Page 49 of Enchanted Crown
So I let my Enchantment out to wrap around her scales, threads of my magic the armor that she did not truly need in this form, yet it was still beautiful to witness her wings beating with my magic wrapped around them.
“Dragons are the best,” Warrick laughed. “Again!”
Esta turned her head toward Jorah, I assumed asking her for permission.
“Two more laps, sir, then bedtime,” Jorah called out from the ground.
Up and up we climbed, Warrick laughing and yelling as Esta gave us a ride.
I wasn’t sure who was happier, Warrick orme.
The next morning,I was in a long meeting with Krew and the sages about our bonding taking place that evening while Esta was doing something similar with Malachi and her guards.
John would perform our bonding, just like he had done for Jorah and Krew. Yet there was so much this time that was up in the air. So we were doing this in the dead of the night, away from extra eyes and whisperings.
It would be the two of us, John, River, and a few guards. Owen included, of course. And Malachi. Malachi was the only one from Dra Skor that Esta wanted there.
I told Krew, “Esta is convinced my power is the strongest, but all it takes is one look at her in her dragon form for me to think the opposite.” Then to John and River I added, “I only hope I will not be able to shift into a dragon the size of a bird after this. Not that I personally care too much, but the Dra Skor culture prizes the size of their dragons.”
“You would be averypowerful bird, though?” John commented.
“I do not care if I can never shift into anything. I am not doing this to gain anything for myself. Esta needs and wants this. And there is the chance that she will have a bit of our Enchantment too. If she does, it would pose as another safeguard to even her dragon instincts.”
Krew’s blue eyes hit mine. “I happen to know someone who came into her own Enchantment not that long ago who can help with that.”
Jorah.
“Then again, you could each simply keep your own Enchantment,” River said. “Just have that tether that Jorah and Krew seem to have. Some sort of link between your two very different powers.”
“So to be clear,” John began. “I feel the need to ask after the last ceremony I performed. Are you giving her a drop of your power? Or going to go full Krew on it and giving it all away?”
I shook my head. “I cannot give it all away, I need it to heal Dra Skor, but I also don’t want to give her only a drop as that does not seem adequate enough. My plan is while we are bonding to will her enough to be safe. And if it ends up that she takes it all, then we will figure it out from there.”
John rubbed his hand across his brow.
“What?” I asked.
He tossed up his hands into an exaggerated shrug and then laughed a deep, hearty laugh. “No one knows. We can sit here talking potential outcomes, but this hasn’t happened in decades. And I am not sure it haseverhappened between Wylan and Dra Skor powers.” He laughed. “And I’ll be damned if I’m not excited for it.”
River laughed hard enough his belly bounced slightly. “I feel exactly the same.”
That was because they weren’t the ones about to be shifting into a small dragon.
Still, we spent the next hour planning for all possible outcomes anyway. Esta would shift after our palms were cut, as was the Dra Skor custom. After that, absolutely everything was up in the air.
CHAPTER 18
Itugged on the ends of the sleeves of my jacket and glanced to where Malachi stood, waiting for me to finish. “I cannot tell you how happy I am that you’re here.”
“Amory wanted to be too, but Esta thought that her staying to work with Nana Ice was best, all things considered.”
I inhaled. “So Esta will shift, shift back to her human form, and then collapse?”
Malachi smirked at me. “Keir, we have gone over this a hundred times. And you have caught us a dozen times while healing us.”
“I know. I just want to be as prepared as possible.” I didn’t want her to hurt a hair on her head.
Malachi laughed. “I do not understand your nerves. Yes, there are a lot of unknowns. But what is known is that you have been my brother, a piece of Dra Skor, since the moment you saved Kian.”
