Soulbound to a Dragon

by Kurtis Eckstein

  I sniffled, feeling embarrassed by my wet face soaked with tears. But I needed his lips on me. I needed him to wake me up from this nightmare. I needed his lips to remove the recent memory of that man’s lips on my forehead.

  I could hear that Risa and Mira were in the room, but I didn’t care. I tilted my chin up, gently pressing my lips on his. They were so warm and soft, but he didn’t make any effort to kiss me back. He just sat there motionless. I felt my brow furrow.

  Was he angry at me?

  ‘Please don’t be angry.’

  Did he just not want to kiss me?

  ‘Please want to kiss me.’

  I needed him to. I begged him to, using our bond.

  ‘Please. Please, kiss me.’

  Instantly, his mouth pressed firmly into mine, and his tongue slipped into my mouth searching for my own. It was the first time I had ever kissed anyone, so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I ended up sucking on his tongue for a few seconds before sticking my own tongue in his mouth. He sucked on it eagerly and then pulled away just briefly to rub his lips on it before pressing them into mine again. I sighed heavily as his lips stirred a wonderful sensation in my stomach, freeing me momentarily of the tension in my chest.

  But then a pang of fear abruptly gripped me when I realized I had almost experienced my first kiss with a complete stranger…and possibly more than a kiss…

  Suddenly I gasped and pulled away. “S-She was trying to kill me!” I exclaimed.

  Eli nodded somberly, having already figured it out. I heard laughter in my mind again, infuriating me. “Shut up!” I snapped. “It’s not funny!” I saw Eli’s confused expression, and was immediately apologetic. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “It’s not you. She’s laughing at me.” I then groaned. “I hate this. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

  Suddenly, Eli’s wings unfolded, and Risa was at my side, pushing herself against me. “It’s alright Riella,” she whispered. “We still love you. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find a way to prevent this from happening again.”

  I shook my head somberly, realizing this was only the first night since Alabast had been released. Which meant there probably would be a next time. For all I knew, this was a risk every night, even tonight still, since morning wouldn’t come for another few hours. I sniffled again as I considered that.

  “We can’t stop her,” I whispered. “She’s going to do it again, which means I won’t be able to sleep in peace unless you chain me up, or something.”

  Eli spoke then, his voice firm. “If that’s what we have to do, then we’ll do it.”

  Mira chimed in then, but I couldn’t see her past Risa. “We can get handcuffs to tie you down to something. We just need to keep the key out of your reach.”

  “Me,” Eli corrected her, looking down at my eyes again. “You’re sleeping with me from now on, handcuffed to me.”

  I blushed furiously and hid my face against his chest. I was both excited and mortified that he wasn’t even giving me an option. I was sleeping in the same bed as him from now on, no matter what. I wanted it, but was also scared by it. Because I wouldn’t have tried resisting Alabast’s control if she had attempted seducing him. It wouldn’t have been a nightmare then, and I wouldn’t have tried waking up.

  “Eli…” I said quietly against his chest. “If she…if she tries to…with you…”

  “I won’t let her,” he said firmly. “I know you can’t, without it risking your life, so I won’t do it.” He then smirked at me. “As irresistible as you are, I’ll be strong for you.”

  I blushed again, and nodded silently against his chest. He tightened his embrace. Risa leaned more into me too and began caressing my cat-ear with her fingertips, causing it to twitch occasionally. Having ears similar to mine, she knew it felt good. I sighed heavily when she gently ran her fingers through my black hair, feeling the tension in my body release some. I hadn’t realized I was still so tense.

  We were all quiet for a few minutes, before there was a knock on the door. Both Tobias and Landon entered the room then, taking in the scene before speaking.

  “Well, thankfully,” Tobias began, “Sonya was understanding when we told her someone used magic to control our friend while she was asleep, coupled with a generous payment to replace the door. I gave her two silver even though it probably won’t even cost one.” He sighed heavily. “It also helps that we know the lady. I’ll just take one silver from your pay though. The extra was my decision to maintain our goodwill with her.” He then crossed his arms. “So now what?”

