by LJ Andrews
I shook my head and dragged my fingers through my hair. I’d shout and rage when I saw her again, then kiss her until she grew sick of it.
“Maybe it seemed like she was willing but I know any willingness was because the option would be something happening to us,” I said. “You all saw Bron. He could’ve killed me, he would’ve. But he didn’t. Gripe and let your tempers cloud your heads. Start a civil war for all I care. As for me, I’m going to get her back.”
“I’m going with you,” Raffi declared without a moment’s hesitation. “And I know where we must go to get the help we need.”
I drew in a rapid breath when he held up the warrior sword. The dragon head on the pommel gleamed as though the idea was destined.
Sapphire’s strong voice broke through the pregnant pause. “You want to find the warriors?”
Raffi nodded, a wild expression on his face. “I want to find Thane.”
“I’m coming with you, Teagan,” Mitch said.
“Mitch, I don’t know if—”
“Just shut up. Look, if I’m going to die, then I’ll die. But you bet I’d rather die trying to free Jade from some snake-prince than just sitting around waiting for those things to find me and eat me. I’m coming. Plus, I’m of the forest, right? I can help track, and I’m clever and—”
“Okay,” I said, nearly smiling. “I’ll take any help.”
“I will go,” Athika said with a sharp glance at me. “I can help win over any mage support that remains with the warriors. They will know me. They don’t know you.”
I stared at Raffi, who clutched the sword of the lead warrior with a sense of pride. Though the situation should have brought me pain and anguish, in this moment I smiled, embracing the warm feeling surging through my body. This was the next move.
I shouldered my blades. We had lost warriors to find.
Chapter 16
Mitch carried the backpack filled to the brim with food, knives, rope, more weapons, anything we thought we might need on the search for Thane and the wyvern warriors. One full day had come and gone without Jade. My heart ached, and there were moments when I was physically ill at her absence.
“You really are desperate to get her back?” Athika asked on the front porch of the mansion where we checked our provisions one final time.
“Did you expect less?” I zipped the main pocket of the backpack. “Why do you sound so surprised? Wouldn’t you do the same for Ruby?”
“Ruby wouldn’t join the lindworms.” Athika paused. “I’m just worried when you find her it might not be the same. If the prince wanted her as his mate, odds are they are already united.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat and fought to keep my voice steady. “You know what Athika, I don’t know where your issue regarding my bond with Jade comes from, but I really don’t care what sort of union or mate set-up that prince has. I’m not going to let Jade sacrifice her life to protect mine. She wouldn’t stop trying to find me if the roles were reversed, so if you have any issue with what I’m doing, then maybe you should stay with Ruby.”
Athika bit her bottom lip and stepped to my side. Her hand rested on my forearm, the crimson color of her armor clashing with my gilded green. “I’m sorry. I am just trying to look out for you. I won’t say anything else about the prince.”
“All right then.” I turned away and sheathed my blades as Mitch took the backpack from my hands.
“We have everything?” he asked.
I offered a quick nod, looking to Raffi where he was waiting on the lawn. “Are you sure you can carry all of us?”
Raffi scoffed, tying his hair back off his neck. “You three are puny, hardly making up a full-grown wyvern man.”
I chuckled, though it didn’t have much life. In fact, the more time that passed, the more dead inside I became.
Eisha wrapped her arms around my neck, tight like Aunt Liz had done numerous times in my life. “Teagan, you will be safe. Find the warriors, and the moment you do, you promise you will send for us?”
“We will,” I said. “Look after the royals for us?”
Eisha’s gaze drifted to the lawn where Ruby, Onyx, Sapphire, and Peran waited to bid us farewell. Each one was already in their true form, with their brilliant wings folded over their backs. Dash remained in his human form, muttering different strategies and plans with Raffi.
“Konrad isn’t pleased with the arrangement,” Eisha said.
