Page 40 of A Bond of Fire and Roses

The moment Zepheira sees the egg, she halts. “Something is wrong.”

She presses her hands to the shell. Both her palms glow, radiating with strange, pulsing energy. Magic?

“What is it?” Erax asks, joining us at the table. “Not another dead one?”

“No.” My heart rate increases as I watch Zepheira’s palms glow brighter. “Her mother—she should be here.” She lowers her ear to the egg and listens.

Meanwhile, Erax rolls his sleeves and prepares to help her. I can only watch helplessly from the sidelines even though I’m filled with a strange instinct to touch the egg. To help.

“When an egg is about to hatch,” Zepheira continues, “the mother can sense it, and will do just about anything to witness the birth of their young. The only time they don’t is when the egg has been abandoned. But that cannot be the reason. I just fed her before the two of you arrived. Surely…”

Her eyes widen, and both of them turn their attention to me.

“What?” I glance between them. “Surely what?”

It’s Erax who replies.

“A mother dragon will abandon their egg if the foetus has bonded with someone. It’s the only instance, other than death, they’ll leave their young.”

A deafening silence stretches between all three of us. I stare at them and then down at the egg, trying to make sense of what they’re saying. But it sounds as crazy to me as if they just told me I’ve turned into a dragon myself.

“It’s bonded to you,” Erax points out.

“Quick, come here.” Zepheira holds out her hand, ushering me to her.

I hurry over. She takes my hand and holds it in hers against the egg. The shell feels like ice, but the moment I touch it, it sizzles as if I’ve just put a hot stone onto it. Zepheira gasps and slowly withdraws her hand, leaving mine alone on top of the egg. Something within me stirs and that ache under my rib turns into a feeling I can’t quite describe. It’s not painful anymore. It’s almost… euphoric.

“Do you feel it?” Erax’s voice carries over me. I nod. “Focus on it. Let it grow.”

I place my other hand on the egg, and an electric current zaps through me. I don’t let go. I do what Erax instructs—I focus on the strange feeling building inside me, and I hold on to it, refusing to let it go. Something deep within urges me to pick up the egg. I lift slowly, my hands shaking, as a rush of concentrated magic surges through me.

Holding the dragon egg, it truly is stunning. Stunning beyond words really. I’m completely mesmerised by its continuous and stunning shine, surpassing the beauty of any diamond or crystal I’ve seen in the treasury. It’s the darkest shade of blue, but each curve and line of the shell is gold and silver, glittering like stars.

Magic continues to pulsate under my fingertips, vibrating with the heartbeat of the dragon inside. Strong, longer thumps than a human heartbeat. It feels almost like a countdown. The egg’s magic swirls in the surrounding air, dancing to a beat of a heart I can hear as loud as the one in my chest. Am I really about to open a dragon egg? Is this even possible?

I glance over at Erax. He only brought me here to tell me the truth. I doubt he planned for me to claim my own dragon. Will he be angry? Will he try to stop me because having a bride who hates you becoming equally as powerful as you could be considered a threat to him, couldn’t it? But this is the moment I have been unknowingly waiting for. It just feels right to be here, at this moment, holding this dragon egg like it’s been waiting for me all my life.

Footsteps echo behind us. I know we are no longer alone here, but none of it matters as much as the egg cradled preciously between my hands. We are a bond now. A jealous-filled wave of emotions wash over me as the soft blue glow radiates down my arms, across my chest until it’s around my dress too. I can’t do anything but stare at it, completely in awe, as it cracks down the middle and the shell falls apart in my hands, revealing a beautiful dragon curled up in my open hands. The dragon is a deep shade of ice, with white spotted spikes running down its back, from the tip of its nose down to its arrow-head tail. Its claws are the purest colour of water, just like its crystalline eyes.

The moment it stares up at me, yawning with its little mouth, I know we are bonded for life. A bond that is different to the one I made with Erax. A bond that is timeless and infinite. The baby dragon looks up at me, and it blinks in only the way a newborn animal can. No, not it.

She.

I know she’s a girl as if she whispered so into my heart somehow. And then her name comes, rolling off my tongue like I’ve always known it.

“Hello, Freyren.”

I forget the new arrivals until suddenly Freyren hisses at them. A dragon roars somewhere from above, echoing with more roars from other dragons that join with them. They’re celebrating. I look over my shoulder, just for a second. Erax is holding his hands in the air. There is no mistaking the pride in his eyes. Erax is proud of me? My heart pounds for a new reason, and I find myself wanting to smile at him. To thank him for being proud of me when I can’t remember the last time someone ever was.

“Disturbing the bond is never a line anyone should cross, but my queen does not know your ancient ways.”

I know he is speaking in dragon tongue to the dragons, and I’m shocked that for once I can understand him. Freyren hisses. She wants to eat him. I gently stroke her cheek. I can’t let you eat my husband yet.

Because if anyone is going to kill Erax, it will be me, even if the thought doesn’t make me happy like it used to. Traitorous heart, this is all your fault.

“Mist, you need to go into the water right now to complete the bond and save both your lives.”

Freyren snarls at him, climbing up onto my arm. His eyes widen as he gets a full look at her, and there is no mistaking the awe in his voice. “I’m no threat, ice dragon, but even you will not come between my queen and me. Now both of you, in the water, before it is too late.”

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