Chapter 1 #2
There was no denying it now, just as she couldn’t before.
“Problem?” the other man, the one Morgen had called Carus, asked, as if they had not just destroyed an entire holy temple and tossed Jada’s body aside so casually.
Morgen’s throat worked, the faint, white scar there bobbing. “We’re looking for a goddess.”
Carus snorted softly. “And it looks like we found one. You’re right, there’s no way a mortal would have survived under all that. Though…” His head tilted, light-blond waves falling in his brown eyes. “She’s injured badly. You should probably heal her before we go.”
Morgen lifted a hand, long fingers outstretched towards her. The gold flaring in his irises brightened, and she flinched away, even as copper filled her mouth. “Don’t. Please. Don’t.”
He could heal her. He’d done it before, but she didn’t want to be fixed now.
Morgen’s lips parted, and Carus laughed again. “You do know you’re going to die if we don’t help you, right?”
Please. Please, just let me go. It’s better this way.
He ignored Carus, a shadow passing over Morgen’s face, his mouth tightening as Nya accessed the pathway for the first time in a year.
He didn’t reply, though; he just pressed his hand firmly over her torn skin, just above her collarbone.
Unable to move or stop him, she just let the tears roll down her cheeks as she felt the essence of Life itself push into her body, healing her, forcing her to keep breathing.
She didn’t scream, even when the magic began to burn her insides to the point of agony.
But when he finished and she could breathe again without feeling like her lungs were going to collapse, she looked directly into his still-aglow eyes.
Morgen. Please.
He ignored her, and she died a little more inside, the same part of her that had been withering away since she’d first suspected who he truly was.
In the distance, another dragon roared, though not the enormous crimson beast perched on the edge of the cliff the temple jutted out onto.
Varax, she tried. The dragon’s amber eyes met hers, blinking slowly. Help me.
She merely rustled her enormous wings. Don’t complain to me about truths you both denied. For far too long, I might add.
“We need to go,” Carus said. “There are riders approaching, and it’s probable the mortal queen will send them here first, given her history with the girl’s mother.” He glanced at Nya, still on the ground. “It is her, isn’t it?”
Morgen’s jaw twitched. “It’s her.”
Nya knew he had just heard her speaking to Varax. Unless the dragon actively closed the pathway, all three of them were connected, had been since Nya first saw blinking amber in her dreams four years ago. At least, they were, until Nya had run and shut both of them out.
Years ago, when she had casually floated the notion of one dragon with two riders to her father, he’d frowned and said he had never heard of such a thing. She had never brought it up again.
A mistake. All of it.
Morgen’s eyes flashed to hers, and she wondered if Varax had ferried the thought to him.
Good.
“We’re leaving,” he said shortly, tugging Nya up. “Now.”
“Where?” she challenged, jaw clenched tight to keep it from chattering.
Carus paused and looked between the two of them, brow furrowed. “Do you two—”
“Now,” Morgen snarled, the ground trembling beneath them as his power rose. He dragged her over to Varax, long fingers wrapped around her wrist. “Get on the saddle.”
Her nostrils flared. “And if I say no? Are you going to force me? Sounds familiar.”
Fury flashed in his eyes, the gold veins brightening again. He knew exactly what she was trying to do, and she was sure he regretted telling her about his past now. She had too much leverage over his emotions.
“Morgen! They’re getting closer. If you want to avoid a confrontation, I suggest we move, quickly.”
“Nya. Now,” Morgen growled.
She could try to run. The single advantage she had was that Varax wouldn’t hurt her. But Morgen knew how untrained she was in her magic, and she was fully aware he knew just how to use his.
They knew everything about each other except the things that truly mattered.
He held her hard gaze for a few moments, not backing down. Finally, she gave a mocking bow of her head. “As you wish, my king.”
Before either he or Carus could react, she climbed atop Varax, ignoring Morgen as he followed, settling into the saddle behind her.
She glanced at the ruined temple below, hating herself and hating him.
She had come here to run from the truth, to take vows of holy devotion and celibacy in an attempt to save herself. She had only ended up damning others.
Today would be a good day, Varax, Morgen said into the pathway.
Even there, his voice was edged with tension; his body was so stiff behind her, she felt his muscles must hurt. She told herself didn’t care what he was feeling.
The dragon roared and then abruptly dove off the cliffside. Nya leaned low into the saddle to avoid flying off, Morgen doing the same behind her. To their left, Carus rode a tan Fesper dragon, about half the size of Varax, and in the distance, she caught a glimpse of the queen’s fleet approaching.
They left the capital and the fleet behind quickly, and Nya knew in her heart where they were headed. It wasn’t far to Arcadia’s border with D’anna, and, too soon, the shimmering veil she had never seen but heard about countless times appeared ahead.
“Brace yourself,” Morgen said gruffly in her ear. “It might feel as if you can’t breathe for a moment.”
She ignored him. The barrier approached, and she closed her eyes. When the heavy, sticky feeling of magic enveloped her, stealing the air from her lungs, she leaned into it.
Take me, she pleaded, perhaps to the magic itself, or even to the gods beyond, the ones she shared blood and power with. End this before it can begin.
Neither listened.
They broke the barrier, and the smell of honeytwine trees and fresh water surrounded her.
A lush, broad valley caged them on either side, but she knew in her heart they weren’t close yet.
A usurper didn’t hide in a sunlit field.
Wherever they were going, wherever he had been hiding all these years, would not be pleasant.
Neither would her role.