Page 41 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

Like she didn’t know.

Like she was unsure if she should end me or accept me.

Bonding with you is… concerning,her voice entered my mind like smoke curling around a blade.You have no concept of your power. There could come a day when you use it against me.

I blinked, stunned. “What? Kaelith, you could kill me in an instant.”

Now, yes.Her tone was quiet.But not once we are bonded. You can die, but not by me.

I sank down on a nearby rock, my limbs shaking harder now that the adrenaline had faded. My clothes were dry but my body ached.

And my soul… that hurt the worst.

“I would die before I did anything to hurt you,” I whispered.

The words spilled out too easily, and the truth of them settled around me like the river’s current, only heavier. The truth of it punched a hollow in my chest, because deep down, I knew…

Every relationship in my life had been one-sided.

I was always the one giving.

Always the one used.

I am not using you,Kaelith whispered in my mind, soft this time.

Not like a dragon.

Not like a soldier.

Like someone trying not to break me.

But she already had.

Take your seat, Ashlyn.

Kaelith’s voice echoed in my mind, quieter now. Not irritated. Not angry. But worn, like weathered stone that had held too many secrets for too long.

I stood, brushing mud from my palms, and approached her slowly. Her massive violet wings stretched wide to accommodatethe wind curling off the river, her gleaming scales catching fractured sunlight.

She dipped her head as I reached her, and I rested my hand on the ridge of her neck.

Then I mounted.

No ceremony. No flare of magic.

Just the quiet acknowledgment that, for now, we wouldtry.

Her wings unfurled fully with a gust of air that rattled the trees, and in the next heartbeat, we were airborne. The river vanished behind us, and the sky opened up like a second chance.

The ride back was long, the wind cool, the world quiet.

And her voice filled the silence between clouds.

I will tell you the story of my first rider.

I blinked against the wind.You had a rider?

Once.Her tone was thick with memory.A long time ago, before humans ruled the skies and before the guilds ever drew their first lines of power. She was fae. Strong. Brilliant. Born of starlight and ambition. I was drawn to her, not because she earned me, but because I wanted to believe someone could.