Page 8 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
His great head lifted, eyes narrowing as he studied my face. "Tell."
I hesitated, the images from the dream still vivid and disturbing. How could I explain what I'd experienced without sounding mad? "I dreamed of Livia. But it wasn't me with her. Someone who looked like me, but... wrong somehow. Colder. He was..." I struggled for words. "Taking her. Claiming her."
Sirrax's rumble deepened, a sound that vibrated through the ground beneath us. "Yes. Sirrax feel this too. Not in dream, but... knowing. Bond-sense tells of... other."
My heart lurched. "Other what?"
"Other mate." The words came out like a growl, and I saw his claws dig furrows in the earth. "New bond. Fresh. Strong."
The confirmation hit me like a physical blow. Part of me had hoped the dream was just my mind's way of processing fear and longing, but if Sirrax could sense it through our mate bond...
"She's bonded to someone else," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.
"Yes. But..." Sirrax tilted his massive head, golden eyes distant with thought. "Bond feels... wrong. Cold-dark. Not like ours. Not like humans. This one..." He paused, searching for words in his limited vocabulary. "Broken inside. Shadows where light should be."
Ice settled in my stomach. "Is she in danger?"
"Not... hurt-danger. But..." He made a frustrated sound, smoke curling from his nostrils. "Bond-mate is... damaged.”
I thought back to the dream, to the possessive way he'd touched her, the calculated cruelty in his movements. "In the dream, he was rough with her. Demanding. But she..." I swallowed hard. "She submitted to him willingly. Called herself his."
"Mate bond compels," Sirrax said grimly. "New bond is strong-strong. She cannot resist. Body wants what bond-mate wants."
The thought of Livia being compelled against her true will made my hands clench into fists. But beneath the anger was a jealousy so fierce it threatened to consume me. Another man was touching her, claiming her, making her cry out in pleasure while I lay alone and aching.
"We need to hunt," I said abruptly, needing to do something with the violent energy building inside me. "The others will need meat for tomorrow's journey."
Sirrax studied me for a long moment, then slowly rose to his feet. "Yes. Hunt will help. Clear mind-thoughts."
We moved away from the camp in silence, walking until we were far enough that our transformation wouldn't wake the others. The change came easier now than it once had, my bodyflowing from human to dragon form with practiced ease. My wings stretched wide as I took to the air, Sirrax rising beside me on powerful beats that sent wind rushing through the trees below.
Better,his voice whispered in my mind as we soared over the darkened landscape. In dragon form, our mental connection was stronger, more intimate.Flying helps always.
Tell me more about what you sensed,I said, banking toward a valley where we might find deer or elk grazing in the moonlight.This bond-mate of hers.
Dark-touched,Sirrax replied, his mental voice carrying undertones of unease.Magic-user. Shadow-magic. Cold-magic. Eats at mind-thoughts.
Shadow magic. That explained the darkness I'd sensed in the dream, the way my dream-self's skin had seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. "The Talfen shadow mage," I said. “The one who took her?”
Yes. Possible. Shadow magic uncommon. But this one... broken by it. Magic makes mad-thoughts worse.
We flew in contemplative silence for a while, scanning the landscape below for signs of prey.There,Sirrax's voice drew my attention to a clearing below where a small herd of deer grazed in the moonlight.Good hunting.
We circled once, assessing the terrain and wind direction. Hunting in dragon form was both easier and more challenging than hunting as a human. Easier because of our speed and aerial advantage, harder because of our size—stealth was not a dragon's natural strength.
You take the far side,I told Sirrax.Drive them toward me.
He banked away without reply, his dark form nearly invisible against the night sky. I positioned myself downwind of the herd and began my descent, keeping my wings spread wide to mufflethe sound. The deer were alert but not yet alarmed, their heads lifting occasionally to scan for danger.
The hunt was swift and brutal. Sirrax's sudden appearance sent the deer fleeing directly toward my position. I dropped from the sky like a stone, my claws closing around a young buck before it could change direction. The kill was clean—a quick snap of my jaws and it was over.
But as I fed, tearing into the warm flesh with savage satisfaction, I found myself thinking of the man from my dream. The way he'd held Livia down, the calculated precision of his movements, the cruel satisfaction in his eyes. In my mind, the deer became him, and I imagined my claws and teeth finding more human prey.
Dark thoughts,Sirrax observed, settling beside his own kill. Blood stained his muzzle, and his golden eyes reflected the moonlight like twin flames.Thinking of bond-rival.
Is that what he is?I asked, though I already knew the answer.A rival?
All males are rivals for female-mate,Sirrax said pragmatically.Is dragon way. Is human way too, though humans pretend otherwise.