“Onyx is right,” I began. “They will be safer with Onyx’s mage and with Dash than staying here. With Athika and me both leaving, I think having a bloodline mage around is the wisest choice. With you and Dash there, too, I feel the rest of the royals will be safe.”
“I just hope it remains true that Bron hasn’t found Onyx’s home. Nowhere else seems safe from his eye,” Eisha said.
“Eisha, I believe Jade will do all she can from where she is to ensure your safety. But in case Bron or King Nag decides to act, I know you all are capable. I hope we won’t be away long.”
“I keep praying if, or I suppose when, you find Thane, he will not oppose fighting with Jade,” Eisha said. I didn’t see the fierce dragon crumble often. Eisha was impressive with her resolve, but since Jade was taken she had trouble keeping her emotions hidden.
“You think he won’t agree to fight?” I asked. It was an option I’d never considered.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It has been many years since I’ve seen him. He was always loyal, but joining with the lindworms might be enough to turn him and his armies away. Convince him, Teagan. Tell him Jade would never betray us.”
I scooped Eisha into a tight embrace and spoke low and confident. “I will. We’ll get her back, but remember, Jade isn’t a damsel. I’m positive she has quite the cunning plan and will give that prince some hell.”
Eisha chuckled and quickly wiped her eye when she pulled away. “I’m sure you’re very right.”
“Teagan, let’s go,” Raffi groaned from the lawn.
Eisha stepped out onto the snow-frosted grass and shifted at my side. Sapphire shook his head and growled next to my face. I took that as a warning to be careful—it probably was a complaint that he wasn’t invited, but I liked the idea of him worrying about us.
“Keep them safe, Dash,” I said.
“I will, by my honor,” Dash said with a fist over his heart in a salute before his dark skin peeled back into ebony scales.
Raffi huffed and split into his fiery form. With a snort of steam, he shook his enormous skull at the three of us who would join him. I took the front, Athika slid behind me, with Mitch clamoring up the back of Raffi’s curved spine. I glanced once over my shoulder. Onyx bowed his dark head before shooting toward the gray sky. The others followed, and all I could do was pray the final three royals would make it to safety before anyone else I cared about was harmed.
Raffi tromped around the edge of the forest an hour outside of Wyvern Willows. His chest was bare, but the cold of the fading day didn’t seem to faze him. He slashed the warrior blade in the air across his chest, inspecting the cutting edge, the hilt, anything that might signal how to use the blade to find the elusive Thane.
“What exactly did Thane tell you?” Athika sighed.
Raffi looked at her with a narrowed glare. “As I said, he told me should I ever need him, the blade would help me find him.”
Mitch sighed, flopping back on the frozen ground. “Why can’t people just say things straight? That’s what I want to know. What’s with the hidden meanings? Just say, ‘Raffi, this is how you use the sword to find me.’ That’s all it would have taken.”
“That isn’t the way of the warrior,” Raffi said, though I could sense part of him wished he knew more about the power in the sword. “We are to use our intellect, our wits, as well as our strength. Telling me straight would take away half the lesson.”
A screech in the trees drew our attention. I reached for a blade, but Mitch held out his hand. “No, it’s fae. Hang on.”
“Mitch,” I warned.
“I signaled them,” he returned. “I wanted to see what they knew. They’ll know the forest best.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and held my breath as Mitch went to the trees. The magic in his dark eyes sort of glowed a bit as a tall, slender girl with curled horns on her head stepped from the shadows. She was followed by two more forest fae: a boy with goat legs, and another girl with blue skin and white hair.
Mitch used his hands to speak. The horned girl smiled. Like most fae, she was frighteningly beautiful. Horns and all. Mitch was right, fae were clever, and they knew the forest.
The girl pointed toward the east, but the goat-boy shook his head. Mitch’s shoulders slumped and before the three fae returned to the trees the blue girl kissed Mitch, long and hard. Then, without another thought, turned into the trees. Mitch staggered back, grinning.
Raffi frowned. “Get anything, or were you too busy talking about other things.”
