A ripple of disapproval moved through the ring.
Jakob saw it again in his mind. Mallory pale in his arms, blood soaking into his shirt, her pain vibrating through him like a second heartbeat. He had not thought. He had reacted.
“I would not let her die,” Jakob said, voice low. “Like it or not, she is my mate. I don’t understand it myself, but it is what it is.”
“Regardless, the healers touched her,” the elder continued. “Dragon magic brushed her skin. Her body remembers that now. You exposed her to us when she should never have known we existed.”
“She doesn’t remember,” Jakob snapped.
“She remembersenough,” came the response. “And memory is not only what the mind keeps.”
The mountain cat’s tail lashed once. Judgment rendered.
“Youinvitedher into our world,” a distant elder cut in. “You showed her places where even young dragons are forbidden until they master instinct over desire.”
Jakob said nothing because it was true.
He had wanted her to see the mountains the way he saw them. He had wanted to see her wonder at the sights and earn her trust.
“She did not know what she was seeing,” Jakob said finally.
“That does not absolve you. Ignorance does not undo consequence.”
The punishment was swift.
He was stripped of escort privileges. Confined to the village perimeter. Forbidden from contacting the human again.
“For her safety,” they said.
“For the secrecy of our kind,” they said.
The head elder rose. “She is leaving Onyxheim today. We can only hope that the damage done is not permanent.”
Jakob froze. “She’s leaving?”
He was met with disdain. “She never intended to stay, and you are forbidden from attempting otherwise. Let her leave, Jakob, or you will no longer need to worry about your crown.”
The mountain cat rose, silent as the snowfall, and padded away. It did not look back. Jakob bowed as the elders left the room because that was what dragons did when they had already lost.
Instead of going straight back to the castle, he went to a ridge that overlooked the town. His heart beat painfully in his chest. He had been unaware of Mallory’s travel arrangements. Yet another detail he would have been abreast of had his mind not been so tangled by fate.
Could he let her go?
He stood at the edge with his hands fisted at his sides when a small vehicle wound its way down the narrow mountain road headed toward the airport. He knew without a doubt that Mallory was in the car. He could feel in his soul that she was leaving. r.
Every instinct screamed for him to stop her. To tell her everything. To pull her into his arms and swear she would never be alone again.
Instead, he stayed still.
This is how you protect her,he told himself grimly.
His dragon did not agree.
It prowled beneath his skin, furious and grieving, and slammed against his control like a caged beast. The moment the vehicle disappeared around the bend, the howl started, deep, raw, and wordless.
Jakob turned away before he did something catastrophic.
He stalked toward the training grounds, shedding his coat as he went. Guards scattered at the look on his face. He grabbed the nearest practice dummy and struck it. Hard.
