No. Fucking. Way.
I try to dive into the channel connecting us, but am met with a wall of disorientation. Recently jarred from a two-thousand-year-old sleep, she’s acting on instinct alone.
As I slam into her again, I plant my feet against her scales. Using the chain for leverage, I walk my way up her neck, pausing when I reach her mouth and the razor-sharp teeth I can only guess lie hidden inside.
I have to get higher. I have to get her to look at me. If she sees me, she’ll recognize me.
When I reach the top of her head, she thrashes wildly, her annoyance flaring. I wrap the chain around my arm for security, flattening myself against her skull. Another sharp toss of her head has me coasting down the slope of her snout and flying over the edge. Her jaw stretches open. Sweat slicks my screaming fingers as the chain goes taut and I dangle inches from her forked pink tongue and the tunnel of her uvula. A loud sound rises from her throat, and time slows.
This is the moment. This is the moment where I either live or die.
In a second, blue dragon fire will spit from her mouth and torch me into dust.
Kicking my feet into her long, sharp fangs, I bound back and swing my legs upward. My fingers release the chain in time to dig my nails into her snout, arms straining to keep me in place.
I stare up into the brightest green I’ve ever seen.
The cat-like pupils narrow on me and dilate, the black engulfing the green almost entirely. Heavy, leathery lids close over the sparkling orbs before reopening.
The resistance eddies from her as the channel clears, and I can hear her thoughts as if spoken out loud.
Blackblood.
Her purr is like night personified.
Dragon.
Prophyria.
Without warning, she jerks her head up, tossing me high into the air. I scream as my stomach plummets. But she dips beneath me, catching me on the massive sail of her eggplant purple wing. She descends sharply as we burst through a cloud bank, and the red rock of the mountain comes into view.
I spy Jace below—a blip on the large, flat expanse built into the mountainside. A landing strip, I realize as we grow nearer.
He waves his arms above his head as Prophyria dips low and banks, angling her wings downward so that I slide off above Jace. I tackle him to the ground, and we roll a few times before stopping, my body pinning his, our chests rising and falling heavily.
“Hi,” I breathe.
“Hi.” He breaks into a gorgeous smile that crinkles his golden eyes. I ease off of him, and we get to our feet. I look to the skies. Prophyria has disappeared, along with the loud flapping of her leathery wings.
“It’s not over yet,” Jace says. “You have to seal the bond by successfully mounting her and taking your first ride as a bonded pair.”
I walk to the cliff’s edge, Jace by my side, staring down the mountain’s jagged descent. Quiet settles for a brief moment. Then a brutal wind tears across the gray skies, sending the loose strands of my hair swirling around my head.
“Call her,” Jace says, looking at me. A secretive smile blooms on his lips.
I close my eyes, centering myself. Deep, steady breaths. Then I dive into my own mind—into the channel carved between us.
Prophyria,I whisper into the darkness.
A gentle nudge at the edge of my consciousness answers, like a pet brushing its nose fondly against its master. The sound of wings, beating heavy and hard, grows closer. I open my eyes to a purple-scaled shooting star as she streamlines into sight, cutting through storm clouds and diving toward us.
“Get ready,” Jace cautions me steadily.
The large gusts from her wings push back the skin of our faces, making it hard to keep our eyes open. My hair swirls around me like Medusa’s snakes as I struggle to keep my feet planted on the uneven ground.
I can feel her approach through our bond like a leash pulling her nearer.
“As soon as she gets close enough, you grab the chain and swing yourself upward with all your strength. Pull hard and use her side to push off. You get on that saddle, and you’re safe. And whatever you do,” he shouts over the winds, bracing my arm, “don’t let go.”?*
