So, it’s only me?
Yes. You are my Bonded rider.
Yes, my brain and heart throbbed in ancient agreement. I could feel her within me, like we were bound together as one. The descriptions I’d heard didn’t do the Bond justice, this feeling of togetherness, of oneness emanating from my center.
I wasn’t alone anymore.
Flame was mine. And I was hers.
She swung her massive head around, locking her golden eyes onto mine. My palm still tingled with the imprint of her paw.
A laugh of disbelief bubbled, mixing with tears of exhaustion.
I’d done it. I’d survived this death arena.
I’d Bonded with a tyger. No, not just a tyger. The tygress queen.
Every eye in the Arena was locked on us: nobility, commoners, the surviving candidates, the other tygers. The weight of their stares pressed down upon me, their expectations. What did this mean?
Flame picked up speed, her muscles surging beneath me as she broke into a run around the Arena. The wind whipped through my hair. I leaned forward, gripping her fur as we moved as one. It felt more natural than riding with Blake in control. Our Bonding made it entirely different.
The walls of the Arena blurred. A wave of love and exhilaration swept over me. Flame was beautiful.
Clever, too, not to mention brave, resilient, perfect—
I let out a wild, wet laugh, drunk on adrenaline. On the back of this magnificent tygress, I felt unstoppable. From Flame came a surge of exultant joy. She, too, was glad to have found her rider.
Why didn’t you speak to me earlier?
We had not yet fully Bonded.
I thought back. I’d started hearing her voice in my head after she touched her paw to my Mark on the palm of my hand.Are you sure picking me wasn’t a mistake?
Flame snarled and reared back her head.I do not make errors. My body is young, but my soul is old. I am myself, and at the same time, I am connected to all of the tygress queens who have ever been born.
Something lodged in my throat, making it difficult to swallow at her words.Why have none of you ever Bonded before?
We have been waiting for you.
The sand flew underneath us. With every passing second, I could feel my love for her grow. The Bond gripping tight, growing stronger. Unbreakable.
A ferocious roar went up among the tygers, who stomped their feet as we completed our lap, every head following us. The ground trembled under their collective weight. Claws scraped against the earth, a primal drumroll accompanying our passage as we slowed to a walk in the center of the Arena.
I gasped as metal gates into the Arena opened and more than two dozen armored warriors flooded onto the sand, their swords glinting dangerously in the blazing sunlight.
Were they about to arrest me? Or would they try to catch Flame? My muscles tensed, preparing to fight, but it was taking all my remaining strength to hold on to Flame and to stay atop her powerful form.
They didn’t charge.
Instead, they leapt onto the striped backs of the waiting tygers in a practiced motion. An ocean of fur rippled as the great animals loped forward and the warriors urged them on. Instead of the savage beasts I’d seen earlier, there now stood a disciplined force of elite fighters. As one, they pulled up on either side of us, falling into formation.
And at their head was the Ambush Master, astride Kingsolver, and behind him was Princess Malissa, looking stunned. Blake’s blue eyes raked over me, sweeping from head to toe, lingering on the blood drying stiff against my clothing, the place where my wound should have been.
My heart pounded beneath his scrutiny.
“Not dead yet,” I said with a smile.
He didn’t say a word, but the corners of his lips twitched as he nodded. He dropped his voice.