  Mira responded. “We need to get handcuffs for Riella, so this doesn’t happen again. Eli’s going to keep her tied to him from now on at night.”

  Tobias nodded. “That’s probably the safest option, but we need to make sure they are strong enough that she can’t break them herself.”

  It was embarrassing listening to everyone talk about this so calmly, as if this was a normal conversation. Especially humiliating, since it was specifically about me. How could they accept this so easily? Why wasn’t anyone abandoning me? Or even considering it? I buried my face against Eli’s chest as I listened, trying not to be too distracted by Risa’s fingers still running through my hair.

  Landon spoke then. “We also need to make sure her sword and all other weapons are far out of her reach. Otherwise, that demon might try killing someone.”

  I gasped and looked up at Eli. I hadn’t thought about that. He seemed to know what was on my mind, trying to reassure me right away. “You can’t hurt me, remember? The magic will stop you.”

  “But it doesn’t stop her!” I exclaimed. “She might still be able to hurt you! What if she kills you?!”

  “Riel, it’s okay. Calm down.” He gently caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers, his sapphire eyes soft. “Even if it’s not you trying to hurt me, it’s still your body. And so long as it’s your body, the magic will still work. You still can’t leave me, nor can you hurt me, even if she’s controlling you.”

  “But you can’t know that,” I whispered. “Not for sure. You’d be better off just locking me in a closet than risk it.”

  He shook his head. “It will be fine. We’ll make it work.”

  Risa spoke up then, her tone determined as she abruptly changed the subject. “I’ve decided,” she announced. We all looked at her in surprise. “I’m not leaving your side. I’ll go wherever you go, and sleep wherever you sleep.” She then blushed and looked away. “I already decided that a while ago, but I figured I should let you know.” She then looked up at Mira, speaking to her. “I don’t want to leave you. I wish we could all stay together, but I know you won’t be alone because you have your brother and father…the rest of us only have each other…”

  Mira immediately came closer and bent down to hug her. “It’s alright. I understand completely. I wish I could stay with you too. Although…” She pulled away slightly to look at me and Eli, speaking to all three of us. “If the elderfel aren’t after Riella anymore, then is there any reason why all of you can’t come back with us?”

  I thought about that for a moment, realizing for the first time that I didn’t necessarily have to go west anymore. If the elderfel were going to leave me alone forever, then maybe I could go back to Boshra and live with them. Plus, it would be safe inside their fence. I knew I’d like that, but unexpectedly Eli shook his head.

  “We still need to head west,” he said, looking down at me carefully.

  I gazed into his sapphire eyes, trying to understand why he was hesitant to continue explaining himself. And then it hit me. We had an unwanted third party who might be listening. “Alabast,” I whispered, feeling her stir again when I said her name. I quickly tried to push her away inside of me, my expression determined now. “If I know where we are going, and what we are doing, then she’ll know.” I wasn’t sure why Eli didn’t want her to know – wasn’t sure why it mattered, but from the look in his eyes I knew it did. I nodded after a few seconds. “I trust you,” I whispe
red. “We’ll keep heading west.”

  I saw Mira nod from the corner of my eye. “Alright,” she agreed, seeming a little sad. “But we still have all day tomorrow before we part ways the day after, so we need to make sure we spend it together after I enhance the antidote and we visit Count Demetri.”

  “Count Demetri?” Eli asked. It was the first either of us had heard the name.

  Landon chimed in. “Yes. That’s who has the sick relative that needs healing. In many ways, he’s basically like the ruler of this city, even though that’s not official. Nevertheless, he holds a lot of power here. Mira should be able to finish enhancing the vials by noon, and then after she has a nap – if she needs it after all that work – we will head over to his mansion in the late afternoon.”

