Page 38 of Wild Bond (Wild Bond #1)

I chose one of the pathways at random this time, no longer caring. I walked slowly, still feeling shaken as I wiped the tears from my cheeks, dreading what I would face next.

Though if this was all happening inside my head, then in a roundabout way, I was doing this to myself. The thought made my head hurt.

As I walked, my footsteps echoing around me, I couldn’t keep from wondering what the Second Trial was like for other riders. What had it been like for Rake? What traumas had he faced? Or had his trial been something else entirely?

I had come to learn that the trials in general, and the Second Trial especially, were not something many riders talked about. I had gleaned from the few times I had brought it up with anyone that it was an intensely private thing.

I was so lost in my thoughts as I considered this that I failed to notice when the stone floor beneath me began to change. What alerted me was the feel of the sun-warmed tiles under my suddenly bare feet. In fact, my entire outfit had changed. Instead of the brown training leathers I was so used to, I now wore a dirty, threadbare shirt and worn dark pants.

Cold dread fizzled along my nerve endings and made me feel like I had suddenly been dropped in a tub of ice. I knew these clothes. How could I forget them? I had worn them for two years. The worst two years of my life.

Distantly, I could feel Skye calling to me down the bond. Reminding me that it wasn’t real, but it felt real. So real.

My steps slowed to a stop as I looked around. I was once again in Petitioner’s Square, the risers full of people, the morning sun beating down as I stared up at the figure sitting in a thronelike chair on the dais.

Rake.

My heart clenched in joy at seeing him. He looked just as lethal as I remembered from that day so many months ago. Those piercing eyes I loved regarded me dispassionately, while one hand rested on Naasir’s snout beside him.

The restraints around my wrists clinked as the steward read off my offenses. I began rubbing the scar on my arm as I searched Rake’s face for any hint of recognition or caring as he regarded me, but there was none.

“And what exactly did you steal from the queen?” Rake asked, his voice cold and unfeeling.

“Lethara’s Blade,” I found myself answering without thought.

The crowd gasped just like before, but I wasn’t paying any attention to them this time. My focus was on the man before me.

“Why?” Rake demanded in that infuriatingly calm tone.

“Because I had no other choice,” I said. “I was helping a friend.”

Rake’s eyes narrowed. “So, you had an accomplice?”

I hesitated. “No, I just meant—”

Rake looked to the steward who stammered, “Th-there is no mention of an accomplice, Rider.”

Rake’s gaze returned to me. “Who were you working with? Who was your partner?”

My heart was racing, and my palms were beginning to sweat. “No one. There was no one else. I worked alone.” My mind reeled. What was happening? This wasn’t how it had gone before. Something was different . . . missing . . .

Rake’s face shifted at my response, becoming colder. “You’re lying,” he stated. “Who are you protecting?”

I shivered. Rake had never looked at me that way before. Like I was dirt, worse than dirt. A lying criminal like everyone else.

“I-I’m not protecting anyone,” I protested, my voice rising. “Rake, please—”

Any further words were drowned out by the gasps and murmurs of the crowd at my disrespectful address. Rake’s jaw tightened in the way it did when he was masking true anger, and I knew the use of the familiar name had been a mistake.

Rake stood, and even Naasir’s head rose as he glared down at me from behind his rider.

“Dungeon master,” Rake called, addressing Holt as the man lumbered over from where he had been waiting with the other prisoners. “Take this prisoner back to the keep. Perhaps a few more years in her cell will jog her memory.”

“Yes, Rider,” Holt bowed. He wasn’t even trying to mask the smugly pleased grin on his face as he reached for me.

I stepped out of his reach. “Rake, wait!” I pleaded. How had this all gone so wrong? “Please, you know me! We’re—well . . . I become a dragon rider and we—"

“You’re not a dragon rider,” Rake interrupted me. His face now that blank mask I hated as he stared down at me in condemnation. “You are a thief and a liar, and you are wasting my time.”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut.

He nodded at Holt, and the man grabbed me before I could resist. He began dragging me away. I felt a sensation in the back of my mind like a throbbing headache but more insistent.

“Rake!” I screamed. I had to get him to listen to me, but he had already turned away. “Rake!”

“Quiet, scum!” Holt snapped, pulling hard at my arm, and making me stumble. “It’s back to the dungeon with you.”

