our friends and brothers. We couldn't fight them; they were still our family. I had no hope of convincing the queen not to kill Min-Ji either; she would do that in a heartbeat. Humans were so small and frail, so easily injured.

"A queen?" Zsekhet murmured thoughtfully, his gaze on his mate as he contemplated my problem. There had been real rage in him when I threatened him before, but it had vanished without a trace. In its place was the light-heartedness he was known for, tempered by the seriousness of my situation. "That is a problem. A human has no chance of ever defeating a Naga female in a formal challenge..."

I knew that. That's why I'd hidden our bond. If the Queen found out about Min-Ji, that would be the first thing she'd try. I needed to find a way to power her weapon again; that would even the playing field a little. It would upset the other Naga females if that's how a challenge ended, but it wasn't against the rules. All I cared about was that my mate survived.

The possibility of her weapon—something I hadn't known about until the rescue mission—tantalized me. It still couldn't be worth the risk, not until I knew how good a shot she was, and how she'd hold up against a living opponent. I'd overheard her telling Kalani about what had brought their skyship down to Serant. She'd shot a male then, bravely doing the right thing to save the others, but could she do that again?

"I will keep her safe by hiding our bond," I said to Zsekhet, and my glare made it clear that I expected him to do the same. "You do not need to worry about denial symptoms. It's not like that." It would have been a concern if not for our passionate encounters. They had eased some of the denied hunger that would have torn me apart otherwise. It was selfish to use her that way, but I still couldn't regret it.

Zsekhet held out his hands, palm out. "Got it. We'll have to return to Haven. Bitter Storm is still a threat. Good luck." He gave me a nod, then slithered away, snatching his mate up in his arms to the sound of her surprised squeal—one that quickly turned into a laugh. It made me jealous to see what I could have if not for this one female standing in our way.

Min-Ji rose to her feet next to the campfire and gave the couple a very bright smile that I knew hid what she was truly feeling. "Ready to go?" she asked. I should tell her to stay behind, but I couldn't make the words move past my lips. We said our goodbyes quickly, and then I gathered the poles to Reid's stretcher and started the last leg of our journey.

Triff had trouble with the rough terrain: his cleaning disk couldn't handle grass and rocks, so Min-Ji carried him. I needed to find a solution because the little bot was eager to explore everything it saw. Min-Ji even indulged him by bringing his sensors closer to interesting trees, rocks, or other plants—anything that drew his eye. It made me worry that she'd step into a bog without realizing, or that she was tiring herself out too quickly.

If not for Reid's labored breathing and his troubling moans, I might have allowed for a slower pace, but the human male was getting worse. We needed to reach the Training Grounds today because I wasn't sure if he'd make it through the night. Two hours into our journey, I worried he might not even make it to the end of the day. He had started to rouse enough to mutter angry, delirious words, followed by flashes of clarity. In my experience, a warrior was in his final moments when that happened.

"How do you know where to go?" Min-Ji asked. She'd caught on that Reid was struggling and had walked briskly at my side for the past ten minutes. Her eyes flicked from the hill we were climbing down to Reid's sweaty face, her brow furrowed. "It all looks the same to me."

It all looked the same, and I'd never been here before, just like her. Both my hands were required to pull the travois Reid was strapped to, but I jutted my chin horn down to the silver disk hanging from my neck. "This—it vibrates stronger the closer we get, but the vibrations mute if I turn in the wrong direction."

She gave the little disk a dubious look that made me smile; it was cute and made her scrunch up her dainty nose. "Okay, but that doesn't tell you how far it still is, does it?" What she really wanted to know was how Zsekhet had managed to put us down in the right area. She knew that the disk didn't vibrate all the time. My clever mate wanted to solve the puzzle.

"Artek activated it and told us the general area. He has contact with the trainers." It was not a secret I was supposed to share with anyone, but she was my mate. That was different. Once you became a Shaman, you had access to all of them through a private communications network. Artek had linked Haven to his home when he learned we had settled there, and that was as close as I'd gotten to being part of that information network.

"Ooooh!" Min-Ji exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. She opened her mouth to say more, but a sound drew my attention, and I quickly shook my head. The two of us searched the wooded area around us, my eyes quickly fixating on a thin plume of smoke a little to our left. We weren't alone.