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“Never said you’d be waiting.” He lifts one of my knees to the top of a padded chair arm, then the other, and stares up at me with a wicked smirk as his hands slide to my ass. “Grab hold, love.”
“What are you—” “Worshipping.” He lifts my ass and brings my hips straight to his mouth.
long, rolling thrust that takes me inch by magnificent inch. “Fuck, you feel like home.”
“Xaden,” I whisper. “I need…I need…” Gods, I don’t even know. “I’ve got you,” he promises, his voice hoarse. “My power, my body, my soul—it’s all yours.” He slips a hand down my stomach and lightly strokes my hypersensitive clit. “Take whatever you need.”
“My body. My soul. My power is all right here. You love me. You will never hurt me. Let go, Xaden.” I call on just enough power to hum along my skin, enough to tell him I’m not defenseless in this moment, and then I shamelessly take every ounce of how good this feels and shove it down the bond. “Oh shit.” His
“He held the Sword of Tyrrendor to my throat after demanding I bring him something. It’s like my subconscious is trying to warn me that they’re going to use you against me.”
He sits up and I mirror the motion, holding the sheet to my chest. “It’s my hand,” he repeats. “You were in my dream.”
“No. They’re my dreams.” He rubs the skin beneath his lower lip. “I’ve had them at least once a week since Resson, and more frequently since Basgiath, but I almost never realize they’re nightmares when I’m in them. When I do, I wake up feeling like someone was there with me, watching.” He looks over at me and pauses his steps. “Like tonight.”
“Because you are.” Xaden lifts his brows. “And he wants me to deliver you.”
“Maybe with you because of the bond, but there’s no way to trip into someone else’s dream.” “There is if you’re a dream-walker.”
“It’s absolutely more dangerous than lightning. It’s a form of inntinnsic,”
“I don’t read minds. That can’t be right.” I shake my head. “You don’t read them. You walk straight into them when unconscious.”
“I did not choose it any more than Tairn chose lightning,” she says defensively. “But you have been known to wander while dreaming. It’s harmless. You’re mostly drawn to him.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Signets are based on our unique bond and the power of the dragon.” My thoughts tumble over themselves as I babble. “And what we need most, so it’s logical that you needed to know everyone’s intentions when you manifested. You had to keep the marked ones safe. But there’s no part of me who wants or needs to know what anyone else is dreaming—” The trembling stops as it clicks and I understand. “Except when I did. I was cut off from her while she slept all those months.”
“Which is what makes you exceptionally dangerous.” His jaw flexes twice. “I can only read someone while they’re awake, and I’m limited by their ability to shield. No one can shield while they’re sleeping. You could potentially walk straight into Melgren’s own dreams and he couldn’t stop you. Probably wouldn’t even know.” His face twists for a heartbeat before he quickly masks it. “Violet, they’ll kill you if they find out. It won’t matter that you’re the best weapon they have against the venin—against me. They’ll snap your neck and call it self-defense.”
“Except I think you meddle, because I wanted to channel on that field and found myself raising my hand instead— What are you doing?”
“Silver One!” Tairn bellows. Xaden’s head tilts, and Maren stiffens. “I’m right here—” “A horde approaches from the east!” he shouts. Bells peal, the loudest of them straight overhead. We’re under attack.
“Fifteen retired, ten active—with you, eleven,” Brennan replies. “Taking over all outposts in Tyrrendor from Navarrian riders left us undermanned.” “Suri?” Xaden scans the foyer. “In Tirvainne.” Brennan flinches. “And Ulices—” “In Lewellen,” Xaden finishes. “So neither of the generals of my army are present.” “Correct,” Brennan confirms. His army.
“If I’m them, I’m flying in small-batch waves to test the barrier of the wards,” Brennan continues. “My recommendation is to station the officers two to five miles east, put the squad of…older riders at the city gates, and assign the cadets to the wardstone as a last defense.” Holy shit does this feel familiar, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with how the last time played out.
“I’m your best weapon,” I interject. “If you won’t put me on the first line, then station me at the gates.” “Absolutely not!” Brennan snaps, leveling a horrified look at me. “She’s right.” Xaden grimaces, then schools his features. “Split the retired riders. Half to the wardstone, half throughout the city in case civilians need to flee for the caves. You’re on the wall, Cadet Sorrengail.”
“Send all of us,” Rhi adds. “It’s not like second- and third-years haven’t seen combat. If it’s fight and die or don’t fight and die, we’d rather fight.” Xaden nods. “Only those who are willing.” “We’re willing,” Dain answers from the step beside Bodhi.
“Fuck,” Xaden says under his breath, then turns to me and leans into my space. “I love you more than this city. Do not die defending it.”
