Page 26 of The Forgotten Throne

“By controlling our pair-bond. When we pick a person, our souls speak to one another and we truly are bonded to that one person for life. If anything happens to you, then the same fate will befall us as if we had refused the bond, killing us slowly. If you and I had been a normal dragon and human bond, then we would have been sent to a training camp where they brainwash you into believing whatever they say, keeping you in line with what they need from us.”

“Birthrights have been dying out though, and the Queen seemed genuinely scared when you bit me.”

“That is because we figured out we could still bond without adding in our venom just allowing our souls to bond instead. Once the magic died out from all the people, then there would be no pull to continue bonding with humans. It’s why fewer of us have chosen someone. There isn’t a connection to our past through the lingering magic in your blood.”

“So the magic of my ancestors called to you?”

“In a way yes, you are still the one and only person whose soul calls out to me in a bond that can’t be ignored but it is far stronger because you have the magic already boosting the call. Before the first person was ever bonded to a dragon, there was no magic in the world, we introduced that when the first dragon met the first king of the mercenaries. They built a friendship over time and the bond grew naturally but the dragon felt compelled to keep his friend alive longer and knew the magic would preserve his life. So he bit him and they created the first pair-bond known to dragon kind allowing us all to create a bond and our linked memory through the ages.”

Whatever I expected Vasin to say as he explained what was going on, this was nothing I could have imagined. Dragons were the source of our Birthrights—I mean magic—seeing as who we were born to no longer mattered since they weren’t the one to provide the magic. Could this be why I have a link to Miranda? Was it because of the magic that was lingering in from my ancestors so I had a shared memory like the dragons do? Then a thought struck me and I understood why Vasin was so worried about what was about to happen.

“Vasin, are they going to the dragon lands to try and gain magic from being bitten?”

“Yes, Cass, that is exactly what they are trying to do.”

“How though? Don’t dragons know the dangers of doing that? Isn’t this the whole reason they are trying to break away and live in the dragon lands?”

“If any of them hold magic within them it makes the call to your pair-bond extremely hard to ignore. Imagine if I turned away from you knowing what we could and do have, the need to not be alone is so strong it ruins us every time. Part of me thinks it’s the feeling the first dragon had when he chose to build this bond with the first king.”

“I would guess since Izel has a Birthright that Xio would too, but I don’t know about Garold.”

“I do believe that is his son sitting behind you…”

Shaking myself out of our mental conversation I leaned my head back against Dayson’s shoulder so I could yell into his ear. “Do you know if your father has a Birthright?”

“Not really, unless you count being able to start a fire no matter what stones you strike together as a Birthright,” Dayson answered.

“Did you get that ability too?” I pressed.

“Sure did, comes in handy when you’re out on jobs but not really all that helpful in real life.”

Damn it, looks like two of them had magic enough to call to a dragon. Wait, is that how Tahir and Jade ended up together? His Birthright was much stronger than anyone else’s I’ve seen in a long time. So many things were now making sense as I fit the pieces together. Could I do more with my magic then produce a bow? I can break spells but I never considered the fact that I might be able to do more with it. Would the Dragon Castle hold answers to this?

“Cassy-bear what’s going on?” Dayson challenged. “I can feel how tense both you and Vasin are.”

“There is a lot more going on with dragons than we ever realized and the Clan Leaders are about to destroy decades of progress,” I answered. “Just trust me when I say we need to make sure that they don’t have a chance to bond with a dragon.”

“Bond with a dragon—they can do that? I thought it only happened at hatchings.”

“Day I don’t have time to explain more, we’re almost there and it’s going to be two of us against the lot of them and their dragons. Vasin is good, but he is still growing and hasn’t gotten his fire yet which puts us at a slight disadvantage.”

“Just slightly you say, well I eat those odds for breakfast. Don’t underestimate me just yet Cassy-bear I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve,” Dayson assured me with a smirk and a wink.

Let’s just pray that will be enough until the others show up. They are going to kill me when they find out what’s going on.

Chapter Sixteen

Stop Them!

Vasin didn’t go for the gentle circling glide to land instead he dove and at the last moment flared out his wings bringing us to an abrupt halt before his feet touched the ground right in the middle of the group of people. Everyone scattered with lots of swearing and screaming as a hulking black dragon descended upon them out of nowhere. The other dragons around us let out deafening roars as they came to the aid of their pair-bonds so I pulled my feet up under me and used Dayson to steady myself as I stood on Vasin’s back.

I drew on my magic and the ability I used to connect with other dragons and thrust it out around us grabbing their attention. “Calm yourselves please, we are not here to hurt you or your pair-bonds. All we want to do is stop these people from trapping dragons that they wish to use for power. Feel my intentions, look at Vasin’s memory about who these people are, don’t let them do to others what you’ve been fighting against all this time.”

The dragons were reluctant to believe me but seeing that I was reaching out to them in this way when no one had been able to do this before made them curious. I wasn’t going to second guess the situation and seeing as they calmed I was gonna take it as a win. The human part of this wasn’t as agreeable to what I was doing and tried to advance on Vasin but even though he might not have his fire yet his teeth, claws, and wings seemed to serve him well.

“Cassarah, what are you doing here?” Ballard called, his voice full of panic. Glancing at him, I saw his hands were tied in front of him and he had a massive bruise on the side of his face where something had hit him. “You can’t be here alone. It isn’t safe!”

Part of me relaxed to know that Ballard hadn’t gone along with this but it also fueled my anger at how he was treated. “Would anyone care to explain why you are all meeting out here when you should be enjoying a feast?” At my words, the soldiers stopped attacking and looked back at the Clan Leaders, Gavin’s parents, and Naytan who stood back a safe distance. “I’m surprised to see that you can make friends so quickly, Naytan, but I might caution you on your choice in friends. Seems that when they decide they don’t like you they make plans to stab you in the back.”