Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Duty
HAEL
It had taken everything in me not to have sex with Magnolia in the cabin. Every instinct, every fiber of my body screamed at me to finalize our bond. I planned to tell her about it, needing her to know everything before she agreed to take things further.
An Eclipsis bond was for life, just like a Vinculum was. I wasn’t entirely sure what it would do, but if it was similar to the bond with dragons, I knew it would connect us to the point where we couldn’t take it back.
And I wanted it. Wanted her. All of her.
I just needed her sober to do it, needed to make completely sure she actually wanted it, but the moment I woke up in my cabin, I was alone.
She was fucking gone.
Fear ignited a hole in my chest that was ripping me apart from the inside out as I searched the entire stretch of beach along the Drattini coast. Aura found me not long after, immediately knowing what was wrong.
We flew over every fucking inch of Viven multiple times, and I still couldn’t find a trace of her.
I even had Jaxs look into the oceans—both the Drattini and the Triovian—with his Caerulus, terrified that maybe she was dragged out to sea, even though I felt in my bones she was still alive. The strings were tugging at me, I just couldn’t fucking figure out where.
I was going insane, but I didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except for her—
“Elion demanded your presence in the throne room,” Jaxs said as he met me by the border of Inyaerille.
“I don’t fucking care—”
“Hael, you need to care. You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep ignoring him.”
“I can’t find her,” I said, my voice rising. “It’s been five days and—”
“I know,” he cut me off, his gaze softening to sympathy which I fucking hated. “I’ll keep looking for her,” Jaxs said. “This doesn’t mean we’ll stop, but you need to go.”
I hesitated, still not convinced to stop. Aura and I hadn’t slept, hadn’t stopped flying, just kept searching every inch of land to no avail. We even flew over the Valdern and Black Sands, but still I found nothing.
“Hael, you can’t help her if you’re dead, and if you keep ignoring your duties, Elion is going to kill you.”
I grunted, frustration coursing through me as I felt so fucking helpless. I brought her to the cabin to protect her…
“I’ll look for her while you’re gone, then after you find out what Elion wants, we can search together.”
“Okay,” I said, hating myself for it. Elion could go to fucking hell for all I cared, but Jaxs was right. He was going to kill me if I ignored his call.
Fuck, I hated him.
Aura and I flew to the sinking islands as fast as we could, using the wind to our advantage. It was the last thing I wanted to fucking do right now. I wasn’t convinced Elion was even telling the truth.
But if he was—Nollie could be in trouble.
Some civilians in Ryaranthia claimed they saw a black dragon flying above the islands. The same civilians who thought the information would be rewarded by Elion. Their fucking reward was him forcing me to murder them all on the spot.
Four people were now dead over one damned rumor about a black dragon. Elion wouldn’t even let me check if it was true before he made me slice through their necks.
“No one else can know there’s an Ater so close to our shores,” he ordered, his voice wavering.
“What do you want me to do?” I seethed, keeping my expression schooled. I needed to hurry the fuck up so I could get back to searching for Nollie.
“I want you to kill it.”
Shock coursed through me. “Drakins don’t kill dragons,” I said, restating our laws.
“I’m aware of the laws,” he snapped. “Kill the Ater or your Crepito dies instead.”
My back straightened, Aura’s emotions of coiled rage instantly radiated through me as she realized what King Elion ordered.
I strapped my sword across my back, not bothering to wipe the blood off of it. I was only going to get more on the blade.
“And Hael,” Elion drawled, stopping me from walking out of the room. I ground my jaw as I waited for what else he wanted. “If any other civilians see the dragon, I want them gone too.”
Fuck.
The civilians were right. Aura and I kept a shield over us the moment we reached Perinth, making two laps around the sinking islands before we circled in on the Ater.
We had a barrier shield over our invisibility while we scoped out the place, but we wouldn’t be able to maintain the barrier for long.
It was too draining, and we were both already too exhausted from flying.
Shit. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time…
I could sense that Aura had no idea a black dragon was still alive, and there wasn’t relief in her emotions, but fear.
The Ater was nearly twice her size. Larger teeth, bigger talons, barbs covering nearly every inch of its onyx scales. Aura had spikes running down her spine, but the Ater’s were all consuming, making it impossible to penetrate its skin without hitting one.
We go for the head, I thought to Aura, knowing she could read my mind. Keep our invisibility over us the entire time and only use the barrier if absolutely necessary.
Reluctance flowed through me in answer.
I don’t have a better plan, I thought. Do you?
We made another lap, scoping out the islands. I thanked the Moons, the Ater was deep into the Triovian, away from Ryaranthia’s coastline, but that was the only thing I was thanking them for right now.
Aura’s exhaustion coursed through me, and I realized why she was hesitating.
Your well is almost depleted? I thought, needing confirmation, even though I could feel it now. I wasn’t paying attention to how much I’d drained her these past couple of days, too consumed in my own panic.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I hated myself for asking too much of her.
I should have looked for Nollie on my own, should have let Aura rest, instead of constantly flying.
Guilt ate through me as I realized I made her use her invisibility over Soffikane and the Grigg.
I didn’t want Elion to know I was searching for Nollie, but now I made her vulnerable.
Okay. Same attack, but we go without any shields, I said, knowing this plan was fucked. Only use your powers when you absolutely need to. I’ll use my own well for invisibility and shields before you use yours.
I wouldn’t be able to maintain anything for long. Aura was too large, it would drain too much of my own well to use my powers for the both of us, but it was all we had.
Acceptance coursed through me as I got her answer.
We were in this together, like we were in everything we did.
Okay, let’s kill this fucking thing, I thought and the moment Aura dropped our invisibility, she soared.