  Mira nodded. “And then we can have all evening to go out to eat and spend time together.” She smiled warmly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “How can all of you be okay with this?!” I exclaimed, unable to comprehend their behavior. “You’re acting like it’s not a big deal at all!”

  “Because we already talked about it,” Risa replied reassuringly, moving closer again, trying to use her soothing tone to calm me down. “While you were asleep earlier, we discussed the implications of you having a demon inside of you – and what that might mean.”

  Eli joined in then. “And one thing we considered was the demon potentially taking over your body for short periods of time, among other possibilities. So we knew it might happen.”

  Landon spoke up too. “And we all agreed we would do what we could to help you.”

  “All of us,” Mira added.

  I just stared at them in disbelief…until I focused on my memory of earlier, prompting me to look at Eli in shock. “But wait. You told me you hadn’t told them anything!” I accused.

  His head immediately dropped in shame.

  “Actually, that was my fault,” Tobias spoke up. “I was concerned that when you woke up it might not be you, so I recommended we pretend like we didn’t know anything.”

  “That way we would know it was you,” Mira added. “If you had woken up and pretended like nothing was wrong, then it would have made us suspicious that the demon was already controlling your body.”

  My face contorted as I felt another sob coming, realizing they had put so much effort into protecting me. I felt bad, because I had lied to them too. I decided to come clean.

  “I wasn’t completely honest either,” I admitted with a sniffle. “I do know what will happen to me if I don’t have children. When I die, she’ll still eat my soul just the same. The only difference is she gets to choose who her next victim is, but she told me she would prefer a faster meal than be concerned with choosing her victims.” I sobbed, my vision quickly becoming blurry. My voice distorted with pain. “So there’s no hope for me. Whether I die now or later, it’s the same.”

  Eli tightened his embrace, making me realize I was shaking. Risa pressed her warm forehead against my temple, resting her hand on my stomach. “We aren’t giving up on you,” she whispered. “Eli and I will stick with you no matter what. I promise.”

  Those words were exactly what I needed to hear, and I could feel myself beginning to deteriorate emotionally again. I didn’t want to cry. I was too exhausted to cry anymore. My body couldn’t handle it. Yet, I cried anyway.

  Chapter 18: Loyalty

  In the last day, I had cried more than my entire life. It was truly humiliating, because my new friends probably thought this behavior was normal for me. But it wasn’t. I didn’t usually cry. In fact, I was pretty sure the last time I had cried was when I was thirteen – five years ago.

  An elf girl a year younger than me spent an entire month trying to befriend me. She seemed sincere enough, so I finally gave in and began opening up to her. It had been the same one who had silver eyes and had been slightly overweight when she was younger. I should have known better, but she was bullied like me, so I figured maybe she needed a friend too.

  But I was wrong.

  Horribly wrong.

  She asked me if I liked any of the elf boys, sharing with me which boy she liked in order to get me to open up. I resisted telling her anything for a solid month, before I finally admitted there was one I had taken an interest in – it was someone who didn’t look at me with disgust like Regulus. His name was Xin and his friends had set the whole thing up, suspecting how I felt.

  They ambushed me after fighting practice one day, tearing off my uniform and laughing at my exposed body – even Xin. I tried to fight back, but it was seven against one. Granted, the elf girl didn’t participate. She just watched with a cruel smirk on her face, knowing she had finally managed to get in their good graces. And it worked – she wasn’t bullied anymore after that, but I also never trusted anyone after that either.

  They made me stay on the ground while they laughed and sneered, calling me every name they could think of. Whenever I tried to get up, one of them would kick me in the ribs or the head, almost making me vomit from the pain. One even stomped on my tail, almost breaking it. And then I remembered Xin getting down in my face, asking me if I wanted them to stop.

  Of course I said yes, hoping his sweet tone meant something. But then he told me I needed to be taught a lesson, hissing, “No one would ever want you, filthy beast.”

  I hated that memory, along with many others, but it was why I was so upset now. Because my current situation was the exact opposite.

