Thirty Four
Alara
“A harness?” Rohan asks, before taking a sip of stew.
He’s a lot better now. What Niyah did healed the poison in him. All that’s left is the wound from the blade.
“Like Drogonah’s, but smaller,” I say as I tell him about the last time I was in the cavern. “They said the king wants to be able to ride a dragon, but it was clear none had succeeded.”
Rohan shakes his head. “For starters, only Dragonbonds can ride a dragon.” I nod. “And he can’t control them. No one can. It’s a mutual understanding built on trust and time.”
“I know. I said to the guards I would help so they wouldn’t hurt them, but I hate the thought of them in a harness. They’re so young.”
He strokes the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “You did the right thing. They would have killed that dragon otherwise.”
I know, but it still feels wrong to coax them to do it for the king.
“Your sister?” Rohan asks, finally broaching the subject.
I bring the stew to my lips and nod. “Yes, I didn’t…” I blow out a breath. “I didn’t know she was my sister, but I guess when I told you she felt familiar, I wasn’t wrong.”
I can’t believe she’s here, that she’s been looking for me all this time.
I have a sister, and she didn’t want to get rid of me.
I’ve dreamed about it for so long, wondered, lost hope, forgotten, only to be slammed back into the memory that at some point she loved me.
“Did you hear all of it?”
“Mostly.”
I nod and he eyes me. “Did you really know your last name? This whole time?”
I place the stew on the floor and look at the hurt in his eyes, feeling terrible about it.
“I didn’t tell you because I promised I wouldn’t.
It was the last thing I remember my sister telling me.
The single connection to my family that I once had.
” I pick at my fingers. “I wanted to tell you for a while, but this feeling of betrayal every time I thought about it would stop me.” I huff out a laugh.
“I told Escor back at the cave, unable to hide it any longer, though I couldn’t remember why I was to keep it a secret. ” I look at him. “But I know now.”
“Because you're royalty?”
I wince. “It seems so,” I whisper, dropping my eyes. “Are you mad I didn’t tell you?”
“I can never be mad at you, Alara.” The relief I feel is instant. “Or is it Elanore now?”
I shake my head. “I… no. Is it wrong I want to be Alara?” I ask him. “Elanore doesn’t feel right. It feels like another person.” I look down. “Elanore is a princess in the Elven lands, I’m just… me. I can be me, can’t I?”
I feel like I’m just finding myself, and to suddenly have to be Elanore, this other person. A princess… It doesn’t feel right.
“I think whatever you decide is the right decision,” Rohan says. “Alara, Elanore. It doesn’t matter to anyone but you.”
I nod, thankful for his words. “I want to be Alara.”
He smiles softly. “Then Alara you will be.”
I reach for his hand and place it in my lap as I take a breath. “Then my name is Alara Rivendor, an elf. A member of Clan Blackscale.”
“And you are bound to Rohan Asgarr, Dragonbond, rider of Drogonah, and leader of clan Blackscale.”
I grin, and he matches it, a flutter beginning in my stomach.
“Though there is something wrong with your name,” he hums, and I frown.
“What is it?”
“It needs to be Alara Asgarr.”
My heart pounds against my ribcage, my cheeks warming, and he chuckles.
“Do you want that?” I ask.
A short laugh comes from him. “To be bound to you in every way possible?”
“Yes.”
“Yes,” he says. “In a heartbeat.”
His tone is strong, eyes intense, and I bite my lip.
“It’s settled,” he says after a moment. “After The Games, we will be bound together. Always.”
“Always,” I repeat, smiling at him before sighing. “We just have to make it, first.”
“We will.” He sounds so sure, and I’m glad for it because I’m not. Though it’s nice to think about the after. What could be, what our life would look like.
He squeezes my hand. “Did Niyah say if Halen knows who you are now?” I shake my head.
“Niyah said no one knows, especially not her stepmother, to only tell you.”
“You have a resemblance to each other, I’m not sure they don’t know already.” Lead fills my stomach. “It could possibly take you out of The Games,” he murmurs, more to himself.
“No,” I say, sitting up straighter, panic rampant in my mind. “I want to be here with you, I don’t want to stay in the castle.”
And that’s what would happen if they know I am any relation to Niyah. She had to rush off because they found out she wasn’t there. I don’t want to be there.
“But the danger of The Games won’t touch you,” he stresses. “This could help you be safe.”
“Rohan, I would probably be in more danger there and you know it,” I say softly, watching his shoulders deflate.
“Fuck,” he says, running a hand down his face. “You need to get out of here.”
“I need to find the missing eggs and help those dragons,” I tell him, voice strong.
He smiles softly at me. “When did you become so sure, hmm?”
My cheeks heat. “You’re always so sure, I want to be more like that.”
He runs the back of his fingers down my cheek. “I’m not always sure, Alara.”
“You’re always strong in your decisions.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re always right… history proves that.”
The weight of what he hid from me spreads between us, and I sigh, looking back at the fire.
“You always make it better,” I mutter, my eyes going to him once more. “I’ve already forgiven you for that, and there’s something so much bigger happening than what you did.”
“Just because it may seem smaller doesn’t make that hurt disappear. It’s not a competition.”
I lean into his palm before grabbing it and pressing my mouth there.
“I need to keep you safe,” he mutters.
“And I need to help.”
He nods.
“You had Alexandar help with bringing Niyah here, didn’t you?” I ask.
“He wants his father gone, and I want his father gone, it seems wise to work together.”
“How does bringing the elves here help?”
“Because Niyah can help get you out of here.”
I sit up straighter. “I’m not leaving—”
“Alara.” He cups my face. “If you’re here, you are my weakness, one Halen can forever use against me.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
“He does, I don’t hide who you are to me. What you mean to me.”
My throat constricts. “I won’t leave you.”
“You need to when you can, Little Whisperer.”
“But why?”
“Because if he were to threaten you in any way, I would drop to my knees and give him anything to save your life.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Rohan.”
“I would do it within a heartbeat. He wouldn’t even get all the words out before I did it.”
I bring a hand up and stroke down the first braid I ever did. The one he refuses to take out.
“You feel that much for me?”
He chuckles. “You have no idea what I would do if you were not breathing, do you?”
My eyes flutter, feeling a warmth stirring in my chest.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” I say softly.
He sighs. “So do I, it would end us all.”
“What do you mean?”
“I would burn it all to the ground.”
I shake my head. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” His eyes practically glow. “The rage I would release upon Dracozar would show through embers and fire, and it wouldn’t stop Alara, I would make sure of it until all that’s left is ash and death.”
A shiver goes down my spine.
He’s telling the truth. I see it within his eyes, feeling it like it’s my own.
He truly would burn it all.
“Some things need to burn to start anew, but not everything,” I tell him gently.
He places his forehead to mine.
“And sometimes things just need to burn because there is no other option.”