Page 4 of Realm of Wind and Vines
A sly smile ghosts across Orion’s lips, but it’s gone by the time that Draven has finished shifting his gaze from Isera back to him. Draven arches an eyebrow at him. While still meandering slowly towards us, Orion lifts his toned shoulders in a lazy shrug in response to Draven’s silent question. But his black and silver eyes are sharp when he gives Isera a sideways glance.
“Apparently, there is at least one person in this broken group of misfits who possesses some measure of intelligence.” He clicks his tongue. “What a shame.”
She scoffs. “Some measure?” Then a smile as sharp as a bladespreads across her lips. “Given that I outsmarted you and trapped you in this bargain, what does that say about you?”
Lightning flickers in his eyes.
While the two of them continue mocking and threatening each other while closing the final distance to us along with the rest of our companions, I shift my gaze back to Draven and once more search his face for any spark of recognition. There is nothing. He’s just standing there, scowling at Orion.
Frustration and heartbreak rip through my soul, and that oppressive darkness presses in closer.
In a flash of stubborn defiance, I stalk the final two steps to the rock wall and lean against it. Then I pretend to stretch my arms above my head, mimicking the exact pose I was in when Draven pinned me to that rough stone surface and fucked me like I was his.
“Well,” I drawl, leaning casually against the wall like that. “This brings back memories.”
Draven turns towards me, already looking annoyed, with what is no doubt another angry curse on his lips. But then his gaze lands on me and he starts. Surprise flits across his face for a moment, and his gaze darts from me to the river where we bathed to get the green plant slime off, and then back to me.
Primal fire burns in his golden eyes for a second when he meets my gaze again.
And somethingtugsat my chest.
The feeling of it shocks me so much that I actually stumble, my arms dropping back down by my sides again. Draven gives his head a hard shake and then draws his eyebrows down in a scowl as he snaps his gaze back to the rest of our friends instead.
But I can barely concentrate on what’s happening around me, because I’m still reeling from that tug.
Sucking in an unsteady breath, I stare down at my own chest.
Our mate bond is still broken. It still drifts there inside melike a violently snapped rope that ripples in the wind, seeking its other tether.
But that tug.
It was there. I felt it. It was real.
Tilting my head up, I stare at Draven while shock still rings inside my skull.
There was a tug on our mate bond. As if it tried to reattach itself. As ifhetried to pull it back to himself.
I draw in another unsteady breath.
In the middle of that sea of dark despair and black rage that crowds my soul, a small spark of light suddenly blooms. Hope. That oppressive darkness inside me immediately tries to snuff it out, but it refuses to die. I lean into that small spark of hope with everything I have.
All is not yet lost. Draven is still in there. The real him is still fighting somewhere deep down underneath that massive flame of hatred that I forced into his chest. And if I can just figure out how to remove it, everything will be okay. The world will return to the way it should be.Hewill return.
I squeeze my hand into a fist as I cling to that tiny spark of light that now shines in the middle of the all-consuming darkness inside me.
There has to be a way to fix this.
There has to.
“Let’s go,” Draven declares once the others have caught up. “We’re burning daylight.”
“We’re below ground,” Alistair points out.
Draven turns his scowl on him.
“I also have fire magic,” he continues with a helpful smile that seems specifically designed to annoy the scowling dragon shifter.
On his other side, Lyra presses her lips together to suppress a smile. When that doesn’t work, she turns her whole head to hide her expression all together. Draven heaves a sigh and levels anexasperated look on Alistair. The snarky fire wielder just shrugs, that troublesome smile still on his lips.
