“Why is he angry?”
“For this and that. You stand at the start of the path you were destined for the moment you were born,” she said. “I saw this.”
“I’m not a tool. I’m no one’s savior.”
She tapped my shoulder. “Oh, but you are.”
“No.” I would happily kill the king if given another chance, but if anyone thought they were going to manipulate me into fulfilling their own goals for this world, they’d soon learn they were wrong. I wouldn’t be pushed into doing something I didn’t feel was right, not even for this woman who was family.
“Give this time.” She pivoted and strode toward the double arched entrance on one side of the room. “Follow me.”
She led me down a hall with a door that exited into an enormous courtyard with a big open, tiled area in the center. Planters overflowing with roses and lush beds with various other flowers peppered the outer areas, along with benches where someone could sit and enjoy the view. Tall trees swayed in the breeze, their canopies stretching above the four walls of the manor that had been built in a square with the courtyard in the center.
The dragons had landed in the open area, and my friends remained mounted.
Drask flew over and landed on my shoulder, leaning against my neck to peck my cheek.
“Sorry I worried you, little guy,” I said, stroking his feathers.
He squawked and pecked me some more.
Vera gasped and slipped behind me.
“Are you alright?” I turned to study her face. She was old. Frail. And she’d been locked inside a painting for a very long time. I’d only recently found her, and I didn’t want to lose her.
“I’m fine. Why is that thing here?”
I looked back at my friends who’d dismounted and were shouldering their bags.
“What thing in particular?” I asked, seeking threats but finding none roaring our way.
“Madrood.” The name came out in a snarl.
“He and I bonded.”
“What?” she barked, reeling away from me. “You bonded with the monster’s dragon?”
“Madrood’s with me now.” A steel blade sliced through my voice. “Do you have a problem with that?”
She stared at him for a long while before her head jerked side to side. “Keep him away from me.”
“Alright.”
You and Aunt Vera have history,I said to Madrood.
Some might say so.
What do you say?
That I’ll speak of this with you soon.
Hmm.
Vexxion flitted to my side. “Are you alright?” he croaked. He reached toward me, but before he could touch me, he frowned and tucked his hand back down by his side.
My heart floundered, and it was all I could do to breathe through the ache in my chest. When he’d cried out my name, I’d hoped it meant he’d remembered what we’d shared, that this chapter of our life could end, and we could move onto the next. That things would finally be wonderful between us.
While he was no longer trapped in the ether, I’d still lost him.
