I sagged a bit as I followed, breathing hard with the exertion. "Seriously? I just don't want any attention—I hate when everyone's always staring at me."
A sarcastic bark of laughter erupted from her. "You're a Prime. It's not something you can continue to hide from. Don't you get it? People will know what you are, and if you're blocking things, it looks sketchy. Besides, being Evgeni Garin's daughter…"
I wished I could see her expression, but she kept up the punishing pace.
"I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm not trying to do anything but be normal… a normal Dragonborn person."
Another snort came from Taya. "Sydney, don't you want to be looked up to or treated special? I can't think of a single girl here that wouldn't switch places with you in a heartbeat… Ashe Carrick is your bondmate of all people!" she quickly added, "…I mean, he's not my type, but I don't know many girls who would turn him down. You're kind of being a brat."
Fury burned inside me.
"I'm being a brat?!" I asked in a huff.
"Yes."
"No. I'm just lost! No one gets me. No one seems to understand that I was happy before this. That I liked my life how it was—with George. It wasn't perfect, but at least I knew the rules, and I knew the game. Being dropped in the Academy, then dropped here in Briony is like playing a game I've never seen before. I don't know the rules, I don't understand what anything means!" It was all too much and seemed to just explode out of me as I followed Taya up the sloped pathway. "You have no idea what my life was like before this. You're not in my shoes. If I could keep Aaraeth, I would walk away. I'm basically an outcast. Why should I even care what people think? They're all judging me without even knowing me anyway! And as for Ashe and this magical bond people are all happy to speculate about—well, that's turned to shit. Ashe wants nothing to do with me! Are you happy now?"
My eyes had filled, but I angrily tried in vain to force the tears back. One fell, leaving a trail over my cheek, and I swatted it away.
My guard stayed quiet as she continued to clomp up the steep spiral.
When we turned off at my grandparent's door, Taya said a quick hello to the soldier on duty before entering. I sped through the main entry and back into my bedroom, biting my cheek to keep any more tears at bay.
Taya still said nothing, going straight into her small windowless room.
Gazing down at the outfit left for me by Victoria, I sighed. It was a blue-gray sleeveless tunic dress, lined with thick lace. I quickly changed into it and regarded my reflection in the shapeless garment.
"Aaraeth?" I called out to my dragon.
You feel unsettled. How can you be unhappy in this place? She asked me lazily from the ledge where she lay basking in the bright summer sun.
"I am unsettled. Today has been a nightmare and I haven’t even eaten breakfast. This whole place feels… alien," I whispered the last word. "It's like…" I sobbed, "Taya's not even on my side either."
My beast stood and blocked the sunlight from the doorway, leaving my room in shadow.
It is alien. This is a Dragonborn place, and Dragonborn are different than the mundane primates of this world. I have told you this, yet you choose to ignore me, she huffed.
Taya popped out of her room and motioned to Aaraeth, "Come on, join… we have to go."
The dragon took two bounding steps before diving into me. I managed not to gasp, but each time we merged it took my breath away. It was as if I were suddenly whole again. Like sinking into a warm bath or holding onto someone I loved, the sensation was a mixture of relief and comfort.
The strange thing was that I knew we weren't really joining, she was just going back to the Dragon realm, but this was a mystery to ponder later…
Taya turned me around by the shoulders, yanking her fingers through my hair. "Don't you have a brush somewhere?” she asked as she began to tightly braid my hair in a sideways braid that wrapped over my head like a crown. "I'm sorry for calling you a brat. You aren't," she sighed. "I was mean. I know you're new to all this, and I know you're afraid, but you have nothing to be afraid of. You're actually doing pretty good… considering everything. It's just frustrating watching you fight everyone… and everything."
I met her eye in the mirror momentarily before she continued braiding.
When she was done, she tugged out a few strands to hang near each ear. "There, that's better."
Grasping the large egg-shaped medallion from the dresser, she laid it around my neck and fastened the clasp.
