Page 2 of Vathia
“Like, I don’t know, Ravina being Maeven, and how her dragon basically outed her to the whole realm? We need to get her out of here!”
Killian snarls,“You’re supposed to be getting her friends. Go! Check to see if any of them even survived the trials so they can leave with her—even if we have to force them to go. She can’t stay at Phixmery any longer, and we can’t be seen talking to Aemon, so pull out your swords and spar. We still have to keep up appearances.” He pulls out his blades with a wince.
Aemon pulls out his blades with a maniacal grin. “I’m taking Maeven with me. She’ll be safe in Vathia. Just go back to your Lords and tell them I got away after I killed her. Problem solved. The realm already thinks I’m an evil being with no care for fae lives and a hatred for the crown.”
Talyn shakes his head. “He knows you won’t kill her. Kidnap will have to do. Go, Vathia is probably the safest place forher right now.” His eyes widen. “Blue dragon and two gryphons incoming!”
I turn to see he’s right when my dragon speaks into my mind. “It’s the little Queen’s friends. They’ve come to save her,” he chuffs.
I tell the others to stop them arming up against the new arrivals. “They’re friendlies, but we don’t have much time before the rest of Phixmery is on our ass,” I state before moving over to where Ravina is lying in the snow, her raven bouncing around her head frantic with worry and her dragon eyeing me like I’m a tasty little morsel.
“I just want to check on her,” I tell the purple beast, lowering my head in submission. This dragon is a royal, and the last thing I want to do is piss it off.
When I raise my head, the dragon’s nose is a hand’s width away from my face, and its hot breath gusts the hair back from my brow. With its eyes narrowed, it dips its head in a slight nod, letting me know I have permission to move towards my Little Mouse.
Being careful not to make any sudden movement, I hurry and drop to my knees beside her, quickly checking her over for any injuries. Her raven begins pecking at my hands as I check her limbs for breaks. “Oh fuck off, I’m trying to help her,” I mutter, swatting him away. He narrows his beady little black eyes at me and I swear based on his expression, if he could, he’d be licking his beak right now like he wants a taste of my flesh. I can’t help but smirk. Who would have thought such a beauty as Ravina has such a bloodthirsty little beastie? If he’s as sadistic as I think he is, we might become fast friends.
His wing comes up and he draws the tips of his longest feathers across his exposed neck before hopping back, never taking his wicked little eyes off me. Oh yes. I like this bird.
I focus back on Ravina, and after a few moments a deep sigh of relief hits me—there are only scraped hands and a few tears in her leathers, but other than that, nothing serious. So why isn’t she waking up? Does it have something to do with the magick that burst from her during the fall?
The snow crunches behind me, and Aemon strides into my line of sight, squatting on the other side of Ravina. “Good to see you again, Jesp,” he grins. “I’m going to be taking my mate now, so remove your hands from her before I remove them for you,” he threatens jovially, twirling his blade in his hand.
“Mate?” I ask as the ground shakes behind me, signalling her friends have landed. “What do you mean mate? Mates don’t exist anymore…” Usually the sight of Aemon twirling his blades would mean an exciting fight, but my mind lingers on the term ‘mate’. A growl rises in the back of my throat as an instinct to grab her and run begins to take over.
He stands and pulls down his pants without any warning, and a dull mark of a sword with snowdrop flowers surrounding the bottom of the blade takes up the upper half of his left thigh and side of his stomach. My gaze widens before I remember my earlier pain and rise to drop my pants as well, seeing the same dull sword, but instead of snowdrops, there’s lightning. I gulp, my heart pounding against my ribs.
“Fuck,” Aemon whispers as I whip around to my brothers.
“Put your fucking dick away Jesper, no one wants to see that thing swinging around!” Talyn snaps and then trails off as he notices the mark, his eyes widening as he lifts his shirt to expose a similar marking, although his sword is surrounded with thorned roses.
Gripping the hem of my leathers, I pull them back up just as I notice Ravina’s friends moving towards us. “Apparently we share a mate.” I nod towards his matching mark and see Killian’s face pale as he steps back towards Voissor.
Talyn shakes his head, looking equally sick. “She can’t know, not yet. Aemon, you can’t tell her anything. Get her out of here now!”
Another roar sounds and I shake off this new distraction, whipping around to the battlements only to see an unfamiliar red dragon with a rider on its back heading towards us.
I sprint towards Tisur, yelling at her friends, “Go with them!” pointing towards the fae they would only know as the traitor to the realm and hoping their loyalty to their friend wins out over their confusion.
They take off, climbing back onto their beasts. They won’t be able to keep up, but hopefully they heed my words and can at least get far enough away to escape being captured and questioned by our fathers.
Aemon scoops up our mate, and blinks them onto his dragon’s back with his shadow magick, taking off with the red dragon following close behind.
Fucking fates.
A mate bond.
This just complicated everything.
Talyn grabs me by the back of my tunic just as I’m about to climb onto my dragon. “You need to go with them. I’ll handle everything here with our fathers.”
I shake my head. “You need us.”
“I have Kill. Go, she needs you, protect them. When things settle down and the Lords leave Phixmery, Kill and I will meet you in Vathia. Don’t tell her about the mate bond yet. We can’t trust her until we find out why she can’t remember us.” He shoves me back, and I stumble into Tisur’s leg. “Go Jesp, now! Escort her friends. They’re no longer safe here!”
I nod, climbing up Tisur’s leg and hopping into the saddle. My bonded beast moves towards the large blue dragon to see Cadets Stoll and Yearwood on top of its back with no saddle.They’re going to have a rough ride. “You need to go with Ravina, it’s not safe here! Follow me,” I yell, taking to the skies, hoping that they listen this time.
In the distance, I see the red beast, who has now lost track of Zorn’s lightning-fast white dragon, and see none other than Cresida on its back. Her eyes widen when she notices me and I can’t help but grin. It would be so easy to kill her right now. She pulls back, her dragon giving up on the chase and heading back to Phixmery, but I can’t let her make it back or she might tell the lords if she saw something she wasn’t supposed to.
