Page 23 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

I closed my eyes, trying to escape his pleading eyes and only found myself alone in my mind where I knew on an instinctual level I should feel him beside me.

It felt just wrong.

But if I allowed him in, everything would change. It wasn’t just the flying thing. My life had a purpose, I had duties and this was going to throw it all off. Everything I’ve worked for and everything I was responsible for.

As I began to spiral, I felt it.

His hand slipped into mine, and at the same time, his thoughts brushed against the closed door of my mind.

I shivered.

The feeling of rightness at the gentle caress of his presence in my mind made me loosen my hold for a moment, and when I heard him there, I knew things would never be the same again.

“Thank you for telling me, Kiera.”

ELEVEN

JAXUS

“Thank you for telling me, Kiera,”I hesitated, I didn’t want to spook her now that she had let me in. And we needed this if we were going to overcome her fear and fly together.

There was a moment when I thought she wouldn’t reply, but then her thoughts were there and it hit me like the rush of soaring on the wind. I had to close my eyes to prevent the swell of emotional relief I felt from showing.

“I can’t believe this is my life,”she huffed in my mind, half in frustration, half in wonder. But I’d take acceptance in any form.

“It’s not a future I thought would be mine either, but I think it could be really amazing if we embrace it together.”

There was a pause and I opened my eyes to find her watching me. Her hands were still safe in mine and I didn’t want to let go.

“So what now?”she asked, mind to mind, and I struggled tohide my joy that she was sitting beside me, her hands touching mine, and yet she chose to use our bond to speak the words to me.

“Now I show you that you can trust me,”I replied decisively.

Her face fell, but I didn’t give her time to argue. I stood, pulling her to her feet. She snatched her hands away, balling them up and tucking them into her armpits to stop me from getting them back.“No way. I’m not flying Jaxus.”

“I’m not going to push you to fly. I just want to show you how you can trust me.”

She eyed me untrustingly.

I held my hand to my heart.“I swear. This is not a trick to make you fly. You have my word.”

I held out my hand and after a moment of hesitation, she took it.

We walked in tense silence along the corridors and up two flights of stairs to the lowest landing in this part of the palace.

Kiera dug her heels in at the doors. “You said no flying.” she accused.

“No flying.” I reiterated.

“Then why do we need to go out there?”

I slipped into her mind once more, looking deep into her eyes as I did, delighted to find it still open to me.“Trust me, please?”

Her look said, ‘fine, but if you try anything, I’ll kill you in your sleep.’ Her mind stayed quiet. I think the look was sufficient, though, to be honest. She was a firecracker, my ryder.

She allowed me to open the door and lead her out onto the landing. She stayed just outside the doors, still some twenty feet from the edge. These landings were vast. They were built to take dragons, after all.

I dropped her hand and went to the hooks on the wall to get some rope. Then, dragged the bench seat away from the wall and over to a few feet from the edge.