Page 96 of Draekora
“I got a stupid paper cut, if you can believe it,” Alex said. “He knows pretty much everything now.”
“And he’s been training you?”
“Not very well,” Alex admitted, trying not to feel guilty about her lack of appreciation towards the prince. “He’s too careful with me, too afraid that he’ll hurt me, so he’s constantly holding back. Not at all like you.” She laughed quietly and pressed a hand to her bruised backside from where she’d fallen hard to the ground.
Niyx’s expression was unreadable as he looked down on her.
“How important is it for you to beat this Meyarin of the future?”
Frowning at him, Alex returned with a question of her own. “How are you not wondering how I’mfromthe future?”
Niyx waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Your draekon brought you through theabrassa, or so I’m presuming. Probably unintentionally, judging by how lost you were when you first arrived.”
“I was not lost!”
“You pretended like you didn’t understand our language and you were as skittish as a terrified kitten for days,” Niyx shot back.
Alex gaped at him. “How did you know I understood you?”
“Just because the others are exceptionally unobservant doesn’t mean I am,” he said condescendingly. “I also happen to know more about thevaelianathan most, including how the bond allows for language exchange.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Alex asked, but even as she asked it, she remembered the pointed jabs he’d repeatedly made. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
He looked like he didn’t understand why she was arguing with him, and she wondered the same herself. “I figured you had your reasons for wanting it kept secret. And besides, I knew that within days you’d learn our dialect properly and have no excuses, no language barrier to hide behind. Your knowledge wasn’t harming anyone, so…” He trailed off in a shrug. “Now it’s your turn to answer my question. How important is it for you to win against this future enemy of yours?”
Alex called to mind what the Library had shown her, skimming over blurred images of villages burning, people screaming, death and destruction, until she finally stopped on the image of Meya with its crumbling ruins, abandoned like a ghost city. She didn’t realise that she was mentally projecting the memory as she answered, “If I lose and my enemy wins, Medora will be destroyed. Does that sound important enough to you?”
When Niyx didn’t respond, Alex looked up to see his slack, shocked face. “Niyx?”
“What was that?” he whispered. “What you just showed me?”
Alex squinted in bafflement. “What I just… what?”
“Was that the future I just saw? Meya in ruins? Medora in flames?”
Her jaw dropped. “Yousawthat?”
We’re bonded, Aeylia, his dry tone said in her mind.That’s what happens when you perform forbidden rituals you know nothing about.
“Holy crap!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “Get out of my head!”
“Take it easy,” he said, reaching out to place a steadying hand on her arm and only narrowing his eyes slightly when her words came out as a command.
“Sorry,” Alex said, feeling the tug and realising that she’d accidentally broken her promise—except for the caveat she’d given that she wouldn’tintentionallygive him orders.
“I can see this bond of ours is going to be a problem,” Niyx said through gritted teeth, before rolling the tension from his shoulders and relaxing again.
Alex, however, was confused. “Don’t you—Aren’t you going to promise to keep my secrets and ask me to Release you? Isn’t that what you said?”
“I questioned what you’d do if I asked you to do that,” Niyx corrected. “But you’ve managed to convince me about your high stakes and the need for secrecy rather well.”
“Are you saying…?”
“Keep the Claim on me, for now,” Niyx said, to her surprise. “I presume when you mentioned leaving here, you were referring to going back to the future once your draekon is up to the return trip through theabrassa?”
Alex was impressed with his deductive reasoning skills. “That’s right.”
“And you’ll still do what you promised and Release me before you take off?”
