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A ground crawler, who’s smelled blood, quickly inches closer, its stinger already poised for attack.It’s small enough for Kian to flick it away.The crawler, a leechlike species that’s not easily deterred, dives for the few drops of blood that have already drained into the soil.It swiftly vacuums up the sand.The crawler has the ability to filter blood from anything and to secrete the undigested waste material.It can even swallow stones.We let the small vulture be.Let it suck up whatever it wants as long as it doesn’t interfere with our fight.

Kian circles me.I can tell from his labored breaths that his cracked ribs are bothering him, but he doesn’t show pain.For what he did, he deserves a lot worse.

“You endangered my mate,” I snarl, storming him again.

I ram headfirst into his stomach but not before he thwacks me on the nape.

“It was necessary,” he throws back at me.

I take up a defensive position.“You don’t get to make that call.”

“The people need to learn to trust her.She has to make a place for herself in Lona, and she can’t do that if you keep her locked away.”

“That’s dragon shit.”I sneer.“Don’t pretend to care about how Elsie is settling in.Caring about others isn’t your style.You never do anything for anyone unless it serves your own purposes.”

He picks up a handful of sand and throws it in my face.For a moment, I’m blinded, but I hear the sand crunching under his boots as he sneaks to the side.The arm he pulls back is nothing but a wisp that displaces the air, yet I feel the movement.My enhanced senses pick up his subtle inhale as he fills his lungs with air before striking.

I’m ready, catching his fist in my palm and restraining him in the vise of my hold as I hit him hard enough on the side of his head to see stars.

While he comes to his senses, I wipe the dust from my eyes.Kian is breathing hard, staring at me with unconcealed animosity—a rare display of emotion for my brother.

I walk right up to him, putting us chest to chest.“If anything had happened to Elsie, this fight wouldn’t end with you crying defeat.It would end with you dead.”

He holds my gaze without blinking.“There are more ways to lose someone than in death.”

The statement is like scratching at a festering thorn under my skin.I’ve been fretting over losing Elsie since the moment she came back into my life.

“She’s mine,” I growl in his face.“No one and nothing will take her away from me again.”

His swollen lips lift in one corner.“Are you sure about that, brother?”

I grab him by the collar of his tunic.“What the dragon is that supposed to mean?I’ll kill anyone who tries.”

He watches me with a steady gaze.“Even Elsie herself?”

His meaning hits me between the eyes.“She won’t leave.”Because I won’t let her.

His expression turns pitying.“You can lock a pixie dragon in a cage and pretend you can tame it as much as you like, but the moment you open that cage, you know what’s going to happen.”

Fury rises like lava inside me.For good measure, I punch him again.He doesn’t even try to deflect the blow.He takes it stoically, all the while staring me down.

“You did not take Elsie to the village to do her or me a favor.”I let him go and ball my hands at my sides to prevent myself from strangling him.“You did that just because you could, because you like to provoke me.”

“You and your big ego.”His smile turns condescending.“Everything isn’t always about you, Aruan.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Her loyalty had to be tested,” he replies evenly.

The anger that surfaces isn’t like molten lava this time.It’s cold and lethal.“What did you say to me?”He dared to test Elsie as if she’s a simpleton, some experiment, and not with the respect owed tomy mate?

“We needed to know how she’d react in a crisis, if she’d make the right choices.”

“Right choices?”My laugh is scornful.“You mean if she’d run away or help you.”

“We needed to know the extent of her power.”

I pull my eyes into slits.“You endangered Elsie to submit her to atest?You went against my will and explicit orders.”I raise my voice loud enough to make the small winged dragons scatter from the trees.“You masked her mind and prevented me from feeling her through our bond.For that alone, I can kill you.”