He snorted and shoved the meaty arm of the warrior. “That’s just how Rhea says goodbye. And may the gods bless her for it.” He sighed until he realized we were all waiting. “Right. So Rowan, the girl with the horns, she is the tracker for the high fae courts. She told me there have been no dragon sightings in centuries.”
Raffi tossed his arms over his head.
“Hold on,” Mitch said. “She did say, however, at the cliffs to the east, there is strange magic. To the point, the forest fae aren’t allowed near them. Lucian, the man—”
“Looked like a child,” Athika said.
Mitch puckered his lips. “He’ll take offense to that. Lucian agreed with Raffi, though. He insisted the weapons we carry hold a similar vibe—his word not mine—and we should view the sword as a key.”
“But he didn’t have insight how it is to be done?” Athika asked.
“They’re fae, girl,” Mitch said. “Before today, they didn’t know dragons were alive. No, they don’t know how to use a dragon sword as a key. They offered to search the stars for us, but I figured we don’t have time.”
“We don’t,” I said. But in truth, if we couldn’t find Thane and the warriors, I’d do anything—even read the stars—to find Jade.
Raffi jabbed the sword into the ground and looked to the sun. “Do we go to these cliffs, or figure out the sword, then?”
“Cliffs,” Athika offered.
I shook my head. “It could be something else entirely. I say sword.”
“Agreed,” said Raffi as I handed him a pack of salted jerky. He ripped it from my hands and gnawed on it like a wild beast.
“Are you able to keep flying?” I asked when the subtle steam of his frustration stopped billowing off his skin.
“Yes,” Raffi said sharply. “I will go all night if I must.”
“I don’t see the point in wasting your energy until we know what direction we’re going,” Athika said.
“She’s right, Raffi,” I agreed. “We really should get some bearings before we keep going.”
Raffi leaned against a thick maple trunk and finished the last of the jerky. “Fine. Let me think for a moment. Thane wouldn’t have said to use the blade if there wasn’t some way to use it.”
We four rested in silence for a time, each considering a way the sword could be used.
“What if it, like, starts on fire when you’re close, and gets cold when you’re far away—you know, like hot and cold,” Mitch suggested.
Raffi actually laughed. “Mitch, you’re stupid sometimes, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Mitch crossed his arms and pouted. “Well, why don’t you guys come up with a better idea.”
Raffi yawned. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen the warrior dragon look fatigued. The sun was fading, and the spot in the forest where we’d taken refuge was dimming with shadows of the night.
“Raf, I think you should rest before we keep going,” I said.
“By fire, you coddle me,” he said with a chuckle. “I am of warrior blood. I will live.”
“Answer me honestly, does the idea of carrying us into nowhere sound like something you feel you can do right now?”
“Warriors do things beyond limits all the time.”
“Yes, but we don’t know where we’re going,” Athika offered with a chip in her voice. “Take the time to rest. We’ll keep watch while you and Mitch sleep. Then we’ll trade and you two can brainstorm about the sword.”
I glanced at Raffi with a raised brow. He snarled and turned his back to us. “Fine. But you wake me after a few hours. That’s all. I’m not keen on sleeping while Jade is in the clutches of the lindworms.”
“Yeah, sure,” Athika muttered. “Hey, before you fall asleep, why not be useful and start a fire?”
Raffi glared at my fellow mage, but didn’t argue. In a swift shift, he towered over us and blew a warm, pleasant stream of flames into a pit we’d dug until a roaring fire blazed in the twilight.
Mitch chuckled when Raffi stomped off in his wyvern form and flopped onto the ground as if letting us know he was frustrated that we’d been right about the respite time. Mitch pulled a blanket from the backpack and curled next to the fire while Athika and I took our places around our camp to stand watch.
Chapter 17
Silence was all I wanted, and for over an hour I got my wish.
The stars were in the black sky when Athika finally spoke. “How are you today? You don’t seem as torn as you were yesterday.”
