Page 98 of Draekora

His voice was resigned but firm when he said, “Just do it, Aeylia.”

Knowing it was best for the both of them if she got it over with quickly, she mustered up the courage and ordered, “You won’t tell anyone what happened tonight. You won’t say a word or communicate in any other way about anything we said or did.”

When the tug of the command eased, Niyx gave a stiff nod and stepped back. “That was broad, but I think you covered it all.”

“I’m sorry, Niyx,” she said.

“You did what you had to, Aeylia. Just don’t expect me to be doing cartwheels about it.”

The image of him doing a cartwheel sprung to her mind and she had to bite back a smile, certain he wouldn’t appreciate the visual as much as she did.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“Now is the easy part,” Niyx said. “We both need dry clothes and sleep. It’s tomorrow that’s going to be hard—for you, anyway.”

Brow furrowed, Alex said, “Why’s that?”

“Because we begin your training at dawn,” Niyx told her. “And I may have accepted this mess you’ve gotten the both of us into and decided to do the right thing in the face of it all, but that doesn’t mean I’m forgiving about it. Prepare to have your ass handed to you tomorrow, Aeylia. And every other day for the foreseeable future.”

With those words, he turned on his heel and stormed towards the door, clearly still stung over the command he’d all but forced her to give him.

Knowing that she shouldn’t, but unable to resist, the moment he was out her door and presumably on theValispathleaving the palace, Alex called out in her mind,’Night, Niyx. Sweet dreams.

His response was instant.I may not be able to kill you without killing myself in the process, but I can still make you wish you were dead. Trust me when I say my pain threshold is significantly higher than yours, mortal.

Alex retreated from his mind, not sure if she was shaking because she was amused or because she was genuinely fearful. To get her mind off the spiteful Meyarin she was now bonded to, she called out to theotherbeing she shared a connection with.

Xira, you there?

When he responded, she followed through on her promise to explain everything to him. After she was done and managed to convince himnotto fly down and swallow Niyx whole, she asked the burning question,If he’s now connected to me, does that mean he’s connected to you, since you and I are linked?

No, Alex, Xiraxus replied.Thevaelianaisn’t a bond of blood and it can’t be enacted by anyone but a draekon, regardless of whomever else you might become connected to.

If it’s not a blood bond, then what is it?

It’s more a…soul bond, I suppose you would call it, Xiraxus said.Our connection goes beyond flesh, beyond the heart and the mind. It’s founded in the deepest core of who we are. No matter what time or distance separates us, we’ll always be linked to one another.

Alex blinked into the darkness of her room.I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have commitment issues, huh?

Xiraxus gave a rumbling laugh.Go to sleep, Alex. Dawn isn’t far away and if what you say is true, you’re going to need all the rest you can get before meeting with your Meyarin in the morning.

With her stomach churning at the mere possibility of what the early training hours might bring, Alex bid sweet dreams to Xiraxus and was left alone, until finally, overcome by the events of the day and heedless of her soaked clothes, she succumbed to sleep.

Thirty

Five days later, Alex bent over atthe waist, trying to draw oxygen into her desperate lungs.

“I… just… need… a… minute,” she gasped, holding up a hand.

“You have three seconds,” Niyx returned. “One. Two. Three.”

And then he ruthlessly came at her again, attacking her with the same vigour he’d managed for the last three hours. Non-stop.

This was what Alex’s life had been like for nearly a whole week now. Upon her dawn wake-up call the morning after saving Niyx, he’d dragged her, still yawning, deep into the Silverwood to begin a rigorous training program that would make even her psychopathic PE teacher tremble in his boots. In fact, being taught by Niyx was worse than taking a lesson with Finn, Karter and Hunter—together. Part of that was probably due to his own frustration over knowing that at any second, despite her promise, she could strip him of his free will. But another part, Alex knew, was because unlike Roka, who had offered to help because she said it was important, Niyx hadseenwhat was in store if Alex failed. And he was determined to have her as prepared as possible to stop that future from happening.

Thus began a regime the likes of which Alex figured a stint in hell itself would be a pleasant holiday in comparison.

In other words, Niyx was true to his threat about Alex’s ass being handed to her every… single… day. Multiple times per hour, to be precise. And that was a large reason why they were out in the forest rather than in one of the training halls of the palace—because for what Niyx was making her do, they needed to be near a steady supply oflaendra.

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