That familiar panic began to rise in me as I thought of returning to my cell. To the darkness. Where I was alone, so alone. But then I remembered . . . I had felt this way before. This fear . . . this wasn’t the first time. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my emotions and think rationally. Something about this whole thing felt off. Then another thought hit me. Wait, where was Skye? Skye was supposed to be—

And just like that, I could feel her again. Skye. My dragon. The real dragon that I had bonded with in my world, in my reality. Not this horrible alternate one I found myself in.

This wasn’t real. This was a trial—the trial meant to test the bond, to test me and whether or not I could master myself and my emotions. Whether I was worthy of the gift that was my dragon, and the power that came along with it.

Ignoring what was going on around me, I focused instead on the bond—on Skye and that channel that connected me straight to her. This time, I found it with ease. Once again, I felt that pull, that warm tug that directed me where I needed to go.

Without a second thought, I used a maneuver Dembe had taught me and broke free of Holt’s grasp. Then I began to run.

I disregarded anything I saw around me, no longer trusting my eyes—like that man had warned me not to. Instead, I trained all my focus on the bond. On what I felt.

I left the square behind, and the illusion or memory or whatever it was dissolved completely. I was left only with the misty fog and the plain stone walls of the maze.

This time I didn’t make any mistakes or wrong turns. I ran directly to where the bond led me. Right to Skye. The maze tried several more times to ensnare me in old memories or warped scenarios born from my deepest insecurities, but I refused to acknowledge them, unmoved from my goal.

The moment Skye came into view, I put on a burst of speed. I couldn’t help the smile that split my face as she lifted her head and roared in victory.

She lowered her head just as I reached her, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her muzzle. She crooned and huffed in satisfaction as I rested my forehead against the warmth of her jade scales, just breathing her in.

“Thank you,” I murmured against her skin and felt her love surround me in the bond.

“Well done, Rider,” a voice congratulated from behind me.

I released Skye and whirled to find the same man from before standing behind me. He had the same smirk on his face and was still rolling that damned gold coin between his fingers. I opened my mouth to reply when I noticed that what the man was flipping between his fingers wasn’t gold, but silver, and that it wasn’t a coin at all this time . . . but a ring.

My ring. The ring that Rake had given me.

“Hey, give that back!” I insisted, glaring at him. “When . . . how did you—”

“Stealing is somewhat of a skill set of mine,” he said, that shrewd smirk once again making an appearance. “I can’t seem to help myself. My apologies.” To my surprise, he flipped the ring back towards me.

I caught it in one hand, inspecting it before glancing back up.

Of course, he was gone.

Before I could even react to the strange encounter, an odd sensation came over me. My head hurt, and I felt slightly nauseous. It felt like I was in two places at once. Standing in the maze . . . but also sitting down . . .

My eyes snapped open, and I found myself sitting on the ground inside the obsidian chamber. Skye’s warmth was at my back, and I could sense her wakefulness as well.

The headache quickly fled, but I still felt disoriented in the darkness as we both rose to our feet.

A deep grating rumble sounded through the quiet as the blackness around us was broken by a sliver of light. I blinked rapidly as the light increased. It was coming from the massive stone door on the opposite side of the chamber.

It slowly swung open.

In a daze, Skye and I walked carefully over to the doorway and stepped out.

The sound of cheering hit me first, followed by the sight that greeted us as my eyes adjusted to the light.

We stood at the base of a massive stone chamber. Seating had been carved into the rock at varying levels in a semi-circle facing the exit to the obsidian chamber. All around us were dragon riders, what looked like every single person attending the trials. Con and Nesenya were standing off to the side of the chamber door, along with several other trainees who had gone into the chamber before me. They all looked exhausted and like they had been through an ordeal, but most joined in the applause. Nesenya actually smiled at me. I saw several members of the rider council, some looking more pleased than others, as well as the leaders from the other kingdoms. My eyes traveled over everyone, falling first on Dembe with his wide smile, and Zade as he brought his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, the sound echoing around the stone chamber.

A laugh burst from me at the sight, and I couldn’t help but grin. For some reason, that was what finally brought it all home for me. We had done it, Skye and I. We had passed the trials.

I was now a dragon rider.

The moment wasn’t quite complete, however, until my eyes found the one person I needed to see the most.

Rake stood beside Zade, and the warmth and pride in his eyes made it all worth it.

It was only then I realized my fingers were tightly clutched around something in my hand. In confusion, I peered down as I uncurled my fingers and was startled to find my silver ring lying there in the center of my palm, the metal gleaming softly in the light.