“I’m worried and torn, but more determined today,” I said, taking one of the blades out of its sheath—just to hold—it helped me feel safer.
“Teagan, I feel like there is tension between us,” Athika admitted.
I sighed. This conversation was the last thing I wanted to have. “There is some tension. Athika. You aren’t exactly accepting of the idea that I’m bonded with Jade.”
“I understand bonding, Teagan. Did you know Ruby and I have a fated bond as well? We knew we would be protection companions before I earned my armor. So I do understand how deep emotions and friendship can go.”
I chuckled darkly, my grip tightening on the hilt of the blade. “But you don’t accept that I love, Jade. More than friendship, I mean.”
Athika scooted closer so the warmth of her skin nuzzled mine. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Teagan. It’s just something that hasn’t ever happened. I think Jade is a unique royal, she wants a romantic connection and wyverns aren’t known for love. You have a destined bond, so yes, I believe feelings got muddled. I don’t blame you; I don’t blame Jade. Both of you didn’t even know the other existed when you met. It must have been pretty shocking and powerful.”
I rubbed the ache in my chest and listened as she spoke, but with every word the muscles in my neck tensed. “I understand how it might seem to you, really.” And I did. I understood everyone’s aversion to our relationship. “But I also know exactly how I feel. I don’t know how else to say it, other than I love Jade. I feel all the mage connections, they’re different than the other things I feel with her.”
Athika nodded and hugged her knees against her chest. “Teagan, you are the High Priest, that means I am loyal to you. But you should know, I think more of you.”
I drew in a sharp breath when she leaned against my shoulder. “Athika.”
“You aren’t familiar with the mage people, I get it,” she went on. “But mage relationships, marriages, families are bonded with love—true love. You and I, we are both powerful and have aspirations that are of one mind. We want what’s best for the royals, but also for the mage. I think . . . I think we would do well together.”
Athika’s face was close to mine, and I was overwhelmed with her energy, her sincerity, her loyalty, but it crushed over my body with only thoughts of Jade.
I shook my head and rose to my feet. “I’m sorry, Athika. I trust you and would risk my life to defend yours as a mage. But I must be clear: nothing could ever take me away from Jade. Not the lindworms, not a prince, not even a mage I respect.”<
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She sighed, but my answer seemed to be expected. “I know, Teagan. I know that’s how you feel. I just hope you won’t turn away from the possibility that this bond is simply because it was your first introduction to our world. Don’t rule out other good, accepted options.”
Raffi grumbled and I took a step back from Athika. The warrior shifted into his human form, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“My turn,” he muttered and nudged Mitch’s back with his toe. “Wake up. You want to be here, then you need to keep watch.”
Mitch stirred and glared at Raffi, but tugged the blanket around his shoulder and stood. Raffi was already stalking the sword by the time Mitch stumbled to the edge of the camp. I met Athika’s eye briefly before settling by the fire. I hadn’t realized until I rested my head against the backpack how exhausted I was. Soon, sleep found me, and I was lost in images of lindworms, Bron, and Jade’s emerald eyes.
“I figured it out!”
I leapt to my feet at the shrill cry. Raffi’s head snapped to attention from where he sat on a fallen log. Athika gripped a knife, her hair tousled around her face as we all looked toward Mitch. He stood by the sword still stabbed deep into the soil. The sun was shining high in the sky, and I was irritated they’d let me sleep so long.
“What do you mean you figured it out?” Raffi gasped, lowering to one knee, and gently dragging his finger across the smooth steel.
“Look.” Mitch pointed at the sword. He rolled his eyes and adjusted his finger toward the shadow. “The shadow. I’ve been watching it for at least two hours, and it hasn’t adjusted in the least. It has pointed in that direction since the sun rose. Never shifting, never changing. It’s noon now, and look, just look at that shadow!”
Raffi inspected Mitch’s claims. When he smiled, I realized it too. A dark shadow sprawled along the snow, where it should be small and direct at this time of day.