Page 30 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)

Thirty

Lua

A lthough daylight cut through the barn roof slats onto Lua’s robes, it was the twisting strain inside his chest that woke him.

Audra.

Where had his little mouse scampered off to? He considered this might be an act of rebellion since they were in Zin’s territory, but that didn’t feel right. He wondered if being so close to them blinded her to the truth or if she were a better liar than he’d taken her for. He’d expected a surly old woman, not an irritable dragon.

He dragged his robes over his head and darted to the house. The door flew open at his touch. Magic swirled around him and drew him into the shade. Zin sat at the table, scales rippling down her bare arms before disappearing. Her eyes glittered menacingly. Gone were the human fingers from last night, replaced with long talons that raked the wooden tabletop.

“Where is she?” he asked.

A chair pulled out of its own accord as she motioned to it. “Searching for solutions. ”

He licked his lips before sitting down. His chest ached. “What solutions?”

“How to break your bond without dying.” Her claws tapped like dropping knives. “It was my suggestion after she told me you were heading to your monastery. How very practical of you. Kill her where you think her kin can’t reach you. As if distance matters to my kind. You cannot imagine what I’ll do if anything happens to her.”

Zin must have only held this form when Audra or others were around. The amount of ancient magic it took to both maintain hers and Ferin’s shapes and protect her territory had to have been daunting.

“I won’t hurt her.” Lua tasted the truth in those words.

“Can you help it?” Zin asked. “Thirteen stars isn’t powerful enough to sever a bond without death as a consequence for one of you. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t strike me as the self-sacrificing type.”

He winced as the thread tightened again. “Hurting me will only hurt her.”

Her malicious smile was impossibly broad, showing rows of pointed teeth. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll let Audra do it herself.”

Lua frowned. He was missing something important.

“Even after travelling together, bonded and all, you still don’t know her, do you? How much has she told you about her mother? Or were you so absorbed in your self-importance that you didn’t listen?”

A shiver worked up his spine despite the fire that burned high in the hearth. He didn’t remember Audra speaking much about her mother, but he’d seen her in Audra’s nightmares. She was ageless in the ways that only magic could influence. How bonds made someone look. Zin smirked at his understanding.

“Audra’s mother was yours?” he asked.

“We kept peace at the borders for a long time. My siblings and our chosen mages kept our people safe. You wouldn’t know, of course. I’m sure the last Rajav had our dealings stricken from the official records.” Her voice eased into a condescending tone of assumed authority. “Did you know he was once bonded with a dragon?”

Lua’s breath hitched. “What are you talking about?”

“A history lesson then. Pay attention.” She smiled at his discomfort. “ It was before I met Lorah, Audra’s mother. There was an old dragon. Honestly, his personality had always been rougher than his scales. Certainly, wasn’t the best of us. Damaged goods long before they met. He was with Li-Hun for over a hundred years. Together, they united the Moon tribes. The Rajav was young then, and if he’d stayed that idealistic and good-natured, the dragon might have stayed. But as it often seems to be with humans, power made him cruel.” Her smile faded. “I heard he found a more amiable replacement eventually. I’ve often wondered if he ever mentioned it to his family. I suspect I now have my answer.”

A wave of nausea swept through Lua. Their father wouldn’t have told Selene. The Rajav trusted her less than the councilors.

There you are, she’d said in Audra’s dreams. It made no sense. Why would Selene have been looking for Audra and Ferin?

Zin stared, unblinking. “Make no mistake. That dragon loved him as only a dragon can. From the depths of his whole being. But he learned long ago that love should never be depthless or thoughtless or it is not love at all. And when he saw what Li-Hun was becoming and what he planned on doing, the dragon broke their bond and left him gasping on a castle terrace in Uduary. The Song monks saved him, but Li-Hun never stopped searching for him. Wherever that dragon has gone, I’m sure he felt Li-Hun’s death. Once connected, always connected, after all.” Her eyes were emeralds beneath a human-like veneer.

Lua shifted uncomfortably. If that were true, it would explain his father’s obsession and ensuing paranoia.

“You remind me of Li-Hun. His good looks and confident stride. His short-sighted arrogance and desire to cling to things that don’t belong to you.”

Lua’s fists trembled beneath the table while he fought to control his expression. Her magic brushed across his hands and knees. “I am nothing like my father,” he hissed.

“Hm, I cannot say. But Audra is like her mother. Fierce and loving and strong. Wonderfully good at surviving. Have you felt her coming into her power? Noticed the bond pull more her way than yours since she carried the jade? ”

Lua’s eyes widened with the memory of the argentava and two bursts of unexpected magic. Zin chuckled at his expression.