“You have to protect Dunne’s temple.”
“It’s how you save Tyrrendor.” Aaric’s voice drops to a whisper.
“It’s been ages since I’ve honored the color of my scale in such a manner,” Tairn declares with a pitch of pride.
“Look below.” The muscles along my stomach tense. Four wyvern skim the ground at dizzying speed, keeping low as if trying to get by undetected. I swing my gaze, projecting their flight path, and find Andarna waiting in front of a lone structure in a field beyond the walls, flicking her tail. Terror steals the breath from my lungs. “Go!”
“Your inability to follow simple orders will get her killed, and I will not lose her as I did the one who came before!”
“How are you angry? Princes do not make suggestions, and I am an extension of you.” Andarna marches forward, lowering her head in threat. “Am I not everything you wanted me to be? Am I not as fierce and courageous as he is? Is this not what I am supposed to do? Sharpen my claws on the scales of the enemy?”
“Be warned. Should Theophanie appear, I will choose your life over the attendants’.”
“Lift a blade or a hand to wield, and I’ll kill you all. Come with me, and I’ll let the rest live,” Theophanie says
Heretic? My gaze darts between the two women as my mind races in time with my heartbeat. The faded forehead tattoo. Theophanie was a priestess of Dunne.
“Marvelous,” Theophanie says with a smile. “Did that make you feel bet—” Theophanie’s gaze rises to the sky behind me, and she backs away, her eyes widening. “Leave them and go!” she shouts to the approaching dark wielders and breaks into a run toward them. “Now!” All three grasp hands, and the one in the center takes a single step and vanishes. Just like Garrick.
But then they do just that…stop. The one a few feet from my face hangs in midair, its flame-inspired etched edges suspended by a single black band of shadow. Xaden.
“You let this happen to him?” Sgaeyl snaps. I step out of Xaden’s arms and find Sgaeyl’s narrowed eyes and sharp teeth unsettlingly close. “I’m sorry—” “She bears no responsibility,” Tairn argues. Sgaeyl’s head whips in his direction, and a thick wall of shields immediately blocks our connection. Cue fight.
“And I’m glad, or it looks like we’d both be dead. We were almost here when the wards went up.” The wards? My eyebrows rise. That explains the ripple of magic, the wyvern falling from the sky, Theophanie’s fear. “But how?”
“It seemed necessary to fire your wardstone,” Leothan says. My stomach bottoms out. The irids have come.
Asher returned today. Gods help us if anyone finds out. I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive him for what he’s done to her. —Journal of Captain Lilith Sorrengail
“Give him my gratitude,” Xaden says quietly as Rhi races our way. “I will,” I promise, locking eyes with Rhi.
“I give my thanks,” Andarna replies, her head high. “Your human is as dangerous as we feared.” He studies her with a tilted head, and my stomach sinks. Whatever he’s seen has only confirmed the reasons they denied Andarna in the first place.
“There is nothing wrong with her. We can never thank you enough for what you’ve done tonight in firing our wards, but if you’ve only come to point out all the ways you believe her to be lacking, you’ll find Feirge’s greeting warmer than mine.”
“We are separated by many generations but share the same bloodline. Unlike the others you encountered who are of a more distant line, we are of the same den, or would have been had you been raised among us.” He’s her family. My heart clenches.
shield than his blocking us. Leothan. It’s oddly similar to the effects of the serum they dosed us with during RSC. Every part of me rebels at the disconnect, but I owe it to Andarna to stay with her.
“It did not sit well with me that you were judged by the shortcomings of others,” Leothan states, dipping his head to Andarna’s eye level. “Even the dark wielder you seem…fond of.”
“I am bonded.” Andarna’s tail lowers, curving around me. “Our lives, our minds, the very energy that forms us is intertwined.”
“So end it.” He angles his head, and the scales above his eyes furrow into a single line. “Bonds are merely magical ties. You are irid. You are magic. Bend it, shape it, break it as you see fit.”
“Humans should only be capable of bonding a single dragon, and yet you forged a second connection where there shouldn’t be one. Only an irid can do that. Your instincts are excellent, but you need instruction. Break the connection and come with me.”
“Should you choose to return, you can always reforge the bond.”
“I love you and I want you to feel complete,” I tell her, and she slowly meets my gaze. “I want you happy and safe and thriving. I want you to live.” My voice breaks. “Even if it’s not with me.”
Andarna roars up at him, and then her gaze swings wildly, focusing behind me, then to the right, then landing on me for the length of a heartbeat. Her eyes flare like she wants to say something, and I throw myself at the wall where our bond should be. But it’s gone. A breath later, so is she.
“She left us. She left us. She left us.” It’s all I can think.
