Page 19 of Heart of Chaos (Chaosborn #1)

Chapter nineteen

Arik

The pounding of Chaos lessened to a steady thrum as the Rift sealed, locking the unbonded dragons away for another decade.

Including Ragnar’s mate.

I didn’t have time to consider the repercussions of Eisa choosing me, not while she lay unconscious in my arms, Baldur pacing in my head frantically like we might lose her.

“You!”

I looked up from Eisa’s limp body to find Einar striding toward me with fury in his eyes. He was bare like me, his muscles flexing in the blue light of the Rift. “That bitch!”

The last words came out as a roar as he shifted, Ragnar’s scaly body bursting forth with what I knew to be murderous intent.

I didn’t hesitate, tucking Eisa safely beneath me as Baldur exploded. Shining white scales and claws formed a barrier between Ragnar and his prey, and Baldur stretched his wings wide to shield Eisa from the blast of fire intended to end her life.

You do not touch her! Baldur roared, shooting his own white-hot flame at Ragnar in response. You know the ancient laws! She is mine now. If you touch her, your life is forfeit.

Ragnar snarled, and I wished not for the first time that I could understand what other dragons said. He hissed and spit, his wings flapping behind him as he tried to dart his jaws around Baldur’s body to get to our mate. He lunged for us again, and Baldur struck, raking a claw across the other dragon’s snout. Ragnar screamed as blood poured from the gash, another scar to add to his collection.

Touch her and fucking die!

The other white dragon panted, his eyes furious as he took in Baldur and weighed his odds. But Baldur was their king, and he yielded to no one, dragon nor man.

I felt the moment Ragnar’s fury slipped into terror. The moment Baldur prepared a killing blow that would turn the other dragon’s bones to ash on the ice.

With a screech, Ragnar flapped his great wings and took off into the night. Several other drage followed while others stayed behind to tend to the Chaosborn who had bonded or fallen during the Rifting.

I didn’t have the patience for any of them, or to calculate casualties as Baldur wrapped his body around Eisa’s to keep her warm.

My mate.

Mine , Baldur roared, lifting his jaws high in a jet of fire that sent the surrounding dragons scrambling. He hissed in warning as familiar footsteps crunched toward us.

“Easy, Baldur. It’s just me.” Revna circled us carefully, her hands outstretched in surrender as she allowed Kindra’s golden eyes to shine through her own. “Let us help you.”

Baldur settled a fraction, his blood still hot with panic and rage.

Revna took a step toward Eisa, and Baldur covered her with his wings, emitting a low snarl I’d never heard him direct at a member of our reirhold. “Just let me help get her on your back.”

Baldur still growled, but Kindra must have spoken some sense into him. He finally allowed Revna to get close enough to wrap Eisa in more furs for the journey back.

I was not in a much better state than Baldur. His primal instinct to protect had taken over wholly, and I could barely think straight over the pounding of his heart and the panic writhing in his chest.

Will she live? I asked, afraid of what the answer might be. Can you feel her?

Barely. He snarled in fury as other members of our reirhold approached to help.

“Not too close,” Revna commanded, putting a hand up to stop them. “He’s rather feral at the moment, and I’m sure Arik would prefer you keep your heads.”

Baldur snarled as he lowered his head so Revna could settle Eisa on his back.

They’re our reirhold, I reminded him, not sure how to deal with Baldur like this. I’d never felt him so primal—so completely unhinged. He was ready to burn the world if it meant protecting his mate. Our family .

She is my family . She is all that matters.

What name did she give? I asked, hoping to distract him as Revna secured Eisa between Baldur’s wing joints.

This is unnecessary. I would rather die than let her fall.

What name, Baldur?

Idunn, he said, his voice growing more soft and reverent. Her name is Idunn.

Everlasting. It’s a good name.

It is.

Revna barely had time to get out of his path as Baldur flapped his wings without warning and shot into the sky.

For five days, the fever had her.

Try as he might, Baldur wasn’t able to get through to either Idunn or Eisa as her body fought the transition.

I remembered feeling like I was dying and being reborn all at once, puking my guts up one moment while wracked with shivers the next.

Eisa’s transition was much the same as she thrashed in my bed, sweat making her hair cling to her as she moaned and vomited and screamed intermittently.

Baldur prowled like a caged beast in my mind, and I wasn’t much better. I felt utterly helpless, unable to leave her side but incapable of easing her suffering.

I held her, trying to keep her warm when she shivered and pressing cool cloths to her brow when she burned with fever.

And then the thrashing stopped and the scratching began, great flakes of skin sloughing from her in bloody scabs as her body rebuilt itself from the inside.

Take her into the pool, Baldur suggested, growling at my incompetence. Do you remember nothing?

Why don’t you come out and do it yourself if you’re so wise? I snarled, scooping her up and carrying her into the hot spring.

Revna had taken her clothes on the first day, tucking her modestly under the furs at my insistence. Carrying her naked body into the pool felt like a flagrant invasion of her minimal privacy.

I’m too big to fit , he growled, sounding incredibly annoyed at this fact.

I hissed as the hot water hit me, still wearing my clothes as I submerged us. It was the least I could do to honor my promise that I wouldn’t touch her without permission.

“Stop scratching, Kj?re,” I reprimanded, holding her wrists as she writhed and tried to tear away her skin. “You’ll bleed to death before you heal.”

