Oath of Betrayal (The Broken Bonds: Slavic Fantasy #1)

V ahin berated me all the way back to the fortress. We learned that the other riders had returned after dealing with the spectrae, and during our time underground, Vahin had stayed close to the entrance and flew above it to keep an eye out for danger. He hadn’t worried at first, but when he’d been unable to warn Orm of a small landslide near the chasm, he’d landed and begun searching for us.

After that, Vahin had soon realised that the tainted aether and thick layer of earth blocked his thoughtspeech. Once he was done roaring to the heavens that I was an irresponsible woman with a death wish, he decided that if I worried him like that again, he would never take me anywhere or, even better, lock me in his lair until I grew wiser.

Orm was as silent as the grave during the entire exchange, only squeezing my hand in sympathy and smiling when I bent to press a kiss to my scaly Anchor’s neck.

‘I’m sorry. You know I love you and would never worry you on purpose. The situation just got a little out of hand,’ I said with complete honesty because, although Vahin’s berating was slightly amusing, the genuine fear hidden in the dragon’s heart was not.