Page 7 of The Bond That Burns

“An answer for an answer,” I said stubbornly. “How did the dragons disappear?”

“Some died of a plague.”

“Like the one your grandmother couldn’t save?” I guessed.

He nodded.

“And the others? Did they all die of a plague?”

“There’s a lost history here, Miss Pendragon. A history of the dragons that the highbloods have purposely hidden. Even from one another.”

My heart hammered. “How is that possible? How could a highblood hide something like that from other highbloods?”

“A question that it would be fascinating to pose to Viktor Drakharrow. But I don’t recommend doing so.”

I scowled. Fine. Next question. “Why would those four dragons have been preserved like that? Enchanted? Why not keep them alive and use them?”

“That’s a question beyond even my scope of knowledge,” Rodriguez said. “Perhaps you ought to ask your dragon.”

I felt a pang of guilt. “He’s not my dragon.”

“Did you try...”

“I read the book,” I said quickly. “The part about bonding. Yes. I tried. I did everything I could remember. Everything I could think of to do at that moment.” I glanced around. We were almost at the entrance to the House Drakharrow Tower. “But it didn’t work.”

“So he flew away.” Rodriguez studied me. “Does he have any intention of coming back?” He held up a hand. “No. On second thought, don’t answer that.” He sounded tired suddenly. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

“Why?” I asked nervously.

“Because I have no idea how good my thrallguard really is. How well I’d hold up if...” He looked at me.

“If you were tortured.” I bit my lip. “Is that what they’re going to do to me? To get the answers they want?”

He sighed. “Do you really want an honest answer?”

I folded my arms over my chest and hugged myself. “This is going to be a fantastic summer, isn’t it?”

He grimaced. “You have a few advantages. You can defend yourself with thrallguard. It might be enough. Not all of themwill try to use it on you. But Viktor certainly will try again. He doesn’t give up easily. Then there’s Blake.”

I winced. “Blake is not an advantage.”

“Whatever’s going on with you two on a personal level, I don’t really care. But he’s still your archon. That hasn’t changed. He can help you to some extent. I suggest you let him.”

“If he even wants to,” I said dourly.

Rodriguez ignored me. “You also have leverage. If you say you can control that dragon, they’ll have to believe you. They can’t risk not doing so. Especially if they can’t break you to find out the truth.” He threw up his hands. “Whatever the truth is. Again...”

“You don’t want to know,” I finished for him. “Right. I get it.” I sighed and touched a hand to my temple. The blood had dried. “Why did I bleed when Viktor used thrallweave on me?”

“You were under an overwhelming amount of strain. Viktor is incredibly powerful. It’s not completely unheard of. Thrallweave attacks can be painful. Though usually the result is only a bad headache.”

“Spontaneously bleeding just from strain?” I furrowed my brow. “Natsumi said it could do permanent damage.”

“When used as a method of torture, yes. I have no doubt Viktor is experienced in that. But he’ll need to keep you whole.” Rodriguez touched my shoulder gently. “Look, we’re nearly at the tower. What you need to do is hold them off until the tribunal can meet. Do you think you can do that?”

“I suppose it depends on whether they plan to torture me or not,” I said bitterly. “How long will it be before the tribunal is held?”

Rodriguez hesitated. “From what I understand, Lord Mortis is away from Veilmar and House Orphos is dealing with some family matters. But I’m sure they’ll want to have this settled before the start of the next school year.”

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