Chapter 15
Ifeel like I’m shakier than a leaf as I stand at the edge of the forest and watch Black’s dragon plod its way through the forest path towards me.
The trees around him shake with each stomp of his massive claws, which dig into the muddy ground.
His dragon, pitch-black with shining yet sharp scales, leans its head down to my level.
It’s Black Ashveil, my bonded and my mate.
Not a big ass, scary dragon who looks ready to eat me for dinner.
His dragon is a beast, there is no denying it, and I am naturally wary of him.
Black had walked into my room on a Sunday, when I usually don’t do any lessons, to demand that I needed to learn to ride my bonded while the storms had stopped.
Thankfully, Lock was in the shower and I escaped before he came out and said no.
Sneaking off with my dragons has become harder and harder recently.
Lock is always on my case, and it’s annoying.
Black reminded me on the way down here, as I scoffed a muffin from Maz, that the curse of being a dragon rider won’t apply to me because of my dragon blood.
But still, the idea of riding is one thing.
Climbing on the back of a gigantic dragon is a completely other thing.
Even though I know it’s Black and I know he won’t hurt me, a primal fear still echoes down my spine as he lowers his body, his head thumping onto the ground in front of me, his wings splaying out across the mud.
My heart is beating so fast that it physically hurts in my chest as smoke pours out of his nose and slithers around me in waves as he huffs. “All right, all right.”
I carefully make my way across, past his giant neck and down to his shoulders.
I was given clear instructions on how to climb onto a dragon, where to sit on his scales.
Lessons that they remember reading about from years ago when there were still riders, but still, something makes me pause.
I look at the scales I need to climb, and tell myself I can do this.
Pushing my cloak back, making sure I won’t trip on it, I begin to climb.
My muscles ache as I climb higher and higher, past his leg, up his shoulder, where his strange warmth makes me feel comforted.
I feel the heat through his scales, and I wonder if I’ll get cold at all when we are in the skies.
His heartbeat is like a drum pounding against my skin.
When I finally get onto his back, I crouch down and crawl until I find a dip between his shoulder blades.
I sit down in it like he told me, leaning forward, gripping onto the scales tightly.
“I’m ready, Black.” I tell him, even though I am definitely not.
“Please don’t drop—” I scream as he jumps, his giant wings pounding into the air as he lifts us straight off the ground and into the waiting, clear sky.
The screams continue to rip out of my throat as he lunges higher and higher before finally settling into a glide just above the clouds.
I cautiously pry my eyes open, scared that I’ll fall at any moment, but Black doesn’t let me fall.
We easily ride together, almost like it’s natural, like this is just how it is meant to be.
He drifts, drops us in and out of the clouds, which feel like nothing.
They still brush against my hands, my face, into the sun setting far above the sky.
Drops of orange and red just splintering out of existence as the moon takes over.
He dives back down after a good hour, slow and steady, and I know he’s taking it easy on me.
I’ve seen the dragons in the sky, the craziness of them, how they fly and dip and control everything. He’s definitely taking it easy on me.
Bloodstone Academy looks just like a haunted castle in the dim light.
Its towers loom so high up, while the bloodstone underneath is glowing almost. The darkness of the forest just looks like a warm, comforting blanket around the castle.
Black turns away from it. Instead of taking us back to the castle, he takes us to the far edge of the forest, right on the opposite side, landing by the edge of the cliff.
I slide off him, my heart in my throat as I feel like I’m going down an actual slide before I thump onto the ground.
Black shifts back in a moment, standing before me with a smile on his pretty face. “That was impressive. You didn’t fall off once.”
“I still can’t feel my legs. They’re like jelly.” I gasp.
He laughs deeply, and I yelp as he picks me up, one arm underneath my knees and the other under my back, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “I can walk. I was joking about my knees.” Sort of. I’ll try actually walking on them in a moment when my nerves have settled.
“We’ll practice more. It’s important you feel comfortable in the air…just in case.” He’s walking us into the forest as he gently explains the need to scare me in the skies. I do understand, but the less logical side of me never wants to do that again.
