Page 139 of The Bond That Burns

When we’d flown some distance from Bloodwing, Nyxaris’s voice rumbled to life in my mind.You spoke of truths. Now tell me. What have you learned?

I could hear the impatience in his voice. I closed my eyes for a moment, bracing myself. Then I spoke. Telling him everything. The soul-binding, the rebellion, the slaughter of dragons and riders alike. I spun a story of betrayal and control, the lies that had been spread to cover the great evils over.

Nyxaris didn’t interrupt. He said nothing as I spoke, his massive wings carrying us farther and farther away from the place I’d come to consider my home. But I could feel the dragon’s growing tension, the faint tremor in his powerful muscles.

When I finished, there was silence. For a while, I wondered if he might not respond at all, simply turn around and drop me back at the school.

Then his roar split the night.

It was a sound of pure anguish, shaking me to my core. The very air vibrated. I clung tighter to his back, my heart pounding.

Lies,Nyxaris growled.All of it. Lies. You must have read wrong. Go back and read again. They would do this to us? To our riders?

But I knew he knew it was the truth.Nyxaris,I said softly, trying to reach him through the storm of emotions.I think...

Silence!His roar left me trembling.Do you understand? Do you truly? You are no dragon. You cannot. The horrors we unleashed at their commands.

So, hewasremembering.

He banked and turned back towards Bloodwing.

He landed on a rocky outcrop, not far from the school, and crouched low, his tail lashing violently against the rocks as I dismounted.

I didn’t mean to cause you pain, I said, sliding from his back.You know I would never want that. But you deserved to know the truth.

His glowing eyes fixed on me, full of pain and fury.The truth? The truth is a sword, cutting deep and filled with poison. You have poisoned me.

My heart was breaking for him.You weren’t to blame for what happened. None of it was your fault. You were as much a victim as...

Stop!He thundered.Do not speak to me of blame. Do not speak to me of what was forced upon me, of what I did in their name. The fire I unleashed, the lives I extinguished.His voice cracked and his wings flared wide.My brethren. Slaughtered. My riders. Used as puppets. And I...I allowed it. I obeyed.

You didn’t know,I defended him.You couldn’t have known. And yet part of me wondered just what he was remembering, just what he had done.

He bared his teeth at me and for a moment I thought it was the end.I remember. I remember all of it. I was their weapon. I was their slave. And when my brethren rebelled, I did not stand with them. Not at first. I fought against them.

The torment in his voice was palpable. I took a step towards him, my hand instinctively reaching up.Nyxaris, please...

Enough,he snarled.You have said enough. Take your truths and go.

My chest ached as I watched him shudder under the burden of his memories.I’m sorry. Are you angry with me?

It was a stupid question and I knew it. Of course he was. He was furious. Yet still, I asked.

I am angry with the whole world, Medra Pendragon, he said, turning his gaze fully upon me, the fire in his eyes tinged with sorrow.Were it within my power I would raze it all to ash.

If he started now, perhaps the goal wasn’t so impossible. My throat tightened.Should I not have told you?

There was a long pause. When he answered, his voice was weary.No. You did what was right. You were honorable. But understand this: if the highbloods think to use me again, they will be disappointed. I will not allow it. Never again. I will die first.

I nodded.I understand.

Do you?His gaze bore down on me.You will not summon me again unless it is with truths even more significant than these. I will not risk myself—or you—by returning here.

There were tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sure when they’d gotten there.

I understand,I repeated. Nyxaris had already done far more for me than he had to. Far more than I deserved.

Do not let them crush you,he said roughly.This world will try to break you, as it has broken so many others.

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