“Calm, Starbright,” Darrius says from somewhere behind me. “You will not be harmed.”
Says him. Has he seen the size of thoseteeth?
I gulp and try to reason with my palpitating heart, but no amount of soothing will quell the hammering drumbeat of my pulse. From its towering height, the azdaha watches me like a cat with a mouse. It leans its great head down toward me, and I’m sure I’m going to be gobbled up, but a slitted scarlet eyeball merely studies me. That barbed tail flicks around, and I freeze, watching those deadly yellow-tipped spikes get too close for comfort.
I swallow past the oversized knot in my throat. “Please don’t kill me.”
It chuffs, a sound like amusement puffing through its lips. An echinated snout bends to touch my head, and I feel a well of connection open up, just as it had with Razulek back in Kaldari. The cuffs don’t seem to diminish the mental link. I sense its power acknowledge my magic and the slumbering simurgh inside of me, its sinuous neck canting in a sort of graceful bow as it bares the underside of its throat to me.
I frown at the seeming show of submission. Why would this azdaha bow tome?
All dragonkin are born of stardust, Starkeeper.A female, I realize, as her elegant, smoky voice resonates through my mind.I could never kill the one responsible for bringing my mate home. I am Indira.
I blink up at her, my brain stuttering. “You’re Razulek’s mate?”
Yes.
A rush of unexpected joy fills me. “How is he? He saved me, too, I think. I don’t have all of my memories yet, but I know he rescued me from something deadly. Is he with you?”
Yes, Starkeeper. He comes from our nest. I was already in the Bone Forest hunting.She fixes me with an assessing look.How does your sidereal magic fare?
Hadn’t Ani called the highest rank something else, or had I heard it wrong? “Do you mean sovran?”
That jeweled red eye fastens to me.Sidereal rank supersedes all, including sovran. A Starkeeper is matchless in power.
Twisting my lips, I hold up my cuffs. “Not while these are on.”
She snarls loudly as if taking personal affront to the bracers, chest engorging and something like acid bubbling up on her tongue that makes my eyes smart and my nose sting. I take a hasty step back.
“What is that?” I ask.
Darrius comes to stand at my side, one hand rising to give Indira’s snout a fond pat. “She’s a poison azdaha. She’s displeased by the cuffs.”
The acid dissipates.Razulek told me about those and how they wereused to trap him for so long.She stares at me.I will use any power I have to honor my life debt to you.
“You don’t owe me anything.”
He would have died without you,she says solemnly.I felt death coming for him, the mate bond stretching to its limits, and I thought all was lost. I would have died with him, so you have saved me as well.I feel the warm touch of her snout on my head that feels oddly like a kiss.But now, thanks to you, we have two eggs to hatch and a future to live for.
Oh, my heart.Two.My chest swells and my eyes burn with unshed tears at the thought of Razulek having a family. As if my happiness has summoned him, I hear the whooshing sound of approaching wings again, and I recognize his emerald scales sparkling in the sunlight when a soaring figure dives toward us. Razulek lands on the cliffside beside his mate, folding his wings to his sides. Smoke curls from his nostrils.
Glimpses of him from the arena pop into my brain, and a horrified gasp leaves my lips at how unhealthy and sickly he’d been. Now, he glows. Stars, he looks sogood. Healthy and powerful.
“Razulek,” I say, choking up. “Thank you. I don’t remember everything yet, but I know you saved us. Saved me.”
He cocks his beautiful horned head, a single golden eye examining me.What do you mean, little queen?
“Your king thinks the cuffs might have done something to my memories,” I say, lifting them to show him. His reaction is as violent as Indira’s, a deep growl rumbling from him. “They inhibit my magic, too.”
Like the collar they forced upon me,he snarls.
I nod, powerless fury rising in my veins again, while the simurgh inside of me awakens. She’s more alive than I’ve seen her in weeks, even with the dampening effect of the bracers. She rises within, and I let the magic show in my eyes as the runes on my arms light up in welcome to the two azdahas. To my surprise, they bow in unison as if paying homage to something greater than themselves.
My lips part in awe at their deference, and I feel my simurgh’s gratitude. “She says thank you,” I whisper to them.
Darrius smiles at Razulek. “Good to see you well recovered, old friend.”
Razulek inclines his head, and I wonder if the king can hear him in his head as well.