“Where are we going?” I question as he carries me deep into the forest.
“There’s a place here that I used to come all the time to get away from people, because no one knew it existed. I want to show it to you.” He seems nervous almost.
“Okay.” I kiss his cheek, and he smiles at me, his shoulders lowering.
After about a ten-minute walk, he puts me down.
We are in a thick grove of the forest; it looks like absolutely nothing’s here.
Black shows me how the trees and bushes hide a cave entrance and a secret path right behind them.
Black holds a blanket of moss to the side as I step into the cavern.
It smells like grass and damp, but nothing else, and there’s a blue light coming from the other side.
I have to duck my head down as we walk through together, Black’s hand clasping mine.
I gasp when we come out the other side. It’s a lake, a really low-level lake.
The water probably never comes up to more than my ankles, but that’s not what’s beautiful.
It’s the millions of butterflies that are glowing and floating around in it.
They dive in and out of the water, their wings the brightest blue, glittering almost. A few near us shudder away in fear, but there are millions.
All the walls are glowing with their wings in every direction, and I can’t stop staring.
I turn to Black, finding him looking at me instead of the beauty of this place. “How did you find this?”
Black doesn’t answer straight away, but he leads me through them, the butterflies parting as we pass, and we walk to the middle where there’s a small round, moss-covered island.
Black sits down. I follow his lead, sitting at his side, resting my head on his shoulder as I watch.
He whispers a spell, and music starts playing, a familiar song I’ve heard Black humming a few times.
“I needed an escape, and I found it by chance. I believe the goddess, or someone, knew I needed a space where no one would be scared of me. The butterflies don’t touch me—it’s like they know.
I’ve always had an issue with animals in the forest—that they’ll come up to me by accident and then die.
But the butterflies know. They just stay; they don’t judge or question me.
They are not scared. Therefore, it’s the most peaceful place for me.
Everywhere else I go, I’m the one they fear; they move away from me.
I’m the dragon who can kill them with an accidental touch.
Everyone has seen me like that except for my brothers and you. ”
“I never felt scared of you, you know. I know it’s strange because I was told everything about you. I don’t know, I should have been terrified from the moment we met, but I just wasn’t. There wasn’t a single part of me that was scared of you,” I whisper, touching his cheek with my hand.
He quietly takes my hand and pulls it onto his lap. I look down as he clips a glittering bracelet onto my wrist. It’s beautiful. Amethyst, I think. Sparkling purple stones with a hint of blue in the core. Each of the stones is shaped like a star. It fits perfectly.
“I haven’t told you much about my parents, but they died when I was very young, in the war.
I don’t remember them, but my mother, she wrote a letter for me just in case something happened.
I guess she wanted to make sure that I had something of hers.
Inside this letter was this bracelet, explaining that it was her mating gift from my father and that before her it was his mother’s, and before her, it was my great-grandmother’s and so on.
It has stayed in my family for generations.
She said a lot of things in that letter, things about how much she loved me and how I will find someone who will see past the curse…
but this bracelet was her biggest hope in me.
She saw me giving it to someone, having a future, and she believed in me.
So…it’s my mating gift to you. I know that Maz already explained it with the anklet, but this is what I want to give you if you will accept it, Juniper. ”
Accept me, he is saying. Oh, Black… “Black, it’s beautiful, and even if it wasn’t, the story behind it means everything to me.
I don’t have family heirlooms. I was reminded constantly as a kid that I didn’t have any family, that I was alone, except for Melody, and that I would always be alone.
The simple fact that you are giving me this just means a lot. ”
“You mean everything to me.” He nudges my cheek with his nose, kissing my ear softly. “Come closer.”
I don’t need to know what he’s asking as I climb onto his lap. He looks at me, all sinful and gorgeous, and so, so knee-droppingly beautiful. His hands move around my shoulders, unclipping my cloak. It lies on the floor next to me. He unclips his cloak next.