"The path splits ahead," Jeffson called from the front of the line. He'd moved past me while I'd been talking to Gavon, which was his way of reasserting authority without confronting me. "Left follows the ridge line. Right descends into a gully. The ridge is more exposed but more stable."
"The ridge it is," I concurred.
We climbed.
2
ALAR
"Two souls, one bond, one sky. That is the whole of it."
—Inscription on the Citadel's Hall of Riders
Morgateth was heading straight for Kailin.
I didn't need anyone to tell me that this was the dragon we'd all been dreading. He was big, the largest dragon I'd ever seen, bigger even than Onyx. His scales were deep blue, shot through with veins of crimson that looked like blood or lightning. He radiated a danger so intense that I could feel it pressing against my skin from thirty meters away, and I wasn't even gifted with the kind of mental sensitivity that Kailin possessed.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to run to her, to pull her away, to put myself between her and this menacing creature.
I didn't move.
I couldn't. The ceremony required silence and stillness, and breaking protocol now could provoke the very dragon we all feared.
There had been rumors about dragons torching impudent cadets on the Day of Volition, but none of our instructors had confirmed them, and there had been nothing about that in the textbooks either. Still, that didn't mean it hadn't happened. Elurion knew how many things the governing forces didn't disclose to the populace, civilian or military.
Morgateth's stride was lumbering but purposeful, each step shaking the roof beneath his enormous talons. The other four dragons in his group continued their slow procession down the line of cadets, but they gave Morgateth a wide berth.
He didn't stop next to any of the other cadets, his burning eyes locked on Kailin as if he and she were the only ones on the roof.
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. Next to me, I heard Codric's sharp intake of breath. Further down the line, I saw from the corner of my eye Shovia going rigid.
Morgateth stopped before Kailin, and for a long moment, dragon and woman simply regarded each other. I couldn't hear what passed between them. I had no telepathic ability, no way to eavesdrop on the silent conversation unfolding between the most dangerous dragon on the force and the woman I loved.
All I could do was watch.
And then Morgateth lunged.
His massive head shot forward, jaws gaping.
Shovia screamed.
Cadets scrambled backward.
Someone swore.
My body moved before my mind caught up, one step forward, hand reaching for a weapon I wasn't carrying, heart slamming against my ribs so hard it felt like it was trying to break free from my chest.
Kailin didn't move.
She stood her ground as those enormous jaws stopped inches from her face, as the hot breath of a predator washed over her, as every person on that roof held their breath and waited for the worst.
She didn't flinch.
The moment stretched into eternity, and then something shifted. I couldn't see it or hear it, but I felt it, a change in the air, a settling of something vast and ancient into place.
"I choose you, noble Morgateth," Kailin said aloud, her voice carrying across the roof. "I choose you as my partner and my protector. You are a powerful dragon worthy of my bond."
I couldn't hear Morgateth's response, but I saw Kailin smile, and then I felt their bond slamming into place. I had witnessed the magical connection forming numerous times this morning, but nothing came close to the power of this one.
