Page 140 of Fear the Flames
I move my feet farther into the lake, the water soaks through my slip, and it soon reaches my neck. My feet kick off from the bottom and swim where the bond pulls me. I reach the center of the lake, where the intertwining colors rotate together at a staggering pace. They form a cylinder around me and dance all the way to the bottom of the lake. The water comes alive in a sea of color. I have lost plenty tonight, but perhaps I have not lost all.
I turn toward the shore, but I can’t make out anyone’s faces. However, plenty more people have come out of the castle. Shadows line the steps, grass, and docks. There’s a sharp pain in my chest, and I turn my eyes back toward the water. The wisps have stopped moving. My heavy breaths bounce against the water as I move my limbs to stay afloat.
A sharp crack explodes through the air, like two boulders slamming together, and a dome of gold shoots up from the perimeter of the lake, sealing me in here with the dragons and the priestess. The dome stretches high above me and shimmers at the top. The colors begin to move again, and the dragons screech while fluttering their wings. The wisps rise from the water and become a labyrinth around me—rising to the top of the dome.
“This is the first stage of the bond ceremony, the introduction,” the priestess shouts across the distance, “pluck a strand!”
I reach my hand from the water and raise it to the red strand. I’m surprised at how solid it feels. It looks as if my hand would pass through it, but I tightly wrap my finger around the strand and pull it back. It vibrates back and forth in the air, and a dragon roar sounds from my left. The red-eyed dragon spreads their wings and rises in the air. Their mighty wings carry them to the top of the dome.
Venatrix,I hear through the vibrations of the red strand. It’s so quiet, the name is nothing but a whisper, but it’s one of the five answers I’ve been longing for since I can remember.
I reach my hand toward the next strand and pluck the black one. The black-eyed dragon lets out a roar and rises in the air.
Sorin.
I pluck the orange strand.
Calithea.
The orange-eyed dragon rises to take flight.
I pluck the purple strand.
Basilius.
The purple-eyed dragon takes flight.
I pluck the final blue strand.
Delmira.
The blue-eyed dragon rises to fly in tandem with the others circling the top of the dome. I watch the way their wings shine in the golden light and how it dances along their black-scaled bodies. The pain I had felt in my chest melts into a fullness that I’ve never felt before and don’t know how I’ve lived without. It fills a part of me I didn’t even know was missing. I float on my back, looking up at my dragons and watch them. I can’t count the nights I wished I could have done exactly this, just exist with them.
The wisps rise from the water and ram into the gold dome, shattering it, and vibrant colors fill the air before they fade from the night sky. The dragons dart from the sky and take their original places around the lake. They let out a synchronized roar, and five gusts of flames shoot from their mouths and meet directly above me. I continue to float on my back, letting the warmth of their flames caress my heart and chilled body. I can feel their flames in my soul. My eyes watch a star shoot across the sky, and my mind falls quiet. I’ve questioned where I was supposed to be in life so many times. I’m always contemplating my next move and looking toward the future. But right now, I know everything that happened after I left Imirath happened so that I could be here.
This feels right.
The priestess stands on the bridge at the top of the waterfall and stretches her hand in my direction. I swim to the opposite side of the lake since my body drifted closer to there and climb onto the slick rocks that lead toward the bridge. The dragons fly over my head and make a sharp downturn along the waterfall. I grip the thick railing in my fingertips and watch them fly into the waterfall, disappearing behind it. There must be a cave down there.
My night slip suctions to my skin, and I wrap my arms around myself to conserve warmth. The wisps are no longer here to warm my body. My breath clouds in front of my face while I wait for the directions of the second step. Water drips from my slip and pools at my feet.
“What’s next?” I ask through my chattering teeth.
“This next step is fairly,” her lips quirk up on one side, “interpretive. Other than tails, what’s the one limb those dragons have that you don’t?”
“Wings.”
“Precisely.” She clasps her hands together in front of her. “A dragon’s trust is unyielding but very hard to come by. You had their trust by default when you were born, but now you need to strengthen that trust. You must show them how far you’re willing to go for them.”
Dread settles deep in my bones, smothering the flames that burned there moments ago. It’s a different kind of chill than ordinary; it’s a chill from a brutal realization. “You want me to jump,” I state.
“Idon’t want anything. This is about what the dragons want.”
“Do you happen to have a roar-to-text translation hidden in your robes somewhere?”
She glares at my sarcastic tone. “You don’t have to complete the ceremony, the dragons will never harm you, but they will also never be fully yours. You can still fight your war without them, but I can assure you that you have a higher chance of success with the dragons.”
I peek over the edge and take in the jagged cliffside. Sharp rocks jut upward from the bottom of the waterfall, and the river that runs in front of the castle is too shallow for me to land in a solid body of water. Even if the sharp rocks don’t pierce me, I will die on the smaller rocks that litter the riverbed. I turn away from the edge and walk to the opposite side of the bridge. I hear voices arguing and squint into the darkness. Cayden and Finnian are trying to get closer to the bridge, but Ryder, Saskia, and a few other guards look like they’re trying to convince them to stay by the castle.