Standing back, she admired her handy work. "Pretty. Yeah, you look good."
"Thank you for…, I told her quietly but she cut me off.
"We need to go," she warned again, charging out onto the broad path that reminded me of an underground parking structure. I had to hold my dress up to keep from tripping as we wound down and around, meeting up with a wide main tunnel. We stopped outside arched double doors that muffled the noise of people talking and laughing from the other side.
Taya gripped my shoulders, her brown eyes meeting mine. "You look good! But, you have to stop shielding yourself. I know it's a Prime thing, but you cannot do it here."
"It's automatic. I don't know if I can stop," I told her.
She shook her head. "No. You have to. Your grandparents are going to kill me if you enter that hall shielded… besides, we're already late."
I shook my head. "I can't. I'm too tense."
Taya pursed her lips, thinking. "Well, Ashe… he's here, did you know that? Can you feel him?"
"No… I don’t feel him, he’s here?" I asked in a strangled voice. I knew he’d be around, but I thought that I would sense him first and have some kind of warning.
She nodded, then laughed. "He's like really powerful; he feels almost as powerful as your grandfather, the PL. So… do your thing."
I blew out a breath. “You can feel him?”
She nodded. “Can’t you like reach out to him or whatever?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and then closed my eyes. Aaraeth? Help me take down my mental walls.
All you need to do is… let go, she told me.
Let go? I asked.
My mind swirled with a myriad of emotions. I was so angry, sad, and anxious.
Calm yourself, Sydney, Aaraeth told me. Release your hold.
I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on calming my breath.
Focus on the wall. Now, let it go…
The barrier was there, stable, smooth and hard like thick plastic, and then, I just… let it go.
The entire thing turned to dust, opening my mind to everything.
Instantly, the thoughts and emotions of hundreds of Dragonborn washed over me like a tsunami. All of them, open to me, all of them pouring their own stream of consciousness into me.
It was too much, and I stumbled, nearly falling, but Taya grabbed me. Another soldier on his way to the hall rushed over to help as well. He stared at me dumbfounded, his large black eyes wide with shock.
"You're her," he said before letting go of my arm and backing away. His chest heaved with the effort to catch his breath.
I knew why he looked at me like that.
It was because he felt it—he felt Aaraeth and her power inside me, shining out of my pores like last night's garlic.
"Holy shit," Taya murmured. "I forgot how you feel when you're like this."
I widened my feet to brace myself and bathed in Aaraeth's power like I stood in a downpour.
It was addictive, alluring, and dark.
It scared me, and maybe that was why I kept it locked up.
It reminded me of that Spiderman quote about power and responsibility. I didn’t want or need either… until I felt him.
Ashe.
Ashe shone among the sea of people like a beacon pulling me toward him. He felt bright and pure but deadly like an avenging angel. Our connection glowed, then flooded me with warmth, followed by pain and desire.
I quickly built a new barrier for my mind. Picturing the walls like camouflage, I hid behi
nd them but left that raw power for everyone to see.
Opening my eyes, I looked at Taya. "How is that?"
She smiled, apparently happy with the new barrier I'd constructed in my mind. "Good! Let's go!"
If they were going to talk about me, let them talk about my power.
Let them be afraid of me.
7
Ashe
Something was going on today at first meal. To begin with, I’d received a notice to wear my dress uniform. Not only that, but a special menu had been laid at each table, still covered in terracotta dishes. Why were we waiting instead of eating?
The PL had given us all orders to wait and the noise of the crowd of hundreds rose.
I eyed the PL’s table warily, knowing I had something to do with this announcement, but what it was I could only guess.
Turning back to my table, I overheard the last part of Luke’s latest joke. He was the youngest assigned to our mixed intelligence group. The kid was a great coder and nimble fighter but he still had a lot to learn.
“Corbin,” I called down the table, “pass the Virago.”
