Page 31 of Fractured Sky
A shiver ran down Sol’s back as Graham spoke.“Carlyle was trying to bond with Sol.”
* * * *
OF COURSE THAT WASwhat Carlyle had been trying to do.Dallin should’ve expected it.He hadn’t thought about it because Carlyle already had a shield, but considering what Carlyle had done to Emory, it made sense.
Penley sucked in a breath at Graham’s words.He looked like he was about to cry, and he reached for Dallin, but Bennett caught his hand.Dallin shook his head and waved Penley’s concern away.“I’m fine.”
“I’m not quite sure what’s happening here,” Sol said slowly.His gaze bounced from Graham to Dallin.“Carlyle was trying to bond with me?”
Graham nodded.“He spent a lot of time in the gemstone, enough that he doesn’t have the control and power he had before.He knows that he needs that if he wants to beat the mages, so he needs more magic.He was planning on bonding with Sol and taking his.I don’t know how any of this works, but I heard a lot.”Graham shrugged.“I guess that Carlyle thought too little of me to think I would work against him.He never stopped talking, even when I was in the room.”
“That was what he did to Emory,” Dallin said.
Graham frowned.“Emory?”
“He was Carlyle’s shield before our fight,” Jarvis explained.“He took his magic, and Emory was unable to shift into his dragon until recently.None of us were aware of this.We would have tried to help Emory if we had been.”
“So he was going to steal my magic?”Sol asked.
Dallin was tempted to reach for him, but he wasn’t sure Sol would welcome the contact.Besides, Pippa was there, already taking Sol’s hand and squeezing it hard enough to turn her knuckles white.Sol glanced at her and smiled, and Dallin felt like he was on the outside looking in.
How he felt didn’t matter right now.The only thing that did was howSolfelt, and it was clear that he was both confused and horrified.He needed Pippa.She was his best friend, while Dallin wasn’t anything—not yet.
“The bond between a mage and their dragon is special,” Jarvis explained.“It’s not only a bond born of magic and emotions.It’s a bond of trust, and Carlyle broke that trust.He hurt Emory, and if it weren’t for Penley, Emory still wouldn’t be able to shift.Carlyle stole something precious from the person he should have cared the most about.”
“But it didn’t work,” Sol said.“Carlyle was unable to bond with me.”
“Because you’re already bonded to me,” Dallin said in a trembling voice.He cleared his throat and tried not to think about what would have happened to Sol if they hadn’t been.“That’s why he went after the dragons.He was trying to capture one of them so he could bond with him.If he’d grabbed Bennett, he would have managed to do it.”
Sol glanced at Bennett, who wrapped an arm around Penley’s shoulders and kissed his temple.“Penley and I weren’t fully bonded back when I was Devon,” he explained.“We are now.”
“All of our dragons are bonded to us,” Jarvis said.“That means that Carlyle can’t bond to any of them anymore.”
Dallin glanced at Meyer, but Meyer didn’t notice because he was staring at Tyne.Hadn’t he known that the two of them were fully bonded?That they’d been a couple in his previous life?Clearly, he hadn’t, and Tyne didn’t look like he would give Meyer an explanation.
Sometimes, Dallin wanted to shake his brother and yell in his face that he needed to stop being an idiot.At this point, he was pretty sure that locking Meyer and Tyne in a room was the only thing left to do, but he was afraid to do that because Tyne would be pissed.It looked like he wouldn’t think twice about strangling Meyer first, then Dallin.
“He could still try to kidnap another dragon,” Ansley pointed out.“But it would be difficult.If he’s not as powerful as he was before, it might be impossible.We still should stop him before he tries, though.I don’t want anyone to get hurt, let alone an innocent dragon shifter.”
“He might go after Emory,” Keylon offered.“He has his dragon back, and he and Carlyle used to be together.Carlyle might use the feelings they had for each other.”
“I’m pretty sure that Emory would rather stomp him to death or eat him thanhave anything to do with him.”
“He might not have a choice.”
“We don’t even know if Carlyle broke the bond between them.Emory never talks about what happened back then.If that bond is still there and Carlyle finds out, he’ll use it.We need to protect Emory.”
“Our next step will be to contact him,” Jarvis declared as he looked around the table.“I’ll tell him what’s going on and what Carlyle’s trying to do.Maybe I’ll be able to convince him to come home.He’s not the only dragon shifter available, though.If Carlyle gets desperate enough, he might try to get his hands on another.”
“Which is why we need to attack,” Tyne said.“The sooner we get rid of Carlyle, the fewer people he’ll be able to hurt.”
“It’s too dangerous.We know where he is now.We can keep an eye on him while deciding how to best attack him.As long as Graham is willing to help us and we stay smart, we can win this without losing anyone.”
Dallin glanced at Graham.The man had relaxed, but he still looked like he was ready to run.“I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” he promised.
The meeting didn’t last much longer after that.Jarvis wanted to talk to Graham, but everyone else scattered.Dallin wasn’t sure what to do or where to go.He wanted to talk to Sol, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea.He didn’t know what Sol was ready for, and he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.
Sol had to be overwhelmed by everything that had been revealed during the meeting.If he wanted to talk to Dallin, he would.In the meantime, Dallin would take advantage of the beautiful day outside and take a walk around the lake.
