Page 26 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)

Kirana’s eyes flashed gold. “Naga. Do you have a problem with that?”

Cai had shifted back and leaned over Kirana, examining Doric for himself, but there was a possessive bent to his looming.

Doric shook his head, his eyes still mildly dazed.

“Where’s Elinor?” I asked quietly, taking a step forward. There was something to that look in his eye I didn’t like. Not battle-rage, nor the comedown, but something else.

He laughed, a blood bubble forming on his lips. “Gone.”

“She’s dead?” Kirana asked sharply.

“No.” He licked his mouth, wincing. “I broke the bond.”

“Gods.” Kirana leaned back on her haunches and made the sign of Naimah over her chest.

“This is nothing compared to that.” He tried to move a hand, and managed a few twitches of his fingers. “It was the worst thing…I’ve ever felt. Agony. Even if I loathed her.”

“You’re lucky you survived,” Kirana snapped, and she and Cai carefully picked Doric up under the armpits, heaving him upward.

So he’d come in a state of bond-brokenness. I wondered if he’d already been on the way, still drunk with confusion and pain after the breaking, when Mykah met him with a message.

He’ll pull through . Rhylan sounded like he wanted to convince himself. He’ll be fine in a few days.

He will , I said firmly. He knows who we are, and who he is. That seems a good sign to me.

We followed them to the healer’s chamber, where Kirana had laid Doric on a long cot, and was already preparing a steaming cauldron. The scent of cleansing herbs filled the air. Cai leaned against a cabinet, his arms crossed as he watched.

She ladled water into a bowl and brought it to Doric’s side, calmly and dispassionately rinsing blood from his wounds. As they appeared, we saw how shallow they were; he had bled a lot, but he wasn’t seriously injured. A few days of rest and extra meat on his plate would repair him.

“Why did you break the bond?” she asked, wiping blood from his shoulder.

Doric closed his eyes, and a sigh slipped out. “I’ve never liked her.”

“Some people grow to form a good friendship around a bond.”

“Like you’d do that?” He raised one eyebrow.

“No,” Kirana admitted. “I’d break a bond if I didn’t love the dragon.”

“There you have it. I’ve never liked her, let alone loved her. And after what she did…” He closed his eyes again, and when he opened them, they focused on Rhylan. “I’m your friend. I’m on your side. This Interregnum made me see that…there were choices to be made. And I didn’t want to make hers.”

“So you’re fine with us breaking the Law?” Rhylan asked evenly. “You’re fine with Kirana being Naga?”

I glanced at him questioningly; Doric was one of his best friends, and he’d said he trusted Doric with his life.

You can’t be too sure , Rhylan said in my mind, bitterly. That’s what the Interregnum brought us to. That I have to question the dragon whose hands I trust with my life.

Then trust him , I said.

And if he is doing this for Elinor? Coming to our eyrie, seeing if the rumors are true?

Then let him take the news back. We don’t want Kirana to hide forever. We want her to live openly. And whether that comes out now or later is of no importance.

“I don’t give a damn.” Doric sucked in a breath as Kirana touched a deeper wound on his arm. “Be a Naga. Break the Law. I’m here on your side, and I’m in your Court.”

Kirana suddenly snorted. “You hate Chantrelle that much, hmm?”

“You try having her as your mother-draga,” he said, without enough energy to actually snap at her.

“Their whole House is a fucking nightmare. She drove out Maristela, the only sane one in there, and then she tried to set up her spoiled youngest like the second coming of Naimah. Elinor’s betrayal was the last coal for me. I can’t do it anymore.”

“Then you’re welcome here. Always were, still are.” Rhylan crossed to the cot, grinning, and held out his hand. Doric gripped it, leaving smears of blood, but when he looked up at Rhylan…

Oh. I understood then why he hadn’t loved Elinor.

We don’t speak of it . Rhylan’s voice was an undertone in my mind. Not until he wants to.

I tipped my head in the barest of nods. It was expected that a dragon would find a draga; among the elders, it was considered unseemly to avoid a mate bond if a dragon might prefer dragons, or a draga other draga.

Sometimes they came right out with it, enduring their elders’ scorn, but others preferred to make their way quietly, keeping it to themselves.

He doesn’t feel that way for me. I think…it’s just because I didn’t turn him away when I found out.

I won’t judge him , I promised. It was Doric’s business.

Rhylan released his hand, and Doric grimaced at the blood on it. “You got Mykah’s message?”

Doric frowned. “No. I thought I saw her, but…I also thought I was dreaming. I think…I was half mad.”

“You saw her.” I brought a fresh bowl of water to Kirana, swapping it with the bloodied one. “When did you break your bond?”

Doric shook his head. “A few days ago, maybe. I wanted to break it, but it still felt like my mind was shattering. I don’t know what was real, and what wasn’t.”

So he’d already been on his way to us. There was no sign of Mykah now; I wondered if, with Doric safely delivered, she’d already taken off for the Mourning Fangs.

I should’ve forbidden her to go until we were sure the Iron Shards were gone, but that was my fault. I’d been afraid we’d lose Doric to a fall, still feeling guilty and bloodsoaked after watching the riders die.

“I dreamed of Elinor,” he said, speaking softly as though to himself. “She was jabbing me in the spine with a white-hot poker, over and over. I don’t think it was real.”

“Breaking bonds can cause intense hallucinations.” Kirana sponged his chest, and I saw Cai from the corner of my eye, struggling to hold back a growl.

“You should’ve been in the presence of a healer, someone who could help you ride it out.

Even if you wanted to do it, breaking a bond can still fracture the mind. ”

“It was then or never,” he said grimly. “I was blocked from her mind, but I felt her in mine, all the time. Digging around like a rat, getting into things that didn’t…didn’t concern her.”

We all sighed a little in sympathy. I couldn’t blame Doric at all; like him, I’d risk insanity or death to escape a dragon who felt like a jailer to me.

“Oh, I would’ve done the same,” Kirana echoed. “All I’m saying is that you’re blessed to be in one piece.”

“And just in time for the bonding ceremony.” Rhylan gifted him with his good-natured grin.

Doric closed his eyes, huffing. “Damn. And I brought nothing to wear.”