Page 135 of The Bond That Burns

I hissed at her, letting my fangs show, and she quickly glanced away. That was more like it.

Pendragon hadn’t noticed. “That cliffside classroom where I’ve been meeting Professor Hassan,” she was saying. “She won’t be there at this time of night and it’s the safest place to summon Nyxaris. There’s a big stone perch where he can land outside. I think it used to be a landing spot for dragons a long time ago. Hopefully there’ll be less of a chance of him being spotted that way when he comes in.”

A colossal dragon the size of a battleship wasn’t exactly unnoticeable, but I knew what she meant. Besides, Nyxaris was black and it was dark out.

“How are Hassan’s lessons going anyhow?” I asked curiously. “Learning a lot?”

“Oh, yes, the lessons are extremely advanced.” I could hear the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Advanced, huh? Guess I’d better step up my game,” I joked.

She rolled her eyes, but I caught the faint curve of her lips as she approached the library doors. I followed closely behind, my hand intentionally brushing against her as we left the library.

“You know,” I began, my voice light. “We’ve been at Bloodwing together for almost a year and a half. But I still feel like we hardly know each other in some ways.”

She glanced at me. “You know plenty. Probably more than you should,” she said archly.

“Do I?” I countered, not giving up. “Because I don’t know your favorite food. Or what your life was like before you came here. Or—” I shot her a crooked grin that had been known to melt a few hearts. “Who your first kiss was.”

The corridor we were walking through was chilly. Pendragon let out a breath, puffing out a cloud of frost. “Why would you care about any of those things?”

“Because I do,” I said staunchly. “I want to know everything about you, Pendragon. The real you.”

She hesitated, her steps slowing as we reached a turn in the hall. “Those aren’t... easy questions to answer.” She frowned. “Besides, you’ve already been inside my head. Didn’t you see everything you wanted to then?”

I thought back to our disastrous thrallguard session, to the dark-haired man I’d seen looking at Pendragon as if his heart would break if anything befell her.

“I couldn’t make a lot of sense of what I saw,” I said slowly. “But I remember that there was a dark-haired man and a silver-haired woman.” I glanced down at her. “Can you tell me who they were?”

“Can I?” She looked surprised. “You mean you aren’t simply going to demand the information? I’m shocked.”

I knew she was joking, but still. “I’m asking. Do I need to get on my knees again?”

She was quiet for a while. “I think you must have seen my aunt and uncle.”

I felt a surge of relief. “Your uncle, huh?”

She whipped towards me. “You great oaf! Who did you think he was?”

“Your lover of course,” I said with a grin, getting a punch in the arm for telling the truth. “Ouch.” She never failed to surprise me with how strong she was. “So that wasn’t your first kiss then? Who was he? A courtier? A prince? A farm boy?”

“Farm boy is closer to the truth,” she muttered. “He was... a stable hand.” She looked at me. “Who was yours?”

“My brother’s consort,” I answered immediately. “Well, one of them.”

She stared at me. “You kissed your brother’s...?”

“Well, she wasn’t his consort yet. And she didn’t want to be. She and her family were visiting to see if she and her sister and my brother would suit each other.”

Pendragon’s eyes widened. “Her sister?”

I nodded. “Allesandra and Amaris. They were twins.”

“Twins?” She wrinkled her nose. “Gross.”

“I think that was what appealed to Marcus,” I reflected. “No one ever said he had good taste.”

Then my words seemed to sink in. “Wait. Theywere?”

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