Page 79 of House of Embers
He did not care about her plight, only the atrocities they had committed and the dragon blood on their hands and the land the dragons owned.
“No,”Ferrinix said and then blasted fire at her.
But Irena moved through her shadows as if through air. One second, she was there, and the next, she was on Ferrinix’s back. He roared and burst into the sky. The girl remained atop him as if this were not her first time riding the winds. She barely stumbled as he went straight toward the moon high above. She clung to him as he looped around, and then she ran up his back until she was at his neck.
He moved into a tight corkscrew, trying to dislodge her. He hadnever had a rider on his back. That had been one of the disagreements in the last days of their time in Domara. His forebearers had fled to keep the Doma from using them as brute animals. He would not become one.
“You gave me no other choice,” Irena yelled.
Then, out of the shadows appeared a black metal crown. It had luster in the moonlight, shining with the glow. But it seemed to suck the light in rather than reflect it. And as she lifted it high, anticipating Ferrinix’s next move, she dropped the crown onto his head.
They both fell, dropping out of the sky like the dragon had been shot with an arrow through the heart. Irena screamed as she pinwheeled her arms. Ferrinix couldn’t move. Whatever this crown had done, it had affixed to his head. And in his mind, it was suddenly no longer silent. There was another voice.
“The magic comes with a price. Your life for hers. Her life for yours. Your line forever bound to theirs. Any dragon who attempts to evade the call will perish. Any Fae who refuses the bond will see their house in ruin. A bargain sealed with the magic of He Who Reigns. A new age beckons.”
***
Kerrigan and Tieran were ripped out of the dragon’s memory. Her head ached, and she had no concept of time.
The Irena Bargain was a lie.
She had always suspected it was. But this was so much worse than she had anticipated. Irena had used a magical artifact to force Ferrinix into a binding. Their lives and all their kin’s lives were bound to this new bargain done with ancient dark magic.
The consequences had been severe. All dragons had to secure a rider or elsedie. No wonder Thiery had forced Tieran to the tournament. He had no idea how close he’d come to dying instead. And those Fae who ignored the bond went to ruin. Look at the House of Shadows, all these long thousand years, how it had rotted in on itself.Honestly, even her own House of Cruse had been suffering without a dragon rider in the line. It was all part of some ancient ceremony that had ended the carnage and created a new legacy.
“Thiery was right,”Tieran said.“I never wanted this burden.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Boon
Thiery and the Dragon Council waited for them in the council chamber. The somber expressions of the quorum said that they had all survived this test to get their seat here. They all knew. Every last dragon in attendance. All ancients who had endured this long. They had withheld this information from the younger dragons.
Tieran was nearly shaking with anger.“We have returned victorious.”
Thiery dipped her head at her son.“Indeed. You have. A boon is due you for your acceptance onto the council.”She swiveled her head.“Think carefully about what you know before you make a request of us.”
“You knew”was all he said.
There was silence in the chamber as the council shifted indignantly. Like they had never owed anyone this information.
“You knew and you said nothing.”
“Yes,”Thiery said.
“You told us that Ferrinix made the deal alone. That he foresaw a future with the Fae. That it was a duty, an obligation, and an honor to claim a rider.”
“We protected the hatchlings at all costs,”Thiery said.“We have learned to extend the obligation as long as possible.”
The bond with Tieran boiled in Kerrigan’s chest. He was furious and threatening to explode. She leaned into that bond, the one they had evaded. She’d had no idea he had been so close to dying because their bond hadn’t worked.
“I did not want the burden of this information, but I cannot deny that you have destroyed my already-little faith in the council with the knowledge that you have withheld this from us.”He straightened, reaching for a resolute calm.“My boon is the same—to take all the unbonded dragons capable of holding a rider to Ravinia Mountain and then to war.”
The silence was deafening. Then all the dragons began to speak at once. Kerrigan put her hands to her head—it felt like a collision in her mind.
“Enough!”Tieran roared.“I am not asking. I am telling you what I am doing.”
“Tieran, think first,”Thiery said.
