Page 14 of Heart of Chaos (Chaosborn #1)

Chapter fourteen

Arik

Eisa was silent on the flight back, her face pressed to Baldur’s neck as he flew us back to Ironholm. Several hours must have passed since we’d left that morning, as the sun was already sinking below the horizon and turning the icy plain to a bloody orange.

She hadn’t been able to speak to Baldur’s mind again when I’d shifted to fly us out of the cavern, insisting that she had no idea how she’d done it in the first place.

How? I asked again, pushing the dragon to give me a proper answer this time. The silver spark of connection between us had faded, and as much as I clawed at the place it had been, I couldn’t get it to return.

She is something new. Something different, he replied tiredly as he banked toward Ironholm. The wound in our side and neck was already closing, the jotnar’s poisoned blade having only grazed Baldur upon Eisa screaming his name inside our head. It is not surprising that her gifts would also be new and different.

How are you so calm about this? She did something unprecedented for any drage in over two millennia. Did you know she could do it? Before now?

No. But I am not surprised.

I frowned in Baldur’s mind, trying to ignore the feeling of Eisa’s hands digging painfully into Baldur’s neck in fear as he picked up speed. Do you think she can speak to others? Or just you? Could she speak over long distances?

I do not know. We should test it.

Fucking hells, Baldur. This changes everything. If she can do this…

I didn’t need to finish the thought, as Baldur rumbled in agreement. The dragons could speak to each other, and we could speak with our soul-bonded dragons. I had never heard of another drage or Chaosborn speaking to a dragon other than their bonded partner. If Eisa could speak to Baldur, perhaps she could speak to the other dragons as well.

It would change everything.

There’s trouble, Baldur growled, his voice going distant as it did when he was speaking to other dragons. Einar.

Of fucking course.

Baldur dropped as we neared the keep, and Eisa gripped his neck more tightly as we crossed the threshold of my preferred aerie, the iron singing through us and dulling the Chaos.

Baldur landed and triggered the door, which shut out the freezing wind as Eisa slid stiffly from his back and carefully down his leg before stepping away several paces.

“You’re still bleeding,” she pointed out as I harnessed Baldur and shrank back into myself. The wounds had frozen over during the flight, but they reopened with the shift, and I grunted in annoyance as I wrapped a fur around my waist.

“Again, irony,” I said, striding for the small box of medical supplies that was kept stocked for injured drage. I pulled a roll of bandages from the box and wrapped it haphazardly around my middle. The bleeding would stop soon, when Baldur had the time to rest and replenish his magic, but I dug around for something I could use to cover the wound on my neck in the meantime.

I glanced up at her. She looked more pale than usual, and I wondered if the Chaos had taken a toll as we’d returned over the Rift. Baldur had flown as fast and as straight as possible, but she looked queasy nonetheless. “Are you alright?”

She nodded in that quiet way of hers, and approached without scolding me about my lack of clothes for once. “Let me.”

She took the bandages from my hand, folding them into a pad that she pressed against the wound in my neck, then secured it in place with a second roll from the supply box, winding the bandage over my chest and shoulder so as not to constrict my breathing. I watched her work in silence, my breathing more shallow than I had intended.

“Thank you,” I said, catching her hands before she could step back. I knew she would grow sharp little teeth if provoked, and like some small, skittish creature, I needed to move carefully so as not to frighten her. I held her hands gently but firmly against my chest, scanning her face to make sure she wasn’t about to pass out again. “You did well with the odemarksdyr. I should have said it sooner.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she replied, cheeks flushing as she looked away.

I let her go, satisfied that she was steady enough to stand on her own. “You didn’t faint or run or throw your guts up. I’d say that’s something.”

“A high bar indeed,” she joked, shivering as she wrapped her arms around herself. “What now?”

“Now, you’re going to eat a meal,” I replied, gesturing to the hallway. “Then sleep. You still look pale.”

“And you?”

“I need to get dressed,” I said, gesturing to the fur around my middle. “And see Einar.”

“To tell him how spectacularly I failed at withstanding the Rift?”

I frowned down at her, wishing I didn’t need my good hand to hold the fur around my waist. “Whatever happens between you and me stays between us, Kj?re. I expect the same discretion from you.”

