“You storming eel!” he hissed, palm on the blossoming mark. “I’m the Second Rider!”
“And I am Queen of Radaan, not just your sister,” I spat, voice low. “Father did not send you here to go rogue. You follow my orders. Unless you’d like to return to Draconia?”
He snarled, bumping his chest against mine. “You couldn’t make me.”
Gyrak whined deep in his throat, pupils blown wide, lips curled in a slight sneer—confused.
Ronan scoffed at him, then dropped his stormy gaze back to mine.
I smirked. “I think your dragon begs to differ.
“If you touch me again, you’ll regret it, sis. I don’t care who you married! You don’t have a dragon. And that means–”
The earth shook, and Ronan grabbed my arm instinctively—to steady me.
Tsunami had dropped from the sky, snaking her head low, growl vibrating through the ground. Her pupils narrowed, teeth clacking as a warning.
I crossed my arms, dipping my chin. “You were telling me I don’t have a dragon, dear brother?”
Gyrak pawed closer, snarling, trying to block her. She was having none of it. She advanced, stalking, as if herding them away.
“Fine—but if you follow him into a trap, all because he holds a soft spot for that bastard, I won’t be responsible,” he warned, breath hot on my cheek. “I will burn Radaan right alongside Vellos if something happens to you.”
“I feel so loved,” I muttered.
He pushed away from me and snatched his goggles from the ground. He pulled them over his eyes and launched onto Gyrak’s shoulder with effortless grace. The straps hung loose around hislegs as the black lunged into the air, wingbeats slamming the tall grass flat beneath him.
Tsunami stepped closer, blocking out the sun as she moved over me. I grinned at her underbelly, resisting the urge to stroke her scales. She remained too wild—just as likely to tear off my arm as accept my touch.
“Thank you,” I whispered, still unsure if she really understood.
Her chest contracted. She dipped her head, twisting to stare, nostrils stretching as she inhaled. Pupils flared, narrowing, lips smacking. She let me walk free from beneath her, observing my hand as I held it out. Thick eyelids rolled over golden irises. She nuzzled my palm, the force batting the touch away.
I laughed, the sound dying as I spotted the deep gouges in her neck and chest. Superficial wounds. Gyrak would have needed far greater reason than her being a nuisance to truly hurt her—but she was here for something… I just didn’t know what.
A wildling, driven by base instincts. Neither bonded to me nor my husband. It had to be his scent on me that drew her. I’d been raised with her in the Nest back in Draconia. She had never paid such attention to me—until she followed Kallias through the whirlstorm.
But she didn’t bond him.
Was it because he was Radaanian? Could a dragon bond with him at all? Half-Draconis were capable of bonding the beasts, and Kallias shared the same human makeup as we did. Did Elohios block the bond? Could the magic behind his light force her to remain wild?
I frowned, considering the pain it would cause the dragon. To know the one meant for her stood right there, yet remained beyond reach.
It would’ve driven me mad. If I married Tallon and lived under the same roof as Kallias, I would never have survived. It was too much to ask of someone.
“Why are you here?” I asked—for the millionth time.
She huffed, stretching to sniff my hair. A soft croon rolled from her throat. She stared as if trying to answer.
If only I could hear her.
My tailbone screamed with every stride, thighs chafing raw despite the salve Kallias gave me. We rode through the Craggs’ foothills, skirting small towns and hamlets, heading south.
The hills pressed dread into my chest, tightening with each crest, expecting to see Tallon waiting. The only relief came from dragons soaring in lazy circles overhead. They were instructed to retreat at the first sign of him and keep to the ground until ordered otherwise.
Even Ronan.
As much as I loved my brother, he needed to learn that ruling demanded more than desire. Killing Tallon wasn’t his right. That belonged to Kallias—if he chose to do so.
