Chapter 4
I jog down the stairs and open the front door. But before I can step outside, the side door opens and a voice stops me. “Harper.”
“Hey, Eliza. What’s up?”
Eliza and I have a tenuous relationship. She tolerates me, and I try my best not to mess up the good thing I have going living here. “Who was that man last night?”
“What man?” She gives me a look. “All right. Fine. He’s the king of the Dragon Kingdom.”
Her eyes go wide. “Really?”
“Yep, but don’t get too excited. He's a jerk, the biggest jerk on the planet. How does a guy like that stay alive? I can’t believe his own people haven’t murdered him yet.”
Her eyes go wide and focus on something behind me, and I mutter under my breath. “He’s still here, isn’t he?”
She nods, her eyes wide. I don’t even bother trying to work myself out of the situation. I whirl around. “Why are you still here?”
If I thought he looked irritated before, that’s nothing to right now. “Noxlyn won’t let me leave.”
“Noxlyn? Like Nox for short?” I snort. “I can’t wait to tell Lox that his name rhymes with your dragon’s.
” He does not look impressed. “All right. Well, I’m off.
Have fun...what is it again you’re doing?
” He just stares at me with that look of contempt.
“Right. Well, you do you.” I take a step forward, but he blocks my path.
I look up at him, refusing to be intimidated by the sheer size of him. “Did you need something?”
“We’re at an impasse,” he says in a voice that’s even more grating than yesterday.
“Are we though?”
He’s quiet a moment. “You’re coming with me.”
I shake my head. The nerve of this guy. “Does it even occur to you to ask?”
“Not usually. Everybody in my kingdom just obeys me.”
“Yeah, well you’re forgetting one important detail.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“You’re not my king.”
“We’ll see about that,” he grounds out.
I laugh at that. “Sure, we will.”
“Harper?”
I spin around at the sound of Kinsley’s voice and see her standing next to her mate, Kaldar, the king of the Jaguar Kingdom. “Hey. I didn’t know you guys were coming today.”
Kinsley stares between Rauk and I. “We came a few days early.”
Kaldar, ever the noble one, walks over to us. “Rauk.” He puts out his hand.
Rauk, surprisingly, shakes it, showing me he is capable of some civility. “Kaldar.”
“This is Kinsley, my mate, and the queen of the Jaguar Kingdom.” Kinsley nods at him, and he does the same in return. Kaldar glances between Rauk and I, and I can see the wheels turning. “He’s leaving,” I supply.
Kaldar doesn’t look surprised. “What’s the plan?”
“Oh, I mean he’s leaving and not coming back,” I explain.
Kaldar frowns. “Did they explain to you what’s going on with the guivres?”
“We did,” I answer for him. “He turned us down flat. Isn’t that right?” I ask, looking up at the man.
He doesn’t look happy, but he nods, confirming what I just said. Kinsley steps up next to Kaldar. “I thought...” her voice trails off.
“That he would help? That he would bring some of his people and their spirit dragons to help us defeat the guivres?” I ask.
“Yeah, we all did. He’s not; he’s leaving.
” Kinsley’s face falls, and I immediately regret my harsh words.
I don’t regret the jerk standing a few feet away from me hearing them, but I do regret Kinsley hearing them.
They’ve had the worst of the attacks in their kingdom, and I know she was pinning her hopes on help from the Dragon Kingdom.
We all were, and how very wrong we were in that.
It’s time to move on. “Are you guys headed to Rysden and Farrah’s?
” It’s a dumb question; of course, they are.
But they both nod graciously. I glance around, looking for Redara. Where are you?
She doesn’t answer for a moment. With my mate.
I scowl. You said that last night.
And it’s still true this morning.
I resist the feeling of abandonment and roll my shoulders. “I’ll go with you guys.” I don’t give Rauk another glance.
His voice follows me. “I need to get back to my kingdom.”
I don’t turn around. “Nobody’s stopping you.”
“You are.”
His accusation is my undoing. I whirl around. “I am not keeping you here. Go and take your dragon with you.”
I feel Red’s pain in my head, but I steel myself against it. The realization that she’ll probably go with them hits me hard, but I don’t allow it to show on my face.
I won’t leave you, Redara says fiercely in my head. I don’t respond, but I won’t make her choose between her mate and me, her bonded. I’ll make the choice for her and send her with them.
“Noxlyn won’t let me leave,” Rauk says through gritted teeth.
“That’s a you problem.” I start after Kinsley and Kaldar, who are trying to pretend they’re not listening.
“I have to get back to my people.” Rauk’s words follow me. For the first time, the anger and arrogance isn’t there.
“Then go,” I snap, not looking back.
“You have to go with me.” That makes me snap.
I whirl around, ready to strangle him with my bare hands.
“If you go with me, I’ll consider helping in your fight.
” I go still as shock reverberates through me.
An urge to refuse immediately fills me, but Farrah’s stricken expression at the table last night flashes through my mind’s eye, as well as Rysden’s blank look.
I know him well enough by now to know that look means he’s carefully guarding his emotions behind a blank mask.
I glance over at Kinsley and see hope shining through her eyes.
When she sees me looking, she immediately wipes it away.
But it’s too late; I saw it. I know just how bad it is in the Jaguar Kingdom.
Everything in me resists giving in. I can’t stand this man, and I don’t want to leave this place.
