Nice melodrama, asshole.
Thanks. Sometimes I have to go overboard to get through to you.
I rolled my eyes while I still had the power to do so. Soon she’d be in charge of all body mechanics. Soon we’d be in the air.
Oh fuck.
Nervousness and adrenaline rippled through me, followed by another surge of Nyfain’s mirth. He was either feeling joy at being here with me through the bond, helping from a distance, or he was laughing at me. Maybe both. Next, though, I felt a surge of unwavering support and confidence from him. He had complete faith this would go fine.
Power pulsed within me now, hot and then cold. Hard thrusts, followed by a trickle. The tingling increased. Butterflies filled my stomach. I could feel Nyfain through the bond as distinctly as if he were right beside me, holding my hand at the edge of a great precipice. In my mind’s eye, he was looking over at me, the wind ruffling his unruly hair, the sun glinting off his sharp cheekbones. His golden eyes sparkled as he willed me to jump. Willed me to follow his lead, put my faith in my dragon, and take the leap.
Ready? my dragon asked.
I took a deep breath. I thought of Nyfain’s gorgeous golden eyes, with the flares of deep orange streaking from the pupil. I felt his confidence, and yes, his joy. His happiness to be with me, even like this, during my first shift. During my first flight.
You better not fucking kill us!
I relinquished control. I left myself open for her to surge up and push me out of the way. It wasn’t like it would be the first time, only this time I wouldn’t claw my way back to the surface.
Barely able to breathe, I waited as she built power, heeding the dragon’s guidance. She pulsed it just so. She feathered it. And then, in a blinding flash, she surged out.
Two lines of pain erupted down each side of my back, less painful than the officers’ whip cracks but covering slightly more ground. My scales, I knew.
My stomach flipped, and then it wasn’t my stomach anymore. My dragon exploded to the surface and, with her, the essence of Nyfain’s dragon. More pain crackled along my skin.
Child’s play, my dragon thought, and it was. We’d learned a new meaning of pain in Dolion’s castle.
My middle grew warm and then throbbed as I felt Nyfain’s dragon shove him away and rise. They were shifting with us. Nyfain and I both sank, it felt like, deep into the darkness, holding each other as we did so.
My dragon’s body grew through the clearing, up and up, until Ami and Claudile were peering at me with widened eyes. Hannon stood off in the trees, watching us with a small smile on his face.
“Fuck, we’re huge—” Only, I wasn’t in control of our mouth. Or our large maw with long, sharp teeth that felt weird touching with our large, long tongue.
Our mate is much bigger. He will still dominate us, my dragon thought with a purr.
I was glad I got that last eye-roll in.
She ruffled our wings as she looked down at our body. I sucked in a startled breath.
This is much better than shit brown, she thought, and then she pumped our wings and lifted into the air.
TWENTY-SEVEN
FINLEY
Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!
Three days of attempted flying later, I squeezed my eyes shut, but of course I wasn’t in control of the huge dragon body that was currently beating its wings frantically to stay in the air.
I’ve got this, my dragon thought, following another huge dragon body glittering azure blue.
The mountain face rushed toward us. The dragon in front—Ami—banked and began pumping her wings before catching an updraft and soaring toward the mountain peak.
Do not try that, you shit-hamper, I thought-yelled at my dragon. Don’t try it! We’re not experienced enough. Remember last time? We fucking crashed last time. We’ve only been doing this for three da-ays—
My stupid dragon never listened to me. She was getting back at me for all those times she wanted to go to Nyfain and I refused to let her. Except those instances hadn’t been life-threatening, and these—
She banked like the dragon in front, beat her wings…and caught the underside of the updraft. Rather than lifting us above the peak, it shoved us into the mountain.
I screamed inside her head as she swore and tried to shove my presence down. Our chest scraped against the rock, and our knees buckled with the onslaught. Gravity grabbed hold, and then we were falling, rolling down the hill and knocking our body and limbs as we did so.
Give me back control, I begged, wanting to teach her how to fall gracefully, if nothing else.
I’d begged to help off and on since we’d haphazardly risen into the sky that first time. Thank the goddess Claudile and Ami had quickly shifted and met us up there, or we would’ve downed at least three trees with a sudden crash landing.