Page 33 of To Fight and To Fold

Aaryn blinked, jaw agape, shock rippling through her.

Magic? In this day and age, when it was so forbidden? How did…

Is that how Thea had… had bewitched Aaryn? Oh, how she hoped for that to be the truth, to explain away this… titillating adrenaline that lingered after their confrontation.

Aaryn sank into a squat, covering her face with her hands as she screamed into her palms. The shiny jewels of her wristlet pressed into her cheek.

She just wanted her dragon. Her companion. Three years she'd spent tending to Starspark every single day, but now… nothing. His absence was a wound and it would not heal until she was reunited with him.

With Thea's disappearance, that wound festered, and bitterness seeped from the poorly-dressed edges, anger filling her as hot as a dragon's breath.

No using your breath on innocent villages.

Thea's words from her dream-memory-vision rang through her head and she huffed, pushing to her feet.

It's not his safety I'm worried about, Thea had said.

What did that even mean? Starspark wasn't being taken into battle. There were no battles. Evergale was sovereign.

Great scales, that woman was so infuriating, so confusing!

The bright sun no longer felt as warm in Thea's absence, the breeze ruffling the leaves and making chills break across her skin. She searched the area, but found no sign or hint of Thea at all, as if the trees themselves helped conceal her.

Aaryn stared up at the sky, perfectly clear thanks to the Great Dragon himself, and pleaded. If Thea could manipulate magic, couldn't he grant Aaryn some to get her dragon back?

Bring him home.

8

ASKING

With the taste of forbidden magic still on her tongue, and the ghost of Thea's palm against her cheeks, her words ringing in her ears, Aaryn retreated to her room.

She knew she should speak to the prince, tell him about Thea's appearance and what she'd said and the magic she'd used… but Aaryn needed just a moment. To herself. To her thoughts.

The sun cast dim rays over the field below, where Tethered saw to their dragons, or simply napped with them in the setting sun.

She wanted to trade places with any one of them. To laze on the grass next to Starspark once more, to feel the warmth of his scales beneath her cheek, his affectionate huff disturbing her hair. Her throat constricted, knowing that Thea had slipped through her fingers again.

Not that you tried to hold on very tightly.

A groan built in her throat but before she could release it and fall dramatically onto her bed, there was a knock at the door.

Aaryn steeled herself and answered.

Rose was on the other side, glancing down the hallway before she slipped into Aaryn's room.

"Hi," she said softly, quietly.

"Hello." Aaryn dragged the word out in a questioning manner. "Everything alright?"

"Well. I wanted to check in. You missed brunch."

Aaryn blinked. "I did? With the other Tethered?"

Rose nodded, her gaze tracking up and down Aaryn's form. "It's not like you to miss brunch."

Beneath her shrewd attention, Aaryn resisted the urge to… what? Cover herself? Why did she even feel the need to hide? What did she have to hide?