Page 65 of Silver Claws, Crimson Tears
“Dragon’s breath,” I mutter, scrambling from bed. I yank on my leather trousers, nearly toppling as I hop on one foot. My fingers fumble with belts and buckles, still trembling from that dream—that horrifying, confusing dream where Tahranis became Vaylen, where I wanted...
I shake my head violently. “Get out of my head.”
I splash water on my face from one of the basins at the back of the room, which are kept replenished with clean water by Claws. Droplets scatter like tiny crystals across the wooden floor.
The fort’s strange silence presses against my ears as I step outside. The training yard lies abandoned. No clashing practice swords, no shouted commands from instructors, no dragons circling overhead.
“Where is everyone?” My voice echoes across the empty space.
More unsettling is Zephyros’s silence. Shouldn’t he have sensed my panic? The nightmare felt so real, so visceral. I reach through our bond, searching for his familiar presence.
—Good morning,he rumbles.
—Where is everyone? And why didn’t you check on me? I was…I swallow hard.I had a nightmare.
—Was I in it?He sounds almost amused.
—No. But you didn’t feel anything? My fear?
—I did not. Perhaps you were shielding your thoughts from me.
That doesn’t make sense. I haven’t been trying to shield myself from Zephyros, not since my first day back. On the contrary, leaving our bond open to communication gives me comfort, grounds me in a world that’s become increasingly unstable since my return.
—Something troubles you,Zephyros says, his mental tone shifting to match my unease.
I press my palm against the rough stone wall of the barracks, steadying myself.
—I had a strange dream. About... him. The man that took me.
—Show me,Zephyros demands, his curiosity rippling through our connection.
I hesitate for only a moment before opening my mind completely, letting the dream flow between us. Tahranis carrying me, the strange comfort I felt in his arms, the furs, his body above mine, and then the disturbing transformation into Vaylen. The conflicted desire. The confusion.
Zephyros’s presence in my mind turns sharp, analytical, sifting through the details with uncomfortable precision.
—Do you think...The question sticks in my throat, but I force it out.Do you think I slept with that man? During my missing year?
A growl rumbles through our connection.—It was merely a dream,he responds, but his tone carries a current of unease beneath the certainty.
—No.I shake my head fiercely, pacing the empty yard.It’s different. It felt real, like the visions while I’m awake.
—Memories?His presence in my mind sharpens.
—Yes. Haven’t you sensed…?I stop, then start again.You didn’t sense my panic in the tavern or when I saw that sword or when I was sitting with Vaylen and the others at the tavern. I was terrified, drowning in memories, but I never noticed you didn’t sense any of it.
Why didn’t I notice this before? How could I miss something so fundamental to our bond? Am I unconsciously blocking him? Or is something else severing our connection during these moments? The thought chills me more than any nightmare. Our mental bond has been strongsince the first day.
—Little one,Zephyros’s concern flows me,nothing is wrong with our bond.
—Are you sure?
Zephyros falls quiet. I feel him moving through my thoughts, a familiar presence slipping through corridors of memory, examining doorways, testing walls.
—Everything feels normal from my perspective,he finally says.If I am not sensing you during these episodes, it can only mean you are blocking me. There is no other explanation.
—Maybe I’ve been blocking you somehow,I admit, rubbing my temple.Sandtide insists I have some kind of head trauma. Could be why my memories are fragmented and our connection cuts out.
The thought terrifies me. What else might be broken inside my mind that I haven’t discovered yet?