“The thing about Western mages that makes them a threat to others, is that they can bond with any other magical creature. Dragons, yes, but Moons and Starling mages too. More than one creature or person at a time. And when their magic bonds, it slowly begins to dominate.” Her delight at his discomfort waned slightly. “But there’s something else you should know. Your monks will kill you both by trying to force the bond to break. Even if you are healed and standing beneath the light of two full moons that have given their blessings, unless the Western magic is dealt with beforehand, both of you will die. I hope the Western scrolls will provide some guidance otherwise I cannot be held accountable for my actions.” She sniffed the air and eyed him curiously. “Of course, there is another way.”

He swallowed at the implication. “That would kill me.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But if Audra learns to control her power before then, you both might live.”

He closed his eyes. The dragon was right, the alternative she was suggesting was beyond his nature. The thread stretched into the woods and over the mountain. It pulsed painfully, shimmering silver the way it always did but when he examined it closer, there was another color woven throughout. He pulled. Her resistance was stronger than it ought to have been. He winced. “What happened to Audra’s mother? What happened to the dragons?”

Her face was full of nostalgic sorrow. “Those are separate questions, and I’ll answer only one. Lorah met a good man. At first, it was nothing. She’d taken lovers before. But this common, not terribly handsome man, earned her heart in a way that I could not. Dragons don’t like to share, but we are generous in our love. When she wanted things I couldn’t give her, we severed our bond. It was painful for us both.”

“And you settled here to be near her.”

She nodded. “Dragons usually bond only once. Sometimes from necessity—such as injury—but more often for love. Occasionally a dragon might bond more than that, like the one to Li-Hun. But not me. I’ll probably die in these mountains, but only after her children are safe. ”

Claws scraped down the hall as Ferin lumbered into view. He was taller and thicker than the previous day. His face more squared, and his skin had a gold and green sheen that Zin’s magic failed to completely cover. The jade glowed beneath a thin layer of flesh upon his chest. He stared from the hallway, astute eyes assessing the mage with less innocence than he’d shown before.

“Children? He’s not Lorah’s child. And Audra said her brother died years ago.”

“Ferin isn’t her brother by blood, but they’ve been family ever since Lorah found him freshly hatched in the mountains after Raia’s last storm. His scales were too thin to ward off a Moon mage spell when they were attacked as children. It stole his voice and strength for too long.”

Green scales rippled down Ferin’s arms before disappearing. Zin’s magic struggled to keep them both in these false forms.

There was something off about Zin's words, as if there were meaning in what wasn’t said. The way she’d avoided speaking of Audra’s human brother bothered him. “But you said ‘children,’” Lua said.

“Audra’s older brother went missing at the battle of Oxton two years before Pangol was destroyed. But Bolin still lives in the northern lands,” Zin said, her eyes searing his skin. “He’s not turned out as well as he ought to have.”

Lua chilled. “Bolin?” He yanked on the thread, demanding Audra return. They needed to talk. If Selene’s anchor was Audra’s brother, then this situation was more complicated than he could have ever imagined. The green flash that sailed down through his silver thread struck him like an arrow. It stole his breath. His heart pounded. Zin watched him struggle impassively. “Did Bolin know about the magic?”

“Not entirely. Audra was always the more gifted of the two, but after the spell struck, it’s taken years to grow. And Bolin enlisted before Ferin was found. He wouldn’t know anything about them now. When your people destroyed the last monastery and met the Starlings in Pangol, it was too late. Lorah fell while saving her children and believed her eldest son had died in Oxton.”

He began to speak but winced as the flesh around his ankle burned. He cursed and knocked the chair over when another strike wrapped around his waist.

“Audra?” The burning eased, but fear swept through him. He tried to see through her eyes, hear the sounds around her, but the way was blocked.

“What’s happening?” Zin demanded.

Ferin limped forward, eyes wide with pain. One hand rubbed his side.

“I don’t?—”

The punch knocked his head sideways, though duller than what Audra received. His vision darkened for a second before his eyes refocused on the surrounding room. Audra was unconscious. That he still lived proved that she did too.

“Tell me what’s happening!” Zin growled. Her magic slackened around Lua’s limbs.

“She’s hurt. I have to go.” He closed his eyes, submitting to the taut bond and letting it reel him toward her with little effort.

As his feet lifted from the ground, Ferin leaped forward and reached out, but Lua sailed past him out the door. Lua held the robes about his head as he darted between trees and over rocks, hoping to reach her before anyone figured out who and what she was to him.