"He'll be back," Ravel said. "Even if I have to drag him back myself."
I chuckled feebly. "How are you going to drag a dragon? By his tail?"
"No, by Nyxath. She's his queen. She can command him to return or face retribution."
"I don't know if Morgateth has to obey her. She never told me that she had absolute power over her dragons, and the truth is that no one knows how their interior politics work. He might not come back." Saying it out loud diminished it somehow, the way bad dreams lost their potency when retold. "He was broken before he bonded with me, and I hoped I could fix him. Instead, I broke him even more."
"Worry not, Little Warrior. He'll be back,"Onyx said."He's temperamental, and he needs time to cool off and lick his wounds, but he's bonded to you. The bond is stronger than his ego."
I wanted to believe him, so I did, and held on to his conviction like I was holding on to Ravel's jacket.
I couldn't tell Alar about what had happened, which meant that I wasn't going to tell Shovia and Codric either, because Codric might decide to tell Alar, and there would be questions that I would have to answer. I would have to tell him how I was saved, who caught me, and about clinging to the commander and being unable to stop. He might understand, or he might get insanely jealous, and that would undermine the important work he was doing with his brother.
My gift to him was the warm things, the kind that would make him smile and elevate his mood. I'd keep the bad ones to myself.
"Can you do me a favor?" I asked.
"Anything."
"Don't tell anyone about what happened."
He was silent for a moment. "Why not?"
"I don't want Alar to worry, and if Codric hears about this, he might write him a letter and tell him. Alar has enough on his plate as it is."
It took me another moment to reason through it and realize that Codric couldn't write Alar about me falling off a dragon without using their cipher, and the Citadel would never allow such a letter to go out unless Codric provided them with the cipher so they could check to be sure he wasn't revealing secrets about the Dragon Force that he shouldn't disclose.
"Just tell Codric to keep quiet about this," Ravel said. "It needs to be investigated, and I don't intend to do it quietly. There will be hell to pay."
He sounded so vehement, and it made me feel good for reasons I didn't want to examine too closely.
I sighed. "Everyone is going to fuss."
"So let them. Surviving a fall from a dragon's back is a big deal."
"Catching a falling rider is an even bigger one," I said. "You just want everyone to know you are a hero."
I knew that wasn't true, but the moment desperately needed some levity.
He chuckled. "You've got me all figured out."
We sat in silence for a few more minutes, and even though moving out of the cocoon of his embrace was the last thing I wanted to do, I knew I should.
"We should get back," I murmured.
"We should." Still holding on to me, he shifted and got to his feet with me in his arms.
"I think I can walk now," I said, sounding unconvincing to my own ears.
"I don't think so." He smiled at me, his face so close to mine that I could see every individual gold flake in his eyes. "I've got you."
39
ALAR
“Wars decide whose line shall rule. The mingling of blood decides how long it shall endure.”
—Queen Hanith of Catonia
