Page 18 of Heart of Chaos (Chaosborn #1)

Chapter eighteen

Eisa

Ragnar dropped me in the snow just feet from the Rift, which was pulsing blue and sending out waves of Chaos that instantly made blood drip from my nose, painting the white snow red.

Other drage flew in, some with Chaosborn on their backs or gripped in their claws, and I was thankful that Einar had at least given me time to climb onto his back.

The sound of Chaos, which was a pounding hum this close to the Rifting, drowned out all other noise.

“Remember, girl,” Einar shouted, gripping my chin as blood spilled over my lips and down his knuckles. He was completely bare, but my eyes didn’t leave his as they bored into mine, still Ragnar’s yellow slits. “No one can protect you if you defy me. Not even your precious reirleder. Do as I say, and your slut of a friend won’t have to pay the price.”

He tossed me roughly away, and the Chaos made it too difficult to get up. I saw one of the other reirleders bring him a fur cloak that he wrapped around himself as he stood back to watch the proceedings.

I hadn’t had time to change into a warmer cloak or jacket, and my fingers and toes were already going numb.

“Eisa!” Branka ran toward me, throwing her arms around me. She was wrapped up in her fur cloak, and she quickly unclasped it and threw it over me, using one corner to staunch the bleeding. “Hearthmother above, I didn’t know if you’d make it.”

“Who brought you?” I asked, teeth chattering as I selfishly tried to soak in her warmth.

“Several reirleders ordered us to fly with them. Not all the Chaosborn made it though. It happened too quickly. The whole dining hall went mad!” She held me tighter, looking to the skies rather than the pulsating Rift. I knew she hoped Jorgen would somehow be here in time.

Gods, I hoped so too.

“Arik will be furious.” I shivered, looking up at the sky as well in the hopes of seeing a sparkling white dragon flying overhead. “This wasn’t supposed to happen for six more days.”

“He’ll be more angry if you freeze to death,” she replied, warming my hands in hers. “Eisa, do you have any idea what we do next? What actually happens?”

I shook my head, and she narrowed her eyes resolutely. “Then we weather it together. Hand in hand, like we survived Henrik’s.”

The ground rumbled, pieces of the edge of the Rift falling into the widening chasm below. Drage and Chaosborn alike skittered back, though one of the lordlings who had trained with us didn’t make it in time. His scream as he fell was abruptly cut off, and I closed my eyes as I tried not to be sick.

“Hearthmother protect us,” Branka murmured, pulling me backward to put more distance between us and the otherworldly force that was now barreling from the chasm in great waves of azure light. “Whatever happens, Eisa, I’m glad you’re with me.”

“Me too,” I replied, squeezing her hands and shutting my eyes tightly against the blinding flashes of blue.

The ground shook again, and I gasped as blinding pain hit me. Branka screamed as a hundred other voices rose in howls of agony, and then suddenly went silent.

The Rift stilled.

Tentatively, I opened my eyes and I looked around. I knew I was sitting in the snow with Branka’s arms around me. I could feel her there, shivering in the cold. But somehow there was nothing around me but blue light as I floated in place, time seeming to stand still as bright flashes of light danced around a jagged black fissure in the blue void.

Hello human.

She burns blue.

Choose me, human.

This one is mine!

Voices, ancient and eternal, male and female, rose around me, the thoughts flashing brightly across my mind in shades of gold and bronze and white. The dragons, I realized, blinking as the bright shapes of pure Chaos frantically flew around me. They moved in an otherworldly dance, some stopping to inspect me and prod at me while others gave me one look and abandoned me entirely.

What was I doing here, again? I was going to have to choose…something. The world was beginning to blur, and I had to blink to focus on the streaks of light as they shot around and past me.

And then I saw her—a streak of blue the same color as my eyes. A river of deepest azure washed across my mind.

Hello, drageling. Are you mine?

I don’t know, I replied, dipping my consciousness tentatively into the blue rapids of awareness. I have to choose…something.

You do, she replied, her form coalescing into a dancing blue column before me. If I show you my soul, will you accept it?

She is mine! came the hissing voice of a white streak of light that sparked in her fury, whipping around the blue column as if to attack her. Her voice was far more harsh and terrifying than the blue light, her energy frantic and violent. My mate has chosen her for me.

As has mine, replied the blue calmly. Do you not bow to your queen?

Queen? I asked.

It is unimportant, hissed the white. Choose, girl. Every second you delay, the Rift begins to close. Your life drains from you as we speak.

I looked down to find a pool of red floating around me, the blood leaking from my nose and eyes and tips of my fingers. I wiped away red tears as I felt inside myself and found she was right. The Chaos was killing me—slowly fracturing every bone and muscle and blood vessel as it ripped me apart from the inside.

I can fix you, the blue dragon said, her voice the calm of the sea before a storm. The eye before all hell poured loose upon the world. Look into my soul, drageling.

I don’t know how! I shouted, panic consuming me as I felt my life leaking into the snow. I don’t know what to do!

The blue light coalesced into the incorporeal snout of a dragon that pressed against my forehead. Just will it to be, and it shall.

Do not! Screamed the white.

But it was too late. The blue felt warm and safe and sure, and I was so cold. So tired and broken. I reached into her and felt love and hope and strength. So much strength and fire that it could burn down the world.

I felt how lonely she had been. How desperate to return home. To her mate. To Baldur.

The white dragon crackled around me, hissing and spitting. Feel my soul, little human. Feel my power!

But the blue dragon nuzzled against me, surrounding me in her power like a shield against the world.

Do you accept? Her voice asked from inside my own head.

She does not! The white screamed.

I’m coming, Eisa! It was Arik’s voice, and Baldur’s, as if both were single-mindedly trying to bring me home. To keep me alive. I felt them racing over the snow, their presence almost upon me as that moonlight bridge solidified into being, and I nearly sobbed in relief.

I accept.

The white dragon struck with a furious screech, power lashing through me like my limbs were ablaze. The agony nearly tore me apart as I resisted the onslaught of the white dragon.

I do not choose you, I told her, teeth gritted as I felt something latch on to my very soul and fill me with a white-hot flame that threatened to burn me alive.

The blue dragon’s voice blended with mine as I screamed again. I do not choose you!

With a final screech, the white dragon was forced back, light pulsing around me as the blue dragon and I became one. It was fire and light and pain and hope, and I felt sure I was dying as strong arms wrapped around me.

I thrashed, feeling Branka pulled away from me.

Jorgen has her, Baldur and Arik said. And we have you.

The blue dragon blazed pure and whole as she settled into my soul. I could feel her attempting to knit all the broken bits of me back together as Arik shouted something over the drowning noise of the Chaos that held me.

The edges of my vision went dark as the dragon settled into me, her thoughts a warm blanket over my battered soul. It was like finding a part of myself I hadn’t known was missing, and the dragon smiled in understanding, her form coalescing into shimmering white scales as she curled around my mind.

Hello, Eisa. My name is Idunn. And you are mine.

You are mine, I agreed as the world went wholly dark.