Page 103 of Wild Bond

I opened my mouth to respond, hot tears racing down my cheeks, but then her face contorted into a grimace of pain, and she began to cough again. Her entire body shaking with it.

The scene reminded me so much of the night she died. I again felt that same desperation to help her, while at the same time knowing very well there was nothing I could do.

She coughed up blood into her hands, and I urged her to lie back. Time was slipping away too quickly. My movements were sluggish, and I couldn’t help her . . . there was so much blood, and I couldn't help her . . . I didn’t know how. There was nothing I could do as her glossy eyes stared upward, her wheezing breaths becoming more and more shallow and labored.

“Mama?” I cried.

Then her eyes went vacant, and her breath left her in a gentle sigh as her whole body relaxed.

“No, please!” I shrieked, gripping her harder. I couldn’t help shaking her. “Please don’t leave me. Mama!” My entire body was wracked with sobs as it collapsed onto hers. All the emotions I had felt when I was young returned with full force. I wasn’t sure how long I cried. Until again I became aware of that tug from the other end of the bond and Skye’s gentle presence in my mind. It washed over me in a soothing balm, and I was reminded again that all of this was not real. At least, not any longer.

What is the point of all this, Skye?I whispered to my dragon. What was I supposed to be learning from all this? How was making me suffer through some of my worst memories a test?

But Skye had no answers, and as I stood from the bed, staring down at my mother’s face one last time and closed her sightless eyes, I knew I wouldn’t get one. I had no idea why this time the memory didn’t disappear into smoke, but all the same I forced myself to turn and leave my mother behind.

Ichoseoneofthe pathways at random this time, no longer caring. I walked slowly, still feeling shaken as I wiped the tears from my cheeks, dreading what I would face next.

Though if this was all happening inside my head, then in a roundabout way, I was doing this to myself. The thought made my head hurt.

As I walked, my footsteps echoing around me, I couldn’t keep from wondering what the Second Trial was like for other riders. What had it been like for Rake? What traumas had he faced? Or had his trial been something else entirely?

I had come to learn that the trials in general, and the Second Trial especially, were not something many riders talked about. I had gleaned from the few times I had brought it up with anyone that it was an intensely private thing.

I was so lost in my thoughts as I considered this that I failed to notice when the stone floor beneath me began to change. What alerted me was the feel of the sun-warmed tiles under my suddenly bare feet. In fact, my entire outfit had changed. Instead of the brown training leathers I was so used to, I now wore a dirty, threadbare shirt and worn dark pants.

Cold dread fizzled along my nerve endings and made me feel like I had suddenly been dropped in a tub of ice. I knew these clothes. How could I forget them? I had worn them for two years. The worst two years of my life.

Distantly, I could feel Skye calling to me down the bond. Reminding me that it wasn’t real, but it felt real. So real.

My steps slowed to a stop as I looked around. I was once again in Petitioner’s Square, the risers full of people, the morning sun beating down as I stared up at the figure sitting in a thronelike chair on the dais.

Rake.

My heart clenched in joy at seeing him. He looked just as lethal as I remembered from that day so many months ago. Those piercing eyes I loved regarded me dispassionately, while one hand rested on Naasir’s snout beside him.

The restraints around my wrists clinked as the steward read off my offenses. I began rubbing the scar on my arm as I searched Rake’s face for any hint of recognition or caring as he regarded me, but there was none.

“And what exactly did you steal from the queen?” Rake asked, his voice cold and unfeeling.

“Lethara’s Blade,” I found myself answering without thought.

The crowd gasped just like before, but I wasn’t paying any attention to them this time. My focus was on the man before me.

“Why?” Rake demanded in that infuriatingly calm tone.

“Because I had no other choice,” I said. “I was helping a friend.”

Rake’s eyes narrowed. “So, you had an accomplice?”

I hesitated. “No, I just meant—”

Rake looked to the steward who stammered, “Th-there is no mention of an accomplice, Rider.”

Rake’s gaze returned to me. “Who were you working with? Who was your partner?”

My heart was racing, and my palms were beginning to sweat. “No one. There was no one else. I worked alone.” My mind reeled.What was happening?This wasn’t how it had gone before. Something was different . . . missing . . .

Rake’s face shifted at my response, becoming colder. “You’re lying,” he stated. “Who are you protecting?”

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