Page 110 of Wild Bond

Mercedes scrambled to her feet as if to flee, but I dove forward, grasping her ankle, and watched her hit the ground hard.

She screamed in fury as she grasped something in her hand that lay on the ground.

My dagger, I realized too late.

I rolled to my back as she rose over me. The dagger was clutched in her shaking fist, her face a mask of maniacal rage, an insane light shining in her wide eyes.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this,” she panted, raising the knife.

I grew still, waiting for the knife to plunge downward, intent on blocking the blow with the other dagger I held concealed beneath my thigh, but it turned out not to be necessary.

A vicious roar split the night a second before a blur of jade scales smothered my vision, followed by Mercedes’ terrified scream that cut off abruptly.

I blinked in surprise, suddenly staring up at a view of the cloudy night sky partially obscured by one shimmering jade wing.

Skye’s emotions assaulted me, sharp and thick, first rage, followed quickly by a fierce protectiveness that soaked into every part of me. The instinctual need to keep her rider safe was so much a part of her that it overshadowed anything else.

I turned my head just in time to see Skye’s head lift from the now dead body of the princess, and a pungent satisfaction at having dealt with the threat washed over me. As she turned her long neck back to look at me, I tried not to focus on the blood covering part of her snout.

Her sinuous body turned until she stood over me. Her head lowered and her breath wafted against my hair as she scented me, reassuring herself I was all right.

I took a deep breath and allowed my eyes to close for an instant. “You didn’t have to kill her, you know,”I told Skye out loud. “I had a plan.”

A rumbling growl was Skye’s only answer. It didn’t even enter her mind to feel guilty over her actions; she had successfully protected me from a threat, and that was the end of it. I tried to feel some sympathy for Mercedes but couldn’t bring myself to at the moment. Distantly, I wondered whether there would be any repercussions for Skye killing a princess of the realm, but considering what Mercedes had done here today, I thought not.

I assessed Skye in the bond and could feel that her injuries were superficial, though the fact that she had been knocked out concerned me. She assured me she was fine and thought my worrying about her was unnecessary.

Raindrops finally began to fall, but I just lay there and let them soak into my clothes and hair. Another moment passed before I told myself I had to open my eyes and get up, even if my side was killing me and my ankle was throbbing. They might need our help. Though from the sounds of it and what I had glimpsed earlier, I had a feeling the other riders had the battle pretty much under control.

As if to attest to that, as I opened my eyes and Skye moved back so I could stand on my feet—or foot, rather—a familiar dark shape separated from the battle and headed straight for us. Skye and I didn’t have to wait long before Rake and Naasir alighted at the top of a small incline of rock not far away. Rake dismounted and made his way over to me. He barely even glanced at Mercedes body where it lay on the ground before his gaze came to rest on me. He took in my bloody side and how I was leaning against Skye for support and favoring one leg.

He, of course, still looked perfect. His black hair was a little wet and windblown, and the blade in his hand was covered in blood, but it all just made him look more deadly and attractive.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Why am I always the one who’s injured?” I grumbled petulantly. Not that I wanted Rake to ever be hurt, but it still felt a little unfair.

Despite the situation, a glint of humor lit his eyes as he relaxed. “Your reckless penchant for trouble comes to mind.” Before I could refute this claim, he motioned backward with his head towards Mercedes. “I take it there is a good reason for that?”

Naasir moved toward Skye, making an odd humming noise in his throat as he butted his head against hers, the gesture almost affectionate. The sight warmed something in me that had grown cold after the night’s events.

Finally, I looked back at Rake and sighed. “Skye was protecting me. She thought my life was in danger.” Rake sheathed his sword, stepped closer, and took me in his arms, mindful of my injuries as he did so. The warmth of his arms around me felt amazing, the comfort of his mere presence seeping into me like I was a desert in need of water.

“She was behind it all, Rake,” I said against his chest. “It wasn’t Pierce. It was her all along.” Thunder cracked loudly overhead as if to punctuate my statement, and the rain began in earnest.

“We don’t have to talk about it right now,” Rake murmured in my hair, his large hand coming up to cup the back of my head. “We need to get you inside to see a healer.”

“Not yet,” I protested, clinging to him. “Can we just . . . stay like this? Just for a while longer?”

I didn’t want to have to go inside just yet. I knew that once I did, there would be lots of questions, and other people needing to know what happened, and I didn’t want to face that just then. I didn’t want to think about those poor people Mercedes had subjected to such an awful fate, especially those we fought here tonight. I prayed that Lessa wasn’t among them, but then was she being held somewhere else? My worry for her was like a constant ache in my gut. And then I thought of the dragons . . . it made me want to have Skye kill her all over again. I hoped we would be able to find a way to help those that had been given the potion before they succumbed to its deadly outcome. Then again, maybe Mercedes had resolved that issue since she had taken the potion herself.

But I forced myself not to think of all that right now. Rake didn’t answer, he just held me tighter. I felt his lips press into my hair.

I wasn’t sure how long we stood like that, finding a moment of peace in the chaos around us, watched over by our dragons.

Aroundmid-morningthedayafter the battle, I sat propped up on a cot in the Three Points infirmary, my side wrapped snuggly in bandages, my still-healing leg resting comfortably on some pillows, and Skye nestled protectively in my lap. The room was bustling with Hollow Ones seeing to the wounded riders. The banquet hall had been turned into an infirmary for any wounded dragons, since it was one of the only places large enough. Thankfully, Skye’s injuries had healed, and she had already been cleared.

Where I rested was somewhat secluded and set apart from the others. My cot was in the far corner of the large space, with several empty cots around me. This was due to the fact that I currently had about half a dozen very important visitors surrounding said cot.

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