13. Kiera
THIRTEEN
KIERA
“ O h! Please stop! I can’t breathe!” Zaria squealed.
I sighed.
Nyx arrived and frowned at the scene. “What in all the kingdoms is going on here?”
Zaria started a fresh bout of hysteria while pointing at me and speaking incoherently. Nyx turned to me for a sensible answer.
“Jaxus convinced me to try and get over my fear of heights,” I told him reluctantly. I was never going to hear the end of this.
“Your what?” Nyx was aghast
“I’m not thrilled about heights. Let’s not make that a thing, with as horrific as today has been.”
Zaria snorted, drawing Nyx’s attention for a moment.
A smile spread on his face, which was good to see. I just wished it wasn’t at my expense.
“We were trying out me sitting on him in his dragon form to get used to being up high.”
“That’s great,” Nyx said cautiously. I could tell he wanted to let me know that flying was going to be much higher than that as if I wasn’t already aware, but I appreciated his restraint. “How did it go?”
Zaria attempted to speak again, but all that came out was a high-pitched shrieking sound and more tears.
Nyx looks perplexed. “Is that good or bad?”
I shook my head. “For me or her?”
“Umm,” Nyx hedged.
“She thinks it’s great,” I huffed. “Me? Not so much.”
Nyx folded his arms. “Is one of you going to tell me what happened, or do I need to guess?”
“She—she—I can’t!”
“Oh, for the love of the Goddess,” Nyx groaned.
“She—she—puked on his dick!”
Nyx’s eyes went wide and he pressed his lips together.
I rubbed my temples. “I did not puke on his dick. I felt unwell and he, unfortunately, was in the firing line.”
“But how?” He shook his head, perplexed.
I rolled my eyes. “He had just shifted, so he was unclothed. You of all people shouldn’t need me to justify nudity among shifters.
Nyx held up his hands placatingly. “I was merely asking. It happens. His dick is a weird place for you to vomit, though…” he trailed off as if trying to picture the scene. “Not very good for the ego.”
My hands landed on my hips. I was done with this nonsense. “I wasn’t aiming anywhere in particular. I had just regained consciousness and it crept up on me. Some of it just happened to slide there on its way to the ground. Now do we really need to talk about this anymore? It’s not exactly something I want to relive. ”
“She said it went splat!” Zaria shrieked, holding her sides.
Nyx slowly turned to his mate and folded his arms. “You finished?”
“Almost,” she gasped.
“Wait—” He spun to me. “You were unconscious?”
Behind him, Zaria dissolved into fresh giggles but waived me on to explain.
“As I said before, I’m not wild about heights.”
“You were just sitting on him, though?”
“Correct, until there was a situation in the courtyard below and someone called for a healer.”
Nyx’s eyes went wide.
“Then we had a small miscommunication about the fastest way to get me there and we were airborne before I could blink.”
There was a pause where Nyx did his best to maintain a neutral expression. “And?”
“And I blacked out, slid from his back, and fell to the ground like a stone. He caught me—luckily—and you know the rest. So obviously, I’ll never be flying again and that’s just one more, and I believe, the final reason why I am not now, nor shall I ever be, a ryder.” I breathed in relief for getting that out. There were so many reasons I was not a ryder, but my crippling fear was the only one I had not shared, and now that I had, we could put this nonsense to bed.
Nyx laughed, not with the same hysteria Zaria had. His was more a laugh of pity and amusement. “You do know it’s not that simple, don’t you?”
I scowled. “It is if we make it so.”
“Kiera, come now. They must cover this in your healer training. You’ve been called to your flyer. That changes you. You are not the same as the fae you were before this. Once that connection is opened, it has to be satisfied.”
“Nonsense. I get that I’m bonded to a dragon now, or whatever. But we can find ways of working together on the ground. I do not have to fly around like some dragon chaser to satisfy it.”
“Oh, you are so wrong about that. Zaria, tell her.”
Zaria blew out a steadying breath and composed herself. “It’s true. You won’t just want to fly together—you’ll need it.”
I looked between them, shaking my head.
“It’s the Goddess’ plan,” Nyx added. “And the Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.”
“Why do people keep saying that?” I snapped. “Clearly, she had an off day because this whole thing is a mistake. If this was her plan, why did she also make me afraid to do it?”
“Only she knows the answer to that, but you’ll overcome it,” Zaria assured. “The trust you build together will soon have you over your fears.”
“Not everyone is like you, Sol.” Nyx chuckled. He looked at me and shook his head. “Did she ever tell you what she did the first time we flew?”
“No?”
“She was so keen to show me she trusted me, she took a swan dive off my back over the valley.”
I opened my mouth and then seemed unable to find any words.
“Exactly.” Nyx agreed.
“You’d already said you could catch me if I fell, so I trusted you.”
Nyx mumbled something about females sent to try him, and I assessed Zaria.
“What?”
“You are certifiable,” I told her.
She smirked.
“No I mean it. I should have you restricted to the healer’s wing for assessment for that madness. You are clearly mentally unstable. How did you live this long with that kind of reckless streak? ”
Nyx bit his lip to hold in his mirth.
“That will be you as soon as you let go and accept that this is how things are for you now.” she insisted.
“Nope,” I replied defiantly. “Not happening. I will take up residence on the bed of the Middle Sea with the kelpies before I ever willingly sit on a dragon’s back again.”