Barely.
“I’m going to kill him! I’m going tokill him, Rikyava!” Bjorn roars so hard now he shakes the skies with his power, even still in human form, as his magic roils all around him.
“I know, and he deserves it.” I firmly grip Bjorn’s shoulders, massaging my hands down his biceps and using skin touch to calm him. “Now is notthe time, though. We need to talk about this and figure out what it all means. We need to find out who these bones belong to… and why our enemy Bone Mage targeted this blue Icelandic drakaina. Just like she did all our families.”
“Oggi Magnussen will get his due. We’ll make sure of that.” Ström stands at Bjorn’s side. He grips Bjorn’s shoulder, supportive in a way I rarely see him with Bjorn, as he bolsters my First Drake’s desire for a fight.
While also calming him with his vast Bone Magic.
I feel Ström’s power flow into Bjorn now, easing him with its cool presence. As Ström helps Bjorn, I finally see my First Drake come home, back in his saner human mind, at last.
As he draws a deep breath, letting it out slowly, I know the risk of him shifting and going Berserk is over. It’s still there, however, lingering in him as he heaves hard breaths, glancing at the bones.
“That enemy Bone Mage drakaina killed my mother,” he snarls now, shivering with rage. “And my father was with her. He found a good excuse to off my mother and made that drakaina do it so he could seem like his hands were clean… and take power over our clan entirely.”
“We can’t prove anything right now, Bjorn.” I am cautious, because though I hate Jarl Oggi Magnussen, accusing him of something like this needs solid proof. “Though it seems logical that your father had our enemy Bone Mage kill your mother during the heat of battle to get her out of the way concerning you, to punish her for defending her daughter long ago, or to solidify his power in your clan, we have no proof. Not yet.”
“Either way, it’s a shit move from a dragon we already hate.” Ström spits to the ground in contempt. “I’m not sad we fucked up his plans when we were up in Magnussen territory. Wish we could have done more.”
“I will do more. I promise it.” Bjorn’s nostrils flare as he does his deep breathing through his nose.
Then he finally quiets—into stone-cold hate.
“Bjorn? What’s going on in there?” I ask now with a blink, as I see aside to him I’ve never seen before. I feel nothing through our bond but a diamond made of gold now, hard and impenetrable, as Bjorn calms.
Focused like a laser.
“You’re right, now’s not the time,” Bjorn says with far too much precision now as he glances at us, pinning me with his searing golden gaze. “But when the time becomes right, Rikyava, you will not hold me back. Not you or Ström… no matter what it may cost us.”
As I stare up into my First Drake’s eyes, I know what kind of agreement this is. This is atill-death-do-us-partagreement; as I set my hand to my heart and nod, Ström does the same.
We honor Bjorn’s vow and give him our unspoken promise to do as he asks when the time comes. Because he’s right; only he can punish his father for what that horrible drake has done over the years.
And we’ll support him—no matter what.
Our mates’ vow sealed, we turn back to the task at hand. As Ström glances at the blue drakaina’s remains, he hunkers again, reaching a hand out. “I’ll open my power again. See if I can dig further back into her memories, find out who she was.”
As he sets his hand to her bones again, Ström reopens his power. We get a sense of her last moments on the battlefield; since she was blue and white, the Blood Dragons cleaning up the battle thought she was an Ice Dragon and rolled her into a pit with the rest of them, shoveling it over in an enormous mound of dirt.
She’s been here ever since, desperate to tell her tale. Though Ström pushes his power into her harder, trying to get past her final moments into her deeper history, he gets nothing of where she came from, or who her family is.
He only gets a mountainous wall of darkness—then a searing tower of white from Aesa’s stone, as it suddenly prevents his digging. As my power and Ström’s twist together now, thanks to Aesa’s resonance inside us, we sear again like a lightning storm, deep into Ström’s brain.
One of Ström’s missing memories flashes through us then,of that enemy Bone Mage drakaina—standing with a shadowy woman in black. The image is bright as day inside our minds, as we all share this memory together, thanks to our bonded resonance mixed with Aesa’s stone.
But the spot where our enemy drakaina and that woman stand is black with darkness on a no-moon night, clouds thick high above. The only light is coming from Blood Dragon ruby amulets both Ström and the woman in black wear.
The enemy Bone Mage drakaina is in her dragon form as they stand on a rocky promontory with the sea crashing below.
A lighthouse flashing in the distance, as it keeps safe the foggy coast.
Show me what you’ve found.The enemy drakaina’s voice is brisk and effortless as it penetrates into Ström’s brain and the woman in black. As Ström extends a mahogany wooden box, opening it, we catch a glimpse of objects inside.
Set on a green velvet lining, the objects range from a normal silver fountain pen to a small brass amulet with a pink topaz set in it, to a bizarre gyroscopic contraption, which looks like it has liquid mercury in its center. As the enemy drakaina peers into the box, her red eyes peruse what’s inside. At last, she snorts.
She glances at Ström, snarling her displeasure, before pinning the woman in black with her searing red eyes.
None of those are the items I seek. Keep looking.Our enemy Bone Mage drakaina rakes a taloned hand through the cliff-rock at her feet, effortlessly ripping it up.
