Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Irritated, I push it aside. Speak to your father, Luminoura, I chide her. Tell him you are hungry and he will give you over to your dam.
HUNGRY, Luminoura protests again.
Why do you tell me?
BECAUSE YOU LISTEN. HUNGRY.
I fight through the madness, taking another deep breath of my female’s scent, and then push my thoughts out. It has been a long time since I have attempted to contact others of my kind, to fight through the static and madness that drives my thoughts wild. It is…difficult, but the little one latches onto my thoughts from afar and rides them like a wave.
I push gently, searching the web of thoughts to find Luminoura’s sire. Her father. He is asleep, his mate close by. His thoughts are full of her.
Wake, I send to him. Your daughter is hungry.
HUNGRY, Luminoura agrees, her thoughts a bright, searing bolt that slice away the bleeding colors that threaten to overwhelm me and drag me back under. PAPA, HUNGRY.
Dakh rouses, his thoughts a confused muddle before he reaches out to me. Jurik?
Is that my name? I do not remember having a name. But it must be, if Dakh recognizes my mind touch.
HUNGRY, Sallavatri chimes in. HUNGRY, TOO, JURIK.
I fight back irritation, because now both children are awake and reaching out to me through the mental waves. And where is your father?
Right here, Kael promises, his thoughts a bright bolt weaving in with his daughter’s. Leave Jurik alone, my heart. He is trying to rest. Unless you wish to talk, Jurik? He sends out a tendril of thought, an open question.
I tune out, now that the young are taken care of. The two newborn girls are different than many drakoni children. Their minds are brighter, sharper, and I am not certain if it is because of this world or their half-human heritage, but they are able to pierce through the madness. I almost do not mind when they reach out to me, because it is quiet when they touch my thoughts.
Quiet…like it was with the human.
I touch the bit of food on the ground again, her scent still all around it. Is she…trying to feed me? Is this a human mating ritual?
The realization hits me. The quiet. The silence when she appeared. The colors bleeding away. The scent of her, so perfect and strong.
My mate. That must be it.
But…how can I have a mate if I cannot remember my own name?
JURIK, Sallavatri reminds me, still listening in. I get a vague image of her, mouth on her mother’s breast, nursing with rosy contentment. YOU ARE JURIK.
Her thoughts blast through me with all the subtlety of a lightning bolt. Both Luminoura and Sallavatri are too young to understand delicacy with their thoughts, but I do not mind.
Jurik. I must remember.
I must claim my mate.
I climb out of my nest, stretching my limbs, and then spread my wings. I take to the skies, soaring higher, trying to follow her scent trail. It is faint, winding through a myriad tangle of other scents, but it is there. I breathe it in, and follow it.
It is when I am flying that something oppressive reaches out through the Rift. Hot malevolence washes over me, and I nearly crash out of the sky.
A moment later, Luminoura’s thoughts touch mine, a bolt of bright light. She chases away the darkness that threatens through the Rift, and the evil retreats. There are no words with her thoughts, just the reassurance that she is there, that she senses the evil and has pushed it away. Sallavatri lingers near, too, ready to step in if Luminoura tires.
I continue on, and I am dismayed to find that my human’s scent leads right to their hive. Her enticing fragrance is drowned in the wealth of filth and the thousands of scents that pile atop one another. I let out a roar of frustration, because I smell other drakoni.
I smell a Salorian.
I hate all of it. How can they keep her from me? My thoughts whirl faster, bleeding with color and sound, madness mixing in with my rage. She is my mate! She tried to feed me to wake my slumbering thoughts. They will not keep her from me! How dare they?
I open my mouth and let loose my fire.
5
RACHEL
I hide in my quarters when the dragon attack alarms go off. Even though it’s been weeks and weeks since any sort of dragon approached Fort Dallas—outside of Azar’s dead-eyed guards—this can’t be coincidence. I pull my limp pillow over my head and try to forget about the day’s events, even as people fill the halls of the barracks and I can hear the questions in their voices.
It doesn’t last long, this attack. The all-clear bell comes minutes later, the only thing lingering is the faint scent of smoke in the air. The murmur of voices dies down and people go about their day once more. Everyone recovers from dragon attacks quickly these days, because we’re so used to them.