Page 176 of The Bond That Burns

I reached where Theo sat crouched over Florence. Her chest was still. I watched, refusing to even blink. But there was nothing. No movement.

She wasn’t breathing.

“No!” The word ripped from my throat as I sank to my knees beside her, grabbing her cold hand in mine. “You’re not allowed to die, Florence. Do you hear me? You’re notallowed.”

Nyxaris crept forwards, his black wings half-furled.The little fledgling deserved better.

“Don’t you talk about her like she’s gone,” I screamed, swiveling my head to glare up at him. “Don’t you dare!”

The dragon didn’t respond.

“Pendragon.” Blake’s voice reached me, rough and hesitant, pulling me back down to reality. “She—”

“No.” I cut him off, refusing to even look at him. “Don’t you dare. Shut your mouth.” I was trembling.

“Pendragon,” he whispered. “Please.”

And then, for the first time since he’d arrived in the Dragon Court, I looked at him—really looked.

He stood a few feet away, covered in blood. His face was pale and strained. My throat choked. One of his eyes was gone. The left side of his face was a mess of dried blood and raw flesh. For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

“She still has a pulse.” The calm, rasping voice snapped me out of my spiral. I turned to see Rodriguez kneeling beside Florence, his hands bloodied but steady as he held her wrist. His face wasgrey, his shoulder soaked with blood from Marcus’s bolt, but his expression was grimly focused. “It’s faint, but still there.” He met my eyes. “Not for long though.”

“Can you heal her?” I demanded, my voice sharp with desperation.

Rodriguez hesitated, then shook his head. “She’s too far gone for my abilities.”

“Then what is the point?” I shouted. “Why are you here?” I turned to look at Blake and Kage who had come up around us. “She wouldn’t have even been here if it wasn’t for you. She was following me.” The tears were running down my face. “You did this. You all did this.”

Rodriguez was looking past me, up at Nyxaris, something unreadable in his bloodshot brown eyes. “There’s one way. But it’s dangerous.”

“What is it?” I demanded. “Tell me. Now.”

Rodriguez didn’t take his eyes off the black dragon. “Dragon’s blood. Mixed with the blood of a rider. It’s an old legend. But my family has records. One of my ancestors witnessed it work once.”

I stared at him. “Once,” I repeated.

He nodded slowly. “It’s a gamble. It could just as easily kill her. But she’ll die anyway if we do nothing.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

I will make the decision for you,Nyxaris’s voice rumbled in my head, colder than I’d ever heard it before.I will spare you this burden. The answer is no. I will not allow my blood to be used to bind me to another rider.

I turned to look up at him in disbelief.This? This is what would bind you? This is how the bonding is done?

He lowered his head in assent.

But Florence isn’t a rider. How is that even possible?I demanded.

As your teacher has already said, it could very well kill her,Nyxaris replied.But the point is irrelevant. I have been betrayed by your kind once tonight. I will not do this thing. I will not allow her to become mine. No, not even the fledgling.

Yet I latched onto the faint reluctance I heard in his voice.

“Then you’re killing her yourself. She’sdying.” I jumped to my feet, my voice cracking as I turned to face him. “She’s not asking for this. She doesn’t want to bond with you. She never wanted to be a rider. She just needs your help. Please, Nyxaris.”

Nyxaris’s tail lashed unhappily against the ground.And what of the others, if I do this thing? The wolf, your professor.He paused.Your...mate. They conspired against me. Would have all but killed me. They sought to return me to the stone.

I...didn’t know that,I said slowly. Around me everyone was very silent.

---