  I decided to share it with Eli and Risa while we laid in bed after the earlier incident with Alabast controlling me. Mira was sitting on the edge of the other bed listening intently too. I wanted to explain to them why it meant so much to me that they were in my life. Why it meant so much that they really loved me.

  My wrists and arms were tied together securely with one of the sheets, and while I could probably rip the cloth, the idea was that it would require too much effort and movement for me to do it without waking either of them up. Eli had his arms wrapped tightly around my body, my head resting on his upper arm with my butt pressed up tight against his waist. The warmth from his strong chest was seeping into my back. And I was facing Risa who was holding my hands in between us, partly for comfort and partly to ensure the sheet wasn’t cutting off my circulation.

  My tail was curled around my hip, as was hers. Mine twitched slightly while I shared the story, and they both listened somberly in between my sobs. At least the sheet came in handy. I had to wipe my face on it several times so Risa didn’t have to stare at a mess.

  When I finished, Risa brushed some hair out of my face before beginning to caress one of my ears again. I sighed when she grabbed it between her thumb and fingers to massage softly in a circular motion.

  “Thanks,” I whispered with a sniffle.

  A small smile touched her lips. “Anything for you,” she whispered back. Her smile then widened slightly. “Do you want to see me make a flower now?”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “Are you sure? It wasn’t long ago that you created that ice storm.”

  Her grin widened. “I’ve rested enough, and I can sleep more afterwards. The sun won’t rise for at least another five hours.”

  “Five hours?!” I exclaimed quietly. I hadn’t realized it was still so early in the night. I had assumed I had already been asleep for at least three hours, but if it was still that early then I couldn’t have slept for more than an hour at most.

  Mira nodded on the other bed. “Yes, we had just gone to bed not long before you…” She hesitated and then skipped what she was going to say. “We had all been asleep for probably about half an hour.”

  “I’m sorry…” I whispered again.

  Eli scoffed, tightening his embrace slightly, forcing my body more into his. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you sooner.”

  “And I’m sorry I didn’t feel you get up,” Risa added.

  I sighed heavily. “It’s no one’s fault,” I finally admitted. “Except for her. B
ut still. I really hate this.”

  Eli responded by tightening his arms again, but no one said anything. After a few seconds, Risa scooted away slightly, looking up at Eli for just a second before holding out her hand in between us. I watched in amazement as a bead of ice formed between her thumb and index finger like a small seed. Her face was relaxed but her golden gaze was focused intently on what she was doing.

  Mira hopped off the other bed to come see.

  After a second, it was as if the seed was growing, slowly turning into a stem. I watched, mesmerized, as small thorns began to form on the twig, briefly shifting my attention to her gold eyes focusing on each one individually as she willed it into existence.

  As she began creating the petals, one of them apparently wasn’t to her liking, because she let go of my hand to pluck the tiny ice petal and start it over. I smirked at her sudden perfectionist attitude, but she was too focused to notice. I didn’t know how long it took her the first time, but I suspected she was much faster at it now. What should have taken her at least half an hour, took her barely a few minutes.

  Finished, her golden eyes focused on mine with a grin. “Done,” she announced in a quiet voice. I was speechless.

  Mira was not, though still amazed.

  “It’s beautiful,” she exclaimed breathlessly.

  I silently agreed, fascinated by the details and the speed at which she had accomplished it. Her magic was perfectly within her control now, more so than some of the most advanced mages. I finally tore my gaze from the work of art and returned her stare.

  “Risa,” I began just as breathlessly as Mira, “if you aren’t a fons’radix then I don’t know who would be. I’ve never known a single elf capable of creating something so beautiful so quickly. Not even the best of ice mages.”

  Risa blushed but held my gaze. I felt Eli nod behind me in agreement, and Risa glanced up at him briefly. She was quiet for just a moment before responding with a small smile. “Well, I’d offer to let you hold it, but since we have you tied up you’ll just have to settle with looking at it.”