“You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“I saw metal move on its own…” Her voice trailed off as she met my stare, realizing I wasn’t surprised by her statement.
Instead of answering, I stood from my seat and started making a drink, only this time it wasn’t water. I could feel her watching me, knew I should have continued to ignore her. Things were easier when I did, but fuck it, I didn’t want to anymore. I was already in over myhead for bringing her into drakin territory, and I didn’t want to stay away anymore.
Nollie didn’t say anything as she waited for me to sit back down.
I took a long sip from my drink, contemplating what the hell I was even doing before I admitted, “We have magic. It’s part of the Vinculum bond.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “What kind of magic?”
“It depends on the dragon that bonded with you. What you saw back there was a rider bonded to a Ferro dragon.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, and damn if it wasn’t the cutest thing I ever saw. “So a gray dragon?” she asked, piecing everything together.
I nodded, then took another long sip. “Ferro dragons have metal manipulation. Any rider that has a Vinculum bond with one becomes a craftsman.”
“So they can make metal?”
“Some can.” I shrugged. “There are three different levels to a Vinculum bond.”
“What are they?” Her voice rose, but her body remained still, and I couldn’t read her.
“The first is Nullus,” I answered. “A rider will only have access to their dragon’s powers while riding them. The second is Semis, where a rider can access their dragon’s powers regardless of if they are near their dragon or not, and the third is the most rare. It’s called a Plenus, which is a completed bond.”
“What does the complete bond do?” she asked.
“It gives the rider independent access.”
“So the magic is endless?”
Ishook my head. “Each of the three bonds have limits and will eventually drain. Typically the stronger the bond, the larger the well of power a rider can access. The Plenus bond has the deepest well, but you can still use too much with any of them, and a rider will have to wait for it to refill. It makes lower bonds more susceptible to moments of burnout and power loss. But what makes a Plenus bond separate from the other two is that the dragon permanently gifts their bondedrider some of their own magic during the creation of the Vinculum. It grants the rider their own well of magic, on top of still being able to pull from their dragon.”
“So each type of dragon has different magic?”
“Each dragon breed, yes.”
“What are they?”
I eyed her for a moment, trying to decide how much I should tell her. “I need you to promise me that you won’t tell Elion or anyone back at the castle first.”
Her lips parted before she nodded.
“There’s two manipulation dragons and four elemental ones,” I said. “Ignis, the red dragons, produce fire magic. Viridis dragons, the green ones, have ground, and Caerulus, the blues, have water. Crepitos are air.”
“So you have air magic?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Her back straightened as she perked up. It was how I burned the girl, how I kept her from leaving the fire pit that night, but I didn’t comment on it, didn’t want to give her a reminder to hate me.
“What type of bond did you get?”
I stared at her for a moment. I shouldn’t keep answering her. I should walk away from her, hell I shouldn’t have even brought her here. “I’ll tell you what,” I finally said, watching her swallow. “I’ll answer all of your questions if you answer mine.”
“What do you want to know?”
I shrugged. “Let me ask, and you’ll find out.”
