Page 14 of House of Ashes

Gods, was I really considering this? That ‘if’ had felt weak, even to me.

But I had spent years dreaming of going home. I’d grown up knowing I would mate bond to a powerful dragon, and inherit Koressis Eyrie.

But I had been wronged.

My promised prince, mated to another. My House, shamed and left to rot. My throne, now circled by vultures.

Everything I’d worked so hard for, stolen for a crime I didn’t commit.

I could have my revenge for a stolen life… and all I had to do was pretend.

With my worst enemy.

“Who keeps Koressis?” I asked abruptly. “When you have Tidas’s head—”

Rhylan made a brief motion with his fingers, like he was flicking away something of no consequence. “I will abdicate as Drakkon. We will sever our supposed mate bond, I will return to Jhazra Eyrie, and you will be free to bond to another dragon. We need never speak to one another again.”

I nodded, thinking it over. It was extremely rare to sever a mate bond—supposedly impossible, in some cases, when the bond was strong enough—but theoretically, it could be done.

The ‘theoretical’ part was nerve-wracking, as I’d never actually heard of a successful severing, outside of one of the pair dying, but…

I would possess both Varyamar and Koressis.

And Rhylan would be a distant memory.

But could I pretend to like him long enough to convince other Houses to join our Court?

Doubtful.

“How badly do you want to see Varyamar again?” he asked, eyes glinting. “Or would you rather see Dragonesse Yura on the throne?”

If Yura became Dragonesse…I swore I would climb Koressis Eyrie with nothing but my own claws to make her bleed for it.

I bared my teeth at him, furious that I was actually considering this. “Gods, Rhylan, do you realize we’re not going to convince anyone? The thought of even pretending to be your mate makes me want to vomit.”

He raised an eyebrow, brushing nonexistent dust off the blackened scales covering his shoulder. “I’m willing to put in the effort to get what I want, even if it means pretending to be the adoring mate of a spiteful, half-wild draga.”

I had many things I could say in response to that, but I simply shook my head. “You want me to ride without the mind-speech. I’m going to end up dead long before we make it to Koressis, let alone Varyamar.”

Rhylan inspected his nails, nostrils flaring. “All this whining is unbecoming. You understand that you are not my only choice, right, Serafina?”

Ice formed in my middle.

All those dreams of vengeance and home, slipping away.

“Maristela of Shadowed Stars is an eligible princess.” He stared at me like he was disappointed in me. “I could always make her my Dragonesse.”

“Why didn’t you? It would have saved you a flight.”

Rhylan grinned, all sharp white teeth and flashing eyes. He smiled like he held the sun inside him. “Because you hate me enough to keep the ruse from going to my head. I can still walk away when it’s over.”

I scoffed, but he had a point.

We loathed each other, although I wasn’t sure what I had ever done to him. With that utter abhorrence between us, there was no danger of a true mate bond.

We all got what we wanted. I, Varyamar and Yura. He would kill Tidas.

I would remain Dragonesse, the title I’d been born to, while he would walk away.

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