Page 32 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“Well, you mentioned flying. Of course I’m tense now! What did you expect?”

“I’ve honestly never seen this side of you before, Kiera. You grew up surrounded by dragons. What in all the kingdoms made you this afraid?”

I went from tense to rigid in a blink. Jaxus took three steps back, jostling me in the process, and I gripped his haunches in terror.

“Sorry,”he soothed in my head.“It’s a reflex, like Nyx said. Your fear is calling for a response from your bonded. I’m steady now. You can relax.”

“It’s being bonded—and all that comes with it—that iscausing my fear!” I hissed back. “Maybe we could reach an understanding? You go about your life and I’ll go about mine, and then none of my fears will make you feel any kind of way. Everyone wins.”

“You’ll have to make that kind of bargain with the Goddess herself, I’m afraid. I have no control over how she has entangled us.”

“I really don’t want to fly,” I moaned aloud, sighing heavily.

“You will,” Nyx and Zaria chorused, exchanging some looks when they realized they were being cute.

Jaxus growled, the sound vibrating right through me.

“Sorry, mate,” Nyx laughed. “She needs to know.”

“Know what?” I demanded.

Nyx and Jaxus stayed locked in some silent stare-off, not giving me an answer. Then Zaria got to her feet and swayed over to Nyx.

“That you will want to fly soon,” she sing-songed.

“Rubbish!”

“It’s true. You’ll want to and then before you know it, you need to.” She sighed wistfully. “There is nothing like flying with your mate—or your bonded, in your case. Trust me. Once you get over this nonsense, you’ll be up there every chance you get.”

“Doubtful,” I muttered.

Zaria hiccuped and Nyx put an arm around her, half steadying her, half indulging his need to touch her all the damned time.

I groaned. “Are we done here, or do I have to sit up here and watch you canoodle all night?”

“Depends,” Nyx replied. “How do you feel? And be honest with yourself.”

I breathed in deeply, centering myself. Honestly, I felt okay. Not wonderful. But semi-relaxed, although I’m sure the drinking had something to do with that. If I focused on how far from the floor I was, it didn’t fill me with the warm fuzzies, butobjectively, I knew I was in safe hands. Jaxus wouldn’t let harm come to me. I felt that in my soul. The bond tightened whenever I imagined what could happen if we flew, and I knew it would protect me. He would protect me.

And knowing that, actually made me feel somewhat safe up here, even though my body wanted to revolt and jump down as soon as possible.

“Well?”

“It’s okay?”

“Just okay?”

“I haven’t passed out or thrown up, Nyx. What more do you want from me?” I asked, annoyed.

“I guess that will do for now. Just promise me something—no, promise Jaxus something.”

“What’s that?”

“Promise him that you won’t fight the natural urge of your bond. If you feel the desire to fly—no matter how much you want to resist it—tell him and he will help you get there.”

I stared at him. Intellectually, I knew the bond did create a drive to fly together. It was the whole point of the connection. But I was still skeptical that such a desire could override something so deep-rooted as this fear.

“Kiera,” Nyx snapped me out of my thoughts.