Page 78 of Wild Bond

“He was handsome, clean, wore nice clothes, and fed me and some of the other children as long as we agreed to work for him. I was small and had quick hands, so he usually had me steal from the upper city crowd while one of the other kids begged or distracted them for me. I got very good at it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small, slightly sad smile crease Rake’s face, but he didn’t interrupt.

“One morning, Master Safan rounded up as many street kids as he could find, dressed us all in new clothes, and brought us to the Nest. I knew the dress I wore was secondhand, but I couldn’t stop staring at the blue fabric with white lace that matched my hair. I felt pretty for the first time in my life. It hadn’t even occurred to me at the time to wonder why Safan would do such a thing with all those children. He was no doubt planning to claim all the benefits that came with being the guardian of a young dragon rider.

“I remember being awed at the sheer size of the arena and how many spectators there were as we entered, and even more so by all the wild dragons. I was sure it was my chance. This was when I was going to bond with a dragon and become a rider.” I lifted one shoulder. “But of course, it wasn’t meant to be. At least not then.” Thinking back to that day made my heart bleed for that little girl I had been, one whose hopes and dreams had been crushed.

“Safan beat me for the first time that night—beat all of us—for failing to bond with any of the dragons.” I snorted. “Like we had any kind of control over it.”

“If that man wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself,” Rake rumbled, fierce anger in every word.

I shook my head and began absently rubbing my scar. “It was a long time ago. And now, by some miracle of the gods, that dream has come true, and I still can’t believe it’s real. I still don’t think I deserve it. Some nights I wake up from a cold sweat, sure that none of this ever happened. That I never bonded with Skye. That I am back in that cell.”

I swallowed hard, the sting of tears in my eyes. I felt Skye’s comfort and reassurance in the bond before Rake spoke.

“Is that where you went today in the cave? Were you back there?”

I blinked to clear my vision and nodded. I hadn’t felt panic like that since those first few weeks when I was newly imprisoned. Or maybe it was when Naasir had burned that criminal alive at Petitioner’s Square, but I kept that thought to myself. “I don’t . . . I don’t like the dark or being in enclosed spaces,” I murmured. Some part of me felt weak for admitting it to him, but a still larger part felt relieved. Telling him all this made the tightness in my chest loosen for the first time in what must have been hours.

“I’m afraid of snakes,” he admitted suddenly.

My head whipped around at his confession. “What? Really?”

He nodded. “Ever since I was bitten by one as a little boy and almost died. They’re all over Zehvi, and most of them are venomous. Luckily, my mother found me soon enough and sent for the local healer. He gave me phoenix tears which saved my life.”

I whistled. Phoenix tears were rare and expensive.

He answered my unspoken question. “Apparently my nameless father had some deep pockets.”

I smiled, and it felt good to do so. “You do realize a dragon is basically a large flying snake, right?”

Skye hissed at the comparison, and Naasir growled from somewhere behind us.

Rake laughed at that, and warmth infused me at the gloriously rare sound. “If you could only hear what Naasir is thinking in my head right now.”

I spoke just a little louder as I responded, “He’ll get over it.”

Skye’s amusement rippled down the bond as there was a disgruntled chuff from the male dragon behind us.

Once our laughter died down, I felt Rake’s eyes on me. “Will you be alright?”

I turned and finally really looked at the man beside me. I took in the harsh lines of his handsome face and the light of humor that was in his eyes, but also the worry and concern there. I knew in that moment that I could easily lose my heart to this man . . . or that maybe I already had.

And I was fine with that.

Deciding not to dwell too long on this surprising revelation, I simply nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

He regarded me for a moment more, then stood and extended his hand, “Let’s go home.”

Liking the sound of him referring to the compound as home, I let him pull me to my feet, not looking back at the little shop on the corner.

Stillfeelingalittleraw and embarrassed by my episode a few days ago, it was a relief to be spending the morning outside on the training grounds with my young friends and their hatchlings, rather than the prospect class. The older group was busy preparing for the trip to Three Points, so our training class had been cancelled. That was fine by me. I needed more time to build some of the walls back up that had been torn down before facing them all again.

Rake had been amazing that night when we got back to his quarters, talking about everything and nothing as he held me in his arms until I fell asleep.

Gemma had asked that I help her supervise my young classmates during their first sparring lesson. Due to the older trainees not being present, and most of the other dragon riders preparing for traveling to the trials, the training grounds around us were relatively empty for once. That being said, our little group was definitely making our fair share of noise. High-pitched yells and tiny shrieks, as well as overly enthusiastic war cries, rang out loud enough for those back in The Tower to hear. I could barely hear Gemma as she called out instructions to a few of her pupils on the other side of the group.

Dozens of tiny dragons—the largest no bigger than a small pony—sat clustered around the fighting group of children. Some watched their riders closely, those protective instincts already manifesting, while others slept, and some flew back and forth overhead, just generally making a nuisance of themselves.

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