Ahria grumbles beneath me.“You’re barely controlling my magic as it is. You are in no position to help anyone at the moment. I’m taking you back to camp, Threadweaver.”
“Threadweaver?” Blinking through the fog I’ve wrapped around us, I squint into the endless mist. I hope she can see where she's going because I can't see a thing. “Why did you call me that?”
“I heard the one in white say it, and it sounded good.”A hint of amusement hums through our connection.“Would you rather I call you Freckles?”
“Fuck no,”I think back at her.
“Exactly.” Her tone more pleased now I'm using the bond.
“Do you know what it means?”I ask. “Threadweaver?”
“No.”
Moisture from the clouds surrounding us starts seeping into my clothes, stealing what little warmth I have left, so I lower myself again against Ahria’s body and let her warmth absorb into me.
Relief follows, sudden and overwhelming.
That missing part of me, the hollow space I’ve carried since the dreams began at the Citadel, is gone.
Ahria is here.
Not in a dream. Not waiting somewhere beyond reach.
Here.
Beneath me.
Bonded to me.
God, I thought she was never going to choose me. I didn't think the bond would seal. I thought she hated me?—
“What made you think I hated you?”she demands and I jump.
Okay. Clearly, I need to figure this communication thing out.
“And yes,”Ahria adds flatly,“you do not have to send me everything you are thinking. In fact, I would rather you do not.”
Forcing out a heavy breath, I try to aim my words properly this time as Ahria’s wings slow into a steady glide, carrying us deeper through the mist I’ve wrapped around us.
“Well, you did try to burn me when we first met...”I send back.“And you haven’t exactly been warm and friendly since. Then after the Blood Moon, after I completely lost my shit, you just flew off.”
“I’m a dragon, not a dog,”she huffs, rolling her muscles beneath me.“How do you expect me to act? And anyway, I returned to the ceremony. Those two dragons killed your friend. I intended to find them.”
“Why?”
“To claw their eyes out and eat their hearts.”
The blunt coldness in her growl makes me shiver.
She would kill her own kind? Why would she do that?
“You judge me when your species does the same."
Fair point. But still—why?
“Because I needed them to pay for taking her from you.”Her wings snap hard in the mist.“And please get control over this connection.”
“Shit, sorry,” I think—or say. Or maybe both. Honestly, who knows at this point.“But I yelled at you. I completely lost it. Why did you seal the bond?”