She nodded once, but didn’t smile or otherwise acknowledge what I said. Fine. She still didn’t trust me. Hadn’t made up her mind about bonding Baldur’s mate. There was really nothing more I could do or say to convince her with the Rifting in only a week.

“Arik, I…”

She hesitated, then stiffened as Baldur growled in recognition of the man who had just entered the aerie.

I immediately took a step away from Eisa.

“Well, well,” drawled Einar. Revna and Jorgen were with him, both looking grim and both giving me looks that told me to keep my mouth shut about what Eisa and I had been doing in the Odemark.

Baldur growled in warning. This isn’t good.

“Dragehersker,” I said, nodding tightly as I folded my arms and leaned against the door frame. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’d like to know why your reirhold returned to Ironholm over eight hours ago without their reirleder.” Einar gave Eisa a look of pure hatred, and she visibly bristled, freezing like a statue as she stared blankly ahead. A defense mechanism, I guessed. One she had developed when dealing with Henrik.

One I’d seen the first time she met me.

Baldur growled protectively, and I had to clench my jaw to keep it from escaping my lips.

I shrugged, making sure I didn’t look directly at Eisa. Insolence and disinterest had always been the mask I wore before Einar. Better he think me a spoiled, selfish princeling than what I actually was.

“We ran into some jotnar. As you can see, they did some damage.” I indicated my neck, where I was fairly certain blood was seeping through the bandages. “Baldur needed time to heal before he could fly us out.”

“And you didn’t think to have him send word to Ragnar or any of your own reirhold?”

“With respect, Dragehersker—” Revna cut in.

“I’m speaking with the reirleder,” Einar growled, eyes still fixed on me.

I considered him a moment. “Didn’t think you’d miss me so much.”

Jorgen stifled a laugh, but the way Eisa tensed in the corner of my vision told me she was bracing for a blow.

He will not touch her , Baldur roared.

“You’re dismissed,” Einar said, turning to Eisa. “Get yourself cleaned up and report for training in the morning.”

She nodded, turning away from me with her eyes downcast.

Fucking look up, I begged her silently. Fucking defy him.

She stilled as if she had heard me, which I would have thought was impossible until that morning, and looked up, eyes blue chips of ice against the pale snow of her skin.

But she didn’t look at Einar. She looked at me, and I could swear there was something like concern in her eyes.

“Since we seem to have such trouble with the jotnar, you’d better take your reirhold to investigate,” Einar said, once Eisa’s footsteps had faded enough that she was likely out of earshot. “To the Peripheries. Patrol the perimeter and report back. Leave tonight.”

Jorgen made a sound of protest. “But sir, the Rifting—”

“Will carry on without you all,” Einar said coolly, looking between the three of us with a sneer. “There’s nothing for you at the Rifting anyway. I’ll send Tormund and Aegir with you to assist . Am I understood?”

I ground my teeth hard enough I thought one might crack. “Understood.”

“I expect regular reports,” he added, turning his back to us.

I held my tongue long enough for Revna and Jorgen to push me back into my chambers before the roar of fury escaped.

He’s trying to claim her!

It was Baldur’s voice as much as my own, and I knew my eyes were his draconic slits as fury rode him to shift.

“He won’t have her,” Revna insisted, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We can get you back in time for the Rifting.”

“We’ll have minutes of notice at most,” Jorgen argued, flopping heavily onto my bed. The look I gave him must have been terrifying, because he quickly scrambled off it. “We have less than a week, and it will take at least that long to get to the Peripheries, never mind getting back.”

“We’re not going to the Peripheries,” I growled, my voice almost human again as I held Baldur back.

“What about Einar’s dogs?” Jorgen asked. Tormund and Aegir were two of the oldest reirleders, and completely loyal to Einar. Both were mated, and neither had a great interest in the upcoming Rifting, which meant they were perfect spies. They’d have their dragons report directly back to Ragnar and make sure I did as I was told.

“We’ll handle them.”

“What’s your plan?” Revna’s voice was cool and steady, as it always was when heading into battle. I was grateful for her steady strength when Baldur felt like ripping the world to shreds.

“To go find Einar some jotnar.”