Page 76 of Guardian's Dilemma

Breaking his hold on it, I prised it from his fingers, nearly snapping two of them. Conley snarled and swiped at me but his claws only just brushed against my bicep and I deflected the blow.

I backed away. My magic poured out of me, wrapping around me in protections and I felt myself shimmer out of his sight long enough to take the locket in my hand, check it wasn’t damaged, open it and check that all of the hair was still inside it. It was.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

In the few seconds that took me, Conley looked round, searching for whoever had sent that bolt of magic out. It hadn’t lodged permanently inside him. It wasn’t going to kill him. It had been a warning shot.

Conley didn’t realise that, though. He screamed, “Ridire!”

There was a particular quality to that sound that confused my dragon. The name ‘ridire’ made it unhappy, of course, as it was filled with generations of fear. But we knew it was Kingsley, and we were proud and filled with admiration, too. Having so many mixed feelings inside me was unusual and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

I looked up and saw my mate running across the field towards us, his large form powerful and his long legs eating up the distance. He wasn’t wearing his armour, he wasn’t carrying his sword, but there was something in the way he moved – like a predator – that declared him to be aridire. Even Conley, who’d never seen aridirebefore, recognised it instantly.

Conley reeled away from me and began to shift. His silver scales broke out over his skin and he grew, filling the field.

“No!” I held up a hand to Kingsley. He was gathering another spell to him and I could see that this one was sharper. Deadly.

Conley took to the air.

It had never occurred to me to shout any warnings to Kingsley or try to stop Conley turning on him. My dragon didn’t get so much as a murmur, knowing Kingsley was there before a dragon. And that was because he was a total badass and I knew he could protect himself.

Sure enough, Conley fled. He streaked away from us, back towards the territory and the safety of the clan.

Kingsley loped over to me and scanned his eyes down my body. He was checking me for wounds.

“Who buried that spell in your shoulder?”

“Lord Somerville.”

“It’s strong.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Of course it’s strong. He’s a dragon elder.”

“Well it’s going to take me a while to get it out.”

I rotated my shoulder, testing it. It ached with cold. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Who was that?”

“Conley. You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

“Seriously, Glimmer? He was trying to kill you.”

“He wouldn’t have managed it.”

“That’s not the point.”

Kingsley sounded sulky and I could smell the acrid tang of fear that was left on his skin. He’d been afraid for me.

I smiled and stepped forward, into his space, and buried my nose in his neck, inhaling the relief and the musky sweat.

“How did you know I was in danger?”

My mate surprised me by admitting what I already knew. “I sensed it. I could feel you were hurt.”

Even when I tried to hide my smile in his neck, pressing my mouth to his skin, Kingsley knew.

“Don’t even think about getting smug about that.”

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