I don’t want to leave my friends, the first home I’ve ever had.
Regret burns through me. And yet, if there is even just the slightest chance that he will come and aid us in this war.
..I take a breath and push every emotion deep down.
“I’ll go on one condition.”
He stares down at me. “Pretty sure you’re not in a position to negotiate.”
I stare him down. “Okay. You can just stay here forever, I guess.” I spin around to walk away.
“What?” he growls, and I slowly turn back.
I take a steadying breath. “No matter what, you can’t separate Redara from her mate.”
He scowls down at me. “Deal.”
Relief flows through me for just a moment before I realize what I’ve agreed to. I feel like I’m going to be sick, but I swallow the nausea and force my spine straight. Thank you, Redara sends through the bond; and I feel better about my decision already.
This will be just like every other time I’ve lost everything, I remind myself. I’ve made it through before; I’ll make it through again.
With my emotions under control once more, I lift my gaze. “I’ll pack a bag and be ready in a few.”
“Wait,” Kinsley calls out. She meets my eyes. “You’re going to go with him?” I nod, and she looks between us with worry on her face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I don’t want her to worry any more than she already is.
She strides towards my door. “I’ll help you pack.” She doesn’t leave me a chance to argue.
“You don’t need to bring a bunch of stuff,” Rauk calls out after me.
I ignore him; I have a feeling I'm going to be doing that a lot. As soon as the door closes behind me upstairs, Kinsley whirls on me. “Harper.”
“Kinsley.”
I push past her and grab a bag from my closet.
I gather several shirts and throw them in the bag, followed by some pants.
I really don’t have a lot to my name. It only takes me a few minutes to pack up.
Since my place is so small, Kinsley can see everything I’m doing. “Can we talk about this first?”
I grab a few cosmetics and shove them in my bag. “What’s there to talk about?”
“Harper.”
I come to a stop. “What?”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I thought you were the one most excited about me going there.” She’s been talking about it for months, about how excited she was for me.
“That was before.”
“Before what?” I can’t help but ask.
“Well, before I met the guy, honestly.”
I laugh, but it sounds forced even to my own ears. “You’re the one that believes in fated mates and all that.”
“I do, Harper. But I also believe in you. I don’t want you to hurt or be sad. I don’t want you to leave, not like this.”
Her words stir up something that feels an awful lot like emotion, and I can’t have that.
Not now. Not when it feels like my world is falling apart.
So, I turn to what I always do. Anger. “You can’t have it both ways, Kins.
You can’t tell me every day how much you can’t wait for my mate to show up and then tell me not to go with him. It doesn’t work like that.”
Kinsley’s not fazed by my anger. “Tell me honestly that you want to go, and I won’t stand in your way.”
I stare into her eyes and pull off the biggest lie of my life. “I want to go.”
She looks unconvinced. “Redara’s okay with it?”
“Redara who?” I ask. “I haven’t seen her since Noxlyn showed up.”
“Is that his dragon?” she asks.
Thankful to have something else to focus on, I jump into the conversation.
“Yeah, you should see him. He’s terrifying.
” I describe him as we walk to the door.
I let her out and glance around my home, the only one I’ve ever had, one last time.
Then I close the door and follow her down the stairs.
“I still haven’t told Lox his name rhymes with the dragon’s.
” When we get to the bottom, I stop. “I need to talk to Eliza; I’ll be right out.
” Kinsley nods and steps outside. Once she leaves, I knock on Eliza’s door.
She opens almost immediately. “You’re leaving.” She’s never been one to beat around the bush.
“I am.”
“Don’t get killed.” That’s all she says before slipping back inside.
“Eliza,” I call out before she can close her door all the way. She pauses and waits.
“Thank you for taking a chance on me.” For just a moment, her face softens.
She nods and then closes the door. And that’s that.
Eliza has her own sordid past, one that involves being exiled from the Jaguar Kingdom because she didn’t produce a spirit animal during the Trials.
She lived for years with the banished, same as me.
I hope someday she’ll reconcile her past, but that’s her choice to make.
Refusing to feel any more emotion, I step outside and close the door behind me.
My eyes take in the two dragons, and I can’t help my smile.
Relief fills me at seeing Redara. Knowing I won’t be alone on this journey means more to me than I can say. I hope she knows that.
I do.
I stride towards my dragon. “Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?”
I turn around. “Apparently not,” I say, facing Farrah.
She eyes me and then looks over to Rauk. When her gaze returns to me, there are so many questions...questions I don’t have the answers to. I keep it simple. “Bye, Farrah.”
“Bye, Harper.” She hugs me tightly. Kinsley’s next.
They both watch me with such sad expressions, I can’t help my grin. “I’m not dying; I’ll be back.”
“You’d better be,” Farrah says with a warning in her voice. When I turn back around, it’s just in time to watch Rauk run...like literally run up the front leg of Noxlyn. “And apparently, you’d better work on your mount as well,” Farrah adds.
I climb up Redara the way I know how and settle into my spot between her neck and back. Ready? I ask her.
Absolutely.
You're sure you want to do this, right?
She gives me the same answer. Absolutely.
I look down at my two friends and wave. “See you soon!” They both wave back at me. Then without a word to me, Rauk and Noxlyn take off.
I guess we’re off, I send to Redara.
Guess we are.