The drink was made from the fermented Virago seeds. The plant was from the dragon realm and grown in the valley from seeds brought by dragons. When brewed, it made a woodsy, spicy caffeinated concoction that was thought to be healthy. Legend had it that someone came up with coffee as a substitute for Virago.
After filling his own cup, Corbin stood to pass the steaming ceramic jug.
I reached out and gripped the handle when a familiar energy sweep through the room, like a psychic wave crashing through the large hall.
“Whoa!” Mia warned, steadying the jug as it tipped in my hand. She gave me a strange expression.
She couldn’t feel it… but Corbin could and met my eye. As a Prime, he’d felt it too.
Sydney burned like a wildfire, beautiful and devastating.
The room that had been full of chatter and laughter, died down to a lower pitch. Everyone now felt the presence of an unfamiliar Prime… a very powerful Prime.
A Prime more familiar than my own reflection. Her face, her voice, her scent—it was seared into my soul like a brand.
“Is that…?” Corbin asked, his question trailing off.
“Sydney,” I breathed, alert and shaken up as if I’d just touched a live wire.
My crew, two women and four men, began to look around the dining hall, past the sea of soldiers in black uniforms.
Mia met my eye, “Who’s that? Did you say Sydney?” a teasing grin spread across her lips. “As in Sydney—your child bondmate?” She laughed heartily along with a few others.
I glared at my team. Luke coughed to cover his laugh, while the others looked away guiltily.
This whole bondmate thing between Syd and I had been common knowledge since the beginning, but few had actually seen her, let alone met her.
My mind spiraled back to her in that white bikini, laying on her bed, and then later to when her eyes sparked with fire and her voice was full of anger.
I sucked in a breath as the feeling of her power lapped at me in waves.
The main doors opened and I drank her in. Sydney looked like a queen, with her soft blond hair braided around her head like a crown, and the gleaming egg pendant that represented the Prime Leader and his family nestled between her breasts.
The mass of people had quieted and turned in their seats to watch as she wove her way through the crowd, Taya leading the way but almost invisible.
I should’ve been the one to walk her into this room, I growled to Eondian, who snarled in agreement. My blood boiled with possessive thoughts and primal desires making me grit my teeth to remain in place.
Luke leaned toward me, following my gaze. “Who’s that? From another community? Europe… or oomph,” he ended when Mia elbowed him in the ribs.
“That’s Sydney Lambert,” she murmured under her breath.
My bondmate moved through the throng of people, her head high as she looked through them, instead of at them. She projected an aura of power and casual ease, but her true emotions leached into me like wine soaking into a white table cloth. There was so much anger and pain—was I the cause of that?
It made me second guess myself.
I was usually so sure of my decisions and confident in what I did and said… until Sydney came into my life. When it came to her, nothing was straight forward. My heart battled my head, logic battled emotions and all I did was end up hurting us both.
It wasn’t fair but what other decision could I have made that wouldn’t have ended in disaster?
She reached the center table of the PL, and the remaining voices in the room went silent. Only a chair sliding against the floor or a dish clanking broke into the quiet. The central round table sat twelve, and usually the remaining seats were filled with different faces. But, not today. For the first time, I realized that representatives of each house sat there instead.
Oh fuck! This was the first meal and the PL was going to announce her. How could I have been so stupid not to realize this!
Eondian made a growl low in his throat, she hides well.
Arthur stood and held a welcoming hand out, addressing her in his booming voice, “Welcome home, granddaughter.”
A light breeze fluttered his hair from the open shutters at the far side. I couldn’t see Syd’s face, but I felt her hesitation, her fear.
She didn’t trust Arthur.
Good girl! I thought, sucking in a breath, just don’t do anything foolish…
I nearly sighed in relief when she forced a smile on her lips as the PL hugged her, kissing both cheeks before releasing his grip on her shoulders.
“My beloved Aesyre,” Arthur bellowed to the crowd gathering their attention. A smug smile curved his lips as he clasped her hand in his. “This is my granddaughter, Prime… Sydney Lambert.”
