Page 90 of The Bond That Burns

The silence in the room was deafening.

“Well?” I prompted finally, gripping the arms of my chair. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

Rodriguez ran a hand over his handsome brown face. “Soul binding,” he repeated, almost as if to himself. His voice was grave. “I didn’t think... I hadn’t considered they’d go that far.”

His reaction only served to deepen the knot of fear in my chest. “But you thought something like this might happen?”

His gaze shot to me and there was suddenly fire in his eyes. “Dragons are dangerous,” he practically snarled. “I knew that already, Miss Pendragon. I had hoped you had gleaned thatfrom the many books I gave you last year. But instead of being cautious, you woke one up.”

I gulped. “But I thought...” I tried to steady myself. “You said there was a time when riders and dragons may have ruled. Maybe this is a good thing.”

“After what you’ve just informed me about Nyxaris’s brutality? And the fact that at least one highblood, if not more, wants to attempt a soul binding on you as soon as you’ve brought the dragon under your control and bonded with him?” Rodriguez shook his head. “If you were going to bring back a dragon, that Duskdrake is not the one I’d have hoped for.”

“At least it wasn’t the Inferni,” I snapped.

He looked at me in surprise. “Vorago? No, that’s true. That would have been even more disastrous.” He ran his hands through his hair.

“Did you know this would happen?” I demanded. “That book...”

“That book was full of a great deal of knowledge, Miss Pendragon. Knowledge which you stole, I might add. And evidently, you read the wrong parts,” Rodriguez barked at me.

I flinched. “Fine. I screwed up. As usual.” I was curious though. “Which dragon would you have wanted me to bring back? Not that I had any choice.”

“Molindra,” he said immediately. “The Luminthar.”

“A House Orphos dragon?” I said, surprised. “Why?”

“She was renowned for her wisdom and courage,” Rodriguez said. “Anyhow, it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Whatmatters is what happens next. This problem... It has to be contained.”

He glanced at me in a way that suddenly made my blood run cold. “Do you mean me?”

“No,” he said hastily. He shook his head. “No,” he said more firmly. “Although I won’t deny that thought didn’t occur to me just now.”

“Your face was an open book,” I said hotly. “I suppose killing me here in your office would be inconvenient for you as a teacher, but it might save you a lot of trouble in the long run. Is that it, Rodriguez?”

His eyes flashed. “It would save theworlda great deal of trouble, Miss Pendragon. The blightborn world which you, might I add, are a part of. In the wrong hands, a dragon is a source of pure destruction. Countless blightborn will suffer and die if the highbloods get hold of Nyxaris. Especially since the coercive forces highbloods depend upon to maintain order are slipping.”

“You’ve noticed that, too?” I remembered the blightborn students I’d encountered.

He nodded grimly. “Rebellions will soon rise. How do you think the highbloods will expect them to be put down?”

“With an enforcer,” I whispered.

His lips thinned. “Precisely. And if they could do it themselves, using your bond, your body, then so much the better.”

“Everyone wants to use me,” I said bitterly.

“Not everyone,” he said softly. “It may come as a surprise, but I’ve come to admire and respect your spirit, Miss Pendragon. Ido not wish for you to have to make the ultimate sacrifice unless it is the only way forward. Nor do I wish for you to suffer being possessed by a highblood. Not if we can find another way.”

“What other way?” I demanded.

He frowned down at his desk. “You must leave that with me. In the meantime...”

He paused for so long I thought he’d forgotten about me. But I suppose I’d given him a lot to think about.

“Yes?” I finally prodded.

His head snapped up. “In the meantime, have you told anyone else about what you’ve discovered?”

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