“It hurts.” Her whimpered voice was fragile, but I felt a wave of relief wash over me at the sound.

“I know. This will help.”

She hissed, then sighed as the hot water closed over her, and I settled myself on one of the benches carved into the side of the pool as I cradled her limp body in my arms.

I smoothed her sweat-damp hair back from her face. She would need to wash it after the transformation was complete. I could already see flakes of scalp attempting to escape the mass of midnight strands.

“What’s happening to me?”

“It’s the transition. You bonded a dragon, and now your body is rebuilding itself.”

“It hurts.” She curled into me, unaware or too sick to care about her state, and I wrapped my arms more tightly around her.

“I know. It will be over soon.”

“You kissed me.”

My heart gave a little thump as her head rested against my shoulder. I let myself have one touch, a single caress of a finger against her cheek. “I did.”

You’ll tire her out if you keep talking, Baldur growled angrily. I want to speak with my mate as well, you know.

I felt his anxiety and fear, and tried not to snap back at him. I had been able to hold Eisa in my arms for days. Weeks, really. Baldur hadn’t been this close to his mate in twenty years, and yet he still wasn’t able to speak to her.

I know, my friend. I’m sorry.

Baldur huffed in annoyance, continuing to prowl endlessly around my mind.

When will she be ready to shift? I asked.

Not until Eisa is, he replied darkly. It took you a week to build up the courage to do it, and she’s more fragile than you were even at the worst of the transition.

And what news from the other drage?

I don’t know , he huffed. Nor do I care.

I rolled my eyes, trying to keep a leash on my patience. Ask Kindra to report in then, you stubborn bastard.

Don’t let her soak for too long, Baldur warned as he reluctantly withdrew to reach out to Kindra.

I was just settling Eisa back into bed when Revna knocked on my door.

“Are you decent?” She shouted.

Baldur growled, his instinct to keep Revna far away from his mate. It took a great deal of internal battle to get him to let me open the door.

“Baldur is being a bit twitchy,” I explained, holding the door open only a crack. “You can’t come in.”

“Gods above, mates are the absolute worst,” Revna groaned, leaning against the opposite wall with her arms folded against her chest. “First it’s Jorgen and Branka unable to look away from each other for more than three seconds, and now Baldur won’t even let me speak to you.”

“Spare me the details,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose in exhaustion. I glanced back over my shoulder to check that Eisa was well. She was tossing and turning under the blankets, her face scrunched up in pain. “Tell me only what I absolutely need to know.”

“Einar is pissed, which you already knew. Luckily, dragon law is keeping him away for now. Ragnar’s smart enough to know Baldur would kill him on sight, and the other reirleders are keeping him at bay during the transition period. But you won’t have much longer before Einar stops listening to reason. He’s called a trial for you in a week. Justice for your ‘flagrant defiance of rank and order’. ”

“Wonderful.” I wasn’t sure Eisa would be fit in a week. “And the Chaosborn?”

“Ten of the new recruits bonded, aside from Eisa,” Revna said a little proudly. “Two of the lordlings didn’t make it. One fell into the Rift, and another succumbed to the Chaos.”

“Good.” Einar would be furious that the noble-born sons were the ones too stupid or too weak to bond. “And the others?”

“Twenty of the unbonded. One white, five golds, the rest bronzes.”

“Who is the white?”

“Arne, from last Dragejakt. Been working in the forges since the last Rifting. He’s the only one still transitioning. The rest all made it through.”

I grunted. Arne was a good man. He’d make a fine reirleder. It was also a relief to know that no one had died in the transition.

“And you?”

Revna shook her head. “Not this time.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged, as if the fact that Kindra’s mate still languished in their dying world didn’t bother her. “Did Ragnar really try to kill Eisa?” She asked as she tried to crane her neck to look over my shoulder. Baldur bristled instantly. “Gods, he really is primal right now.”

“I’m handling it,” I said through gritted teeth as Baldur tried to drag me back into the room. I was itching to get back to Eisa, but I needed to know the lay of the land so I could figure out how to keep her safe. Einar couldn’t kill her any more than Ragnar could–not without good reason. To kill another dragon was the worst sin of dragonkind, and the penalty was certain death, usually a fiery, remorseless one. But this knowledge didn’t stop Baldur from growling at the thought. “And yes. I’ll handle that too, when the time comes. Anything else?”

“Yes.” She lifted a crate from the ground I hadn’t noticed and pushed it into my arms, bracing Baldur’s wrath. “It’s food and medicine,” she said, hands raised as Baldur’s eyes glowered through my own. “And salve for the shedding, which I’m guessing has already begun. You look like you took a swim with all your clothes on.”

“Thanks,” I replied, trying not to growl and failing miserably.

Revna rolled her eyes and pushed off the walls. “I’ll be back in two days to make sure neither of you have died. Do me a favor and leave a belt on the door handle when she goes into heat. I’d rather not walk in on you.”

She waved irreverently as I restrained Baldur.

It was a joke.

She goes too far!

You’re out of your gods-damned mind right now. I wrestled him back down, half frustrated and half amused. Get a grip.

Baldur grudgingly settled, and I mollified him by bolting the door shut and wedging a chair against the handle for good measure.