A murmur buzzed through the crowd.
The PL turned to me, his gaze icy cold. I felt his summons as he forced his will on me.
I stood and began obeying the PL’s not so gentle compulsion. I could have resisted, but this wasn’t the time nor the place to prove that he had no control over me… anymore.
When I neared the round table, he gripped my hand as well. His voice thundered with each word, “As you can see, Drake and Harrow will become one.”
Arthur held our arms up in some kind of twisted victory. His empty words sickened me. Arthur was a corrupt, greedy, selfish man who used his power for his own gain and wouldn’t hesitate to grind those beneath him with the heel of his boot.
I looked over at Sydney, but instead of returning my gaze, she tensed and looked away.
The PL continued, and thankfully lowered our arms, “Elibera and Orthodox will be one with this union and the two shall create a new beginning for all Dragonborn…”
His words held a hint of compulsion to make people obey, to make them defer to him and bow down to him. It twisted in my stomach. How could the other Primes stand by while he lied and manipulated everyone? Couldn’t they feel what he was doing? How could they stand by and allow it to happen?
I wanted to take Sydney out of this viper’s den—pick her up, throw her over my shoulder and take her somewhere safe. She was tough and strong, but she was still so innocent and so trusting.
“You may sit,” The PL told us, dismissing us with a wave.
Victoria Angeven motioned to an empty chair on the other side of Sydney. I obeyed, sliding into the seat as Arthur continued to address the crowd. He spoke, but I couldn’t listen, all I could do was think of Sydney.
Sitting this close, I couldn’t keep my eyes from her. Her left ear was pierced—twice— but she wore no earrings, I’d never noticed that before. Her hands tightly gripped the fabric of her dress, and she still wore my ring on her right index finger—that platinum band only broken up by the V in the middle.
I’d anguished over that ring, wanting to give it to her but not knowing if I should. Did she know what it meant? Did she know t
he symbolism of wearing it on that finger?
My breath heaved in quick breaths.
I should listen to Arthur, but I struggled. How could I listen when Sydney’s breathing sped up like mine and that delicate pink blush trailed over her cheeks?
Was that desire for me?
Did she mean to tease me when she bit her bottom lip before letting it slide out between her teeth?
I wanted to run my fingers along the soft skin of her jaw, pull her against me and devour her mouth with mine. Sydney bewitched me without saying a word, reminding me why I called her my siren.
Unable to help myself, I reached out under the table and stroked her thigh with my knuckles. Instead of turning to me, she shifted away, pretending to listen to her grandfather.
My heart sank.
Aaraeth? I called out to her dragon. What’s wrong with Sydney?
The beast snorted, she has anger for you, Ashe.
The thought sobered me and chastised me at the same time.
What have I done, Aaraeth? I called out to Syd’s dragon.
Do you now regret your actions, human? Bellowed Eondian’s voice in my head. You have kept me from my mate, but I will not be denied now that she is near, he told me, referring to Aaraeth.
I nearly growled under my breath.
Syd’s head snapped my way and our eyes met. She spoke to Eondian, but until our bond was complete, I wouldn’t be able to hear her.
What is she saying to you? I asked the beast.
He grunted, there are too many human words to speak.
I sucked in a breath, flaring my nostrils in agitation. Two can play at this game. Plucking Aaraeth’s attention I said, tell her that we are being watched. She needs to shield some of her emotions or there will be consequences.
Eondian growled in agreement as Aaraeth pulled away to speak to Sydney.
My knee bounced under the table as I tried to catch her eye again, but she purposefully kept her gaze on her grandfather as he spoke.
Aaraeth, I barked, tell her that we need to talk.
I had to get to the lab right after breakfast, but I had to know what was going on. Why was she here?
Ashhhhhhhe, the dragon drew out in her feminine snarl. She says no.
Hard Boiled Page 7