As Rhennic gives a low whistle, Ström glances at him.
“Can you help us? Can you help her?” Ström asks as I struggle to hold on to my bright side now, taking deep breaths and calming myself from what Mikkel just did.
I glance at him, and his black eyes are unapologetic.
Dark with desire.
“Honestly? I have no clue.” Rhennic shakes his head as he watches us. “You’ve already had every barrage of tests and remedies our best Storm Dragon healers can provide. I’ve never even seen magic this cursed, Yava, and neither have they, other than those cursed by actual demons. Give us a few weeks to prepare some of our oldest healing ceremonies…and maybe.”
“It’s time we don’t have. The Black Dragon isn’t waiting to kill, and I can’t afford to wait any longer to stop it,” I say now as my drakaina howls inside me at Rhennic’s words. I had hoped for better coming here; some ancient Storm Dragon healing spell that could knock out whatever the Knight’s Council did to me and get me back in fighting shape.
Rhennic’s words make me rush with anger now, because I know every day we spend here in France is another day the Black Dragon is razing the Swedish countryside and killing countless Blood Dragons. Not to mention my King and my other cousin, Rhennic’s older brother.
Squarely in the demon’s path as they try to fight it.
I can slightly remember them now, thanks to Mikkel’s power coursing through me from our recent touch. But touching Mikkel is a two-edged sword; though I want more clarity, I don’t dare touch him again as I watch Rhennic heave a hard breath.
“You’re right: I didn’t mean to insult you, Rikyava, insinuating that you should stand down from this fight.” Rhennic reaches out, taking my hands as he holds my gaze. “What you’re dealing with is beyond dangerous, even for the most seasoned Blood Dragon warriors. My father called me a week ago, before he went out hunting that black beast you’re after. He gave me the run down on how dangerous it is, and ancient. You can’t fight it if you can’t remember what it is, though, or why you’re fighting it. Or if you spiral so black… you no longer care about the people you protect.”
I don’t miss Rhennic’s gaze as it flicks over at Mikkel. The two drakes share a long, tense eye contact—the black pirate and the white knight.
“I’m a big drakaina,” I say with a snort now, a hard smile lifting my lips. “I can handle this darkness flooding me.”
“I know you’re tough.” My cousin means it as he eyeballs me. “But you’ve always been righteous. If you lose that,” his gaze flicks to Mikkel again, “thanks to your new life-mate bonds plus your missing memories of everything you hold dear… I don’t know what will happen to you. All the gods know I don’t want that for you, Yava. Ever.”
Rhennic’s got my number as he pinpoints why all of this is so dangerous for me. He and I know that if I let myself spiral into that blackest place, then I will be lost. I will lose my sense of righteousness, of valiant action, and honor. I will lose everything that makes meme.
And descend into a place so dark, I’ll never come out.
“I’ll never fight the Black Dragon, much less vanquish it, if I lose myself,” I murmur, not knowing who I’m saying it to, though I need to say it.
“You’llbethe Black Dragon if you give in to this,” Bjorn growls, turning me in his arms. Forcing me to look up at him, he grips my chin, staring me down with his vivid golden eyes. “I can’t lose you like that.”
“We need to balance our bond,” Ström says as he glances at Rhennic. “In order to balance what Mikkel’s power is doing, Rikyava needs to mate with another Blood Magic drake as strong as he is.”
“Do you have someone in mind?” Rhennic asks me, as I see his one hundred percent practical side come alive, evaluating our situation.
It was this side of him that made him offer to become my bestie Layla Price’s fourth mate, before he even really got to know her. He knew she was a powerful Royal Dragon Bind, and was building a harem of drakes far stronger than your average—drakes who would be kings.
Rhennic knew that in order to secure his newfound throne among the Storm Dragons, he needed to align himself with power like that. And he did.
Though he later found out he loved Layla, just as she did him.
I’m just about to tell Rhennic I don’t have a fourth mate in mind when a presence moves in through the doors. A woman, her Storm Dragon power roars as she glances at Rhennic, waiting for him to acknowledge her.
I feel her massive energy blitz like forked lightning into my body as everything inside me growls. Turning, I see from the insignia on the collar of her grey Victorian uniform that she’s a Palace Guard Captain as she bashes her pike gently into the floor to not disturb our talk but to make her presence known.
“Yes?” Rhennic releases my hands, turning towards her.
“My King,” she says as she addresses him, “this evening’saurumglowevent will begin in fifteen minutes. If you would like to be there to make your openingspeech?”
“Thank you, Audrey,” Rhennic says as he nods. Facing me again, he juts his chin at me, his mood far darker now as he growls. “Rikyava, I need to go. There’s no more time for me to have dinner with you tonight. I am occupied with Storm Dragon matters of state all day tomorrow and won’t be available to talk this through further until tomorrow night. You’re of course welcome to continue staying here and working with our healers, to see if they can find anything to help. But in the meantime…”
Rhennic hesitates then, as his violet eyes spark with lightning.
“Lay it on me, cuz.” I heave a hard sigh. “Don’t hold back.”
“In the meantime, I suggest you do everything in your power to figure out who might become your Fourth Bloodmate, and go find that drake,” Rhennic says more seriously than I’ve ever seen him, as his brows draw down in a hard line and his lips set. “Because being bound to a uniquely powerful drakaina like yourself comes with problems, deeper than you know. A strong but harmonious balance of power iseverythingin a drakaina’s harem, especially when several ridiculously strong alpha drakes are involved. You need to attend to that, stat. Before the one who should be strongest among you pays the price.”
