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)
How can I sit and talk about quilts when our world could be invaded by something worse than dragons? How can I listen to Manda sigh about how polite and kind Daniels is when I can’t tell them about Jurik? It’s only been three days, but I feel years apart from them…and it hurts.
Even so, I try. I smile and pay attention to their stories, but when the dinner bell sounds and Jenny and Manda jump to their feet, I’m slower to rise.
“Hurry up,” Manda tells me, tossing the magazine down on her bunk. “I heard the soldiers caught two deer today and there’s fresh meat for everyone.”
Jenny just gives me a weird look. She touches Manda’s arm as the other girl rushes past us. “Save our spots in line, okay?” When Manda leaves the room, Jenny turns back to me, troubled. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I lie.
“You’re usually the first one at the door when the dinner bell rings,” Jenny says.
She’s not wrong. It’s just…right now my belly’s full of Azar’s food and my thoughts are on Gwen’s flying equipment. Flying…on Jurik’s back. A saddle. The thought makes me breathless. I can’t imagine all the places we can go, and—
Jenny touches my hand. “Rachel?”
Right. I flush, feeling ashamed for ignoring her when she’s standing right in front of me. I squeeze her hand. “I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot going on. You go on to dinner. I have to be somewhere.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
I want to tell her that I’m more than all right, that Jurik has me, and being linked to him is the most breath-takingly intense feeling, and I’ve never experienced anything that felt so…right. At the same time, I just learned about the Rift and if it’s true, I’m not sure I’ll ever be right again. “Right enough,” I promise her, and then hug her close. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”
She laughs and hugs me back. “I’m not worried about you at all. I’m worried about anyone that stands in your way.”
Somehow, that makes me feel better.
I rejoin Jurik a short time later and it’s interesting how very easy it is for me to find him. Even though I’m unfamiliar with this part of the barracks, I can sense his presence, as blazing and real as the sun, and so it’s just a matter of heading toward it until I find the right door. He’s seated in “our” room, resting on his folded legs on the floor, his eyes whirling gold as he communicates with Vaan. The other dragon sits across from him in a similar pose, both of them naked.
A few days ago, this would have been weird. Now, I barely blink an eye.
He remembers so much more than I do, Jurik tells me, thoughts warm with delight. He is sharing with me the cliffs of his home. It is like seeing my world again.
I catch a flurry of glimpses of another world, one with redder skies and desolate, sweeping sand dunes and craggy cliffs. It’s beautiful but harsh, and in his mind’s eye, there are dragons in the skies, and his thoughts are free and bright and full of joy. I’m sorry you’re stuck here.
It is an idealized memory, he admits, getting to his feet. We do not share memories of being enslaved by the Salorians, or being torn from families. We do not share hard years under their rule. We want to only remember the good things.
Fair enough. Should I leave?
No, stay. His eyes whirl a brighter gold. I like you here with me. Vaan’s female will meet us when we are ready.
Ready?
To use their riding gear.
Have we decided, then?
Have we not? I am in your mind. I feel how you feel. His thoughts are surprisingly gentle, even as he rises to his feet and pulls me into his arms, shamelessly making out with me in front of his buddy. You know as well as I do that there will be no rest for either of us until we have answers.
He’s right, much as I hate to admit it. The thought of flying up to the Rift and seeing just what’s lurking there is mildly terrifying. What if something really is looking back? What if it doesn’t like that we fly up to say hello? What if just flying that high hurts Jurik or makes him lose his mind again?
Weirdly enough, I’m less afraid of seeing a monster than finding out that one’s running Fort Dallas, though. I need to get answers, if only to establish what path I need to go down. I run my fingers along Jurik’s strong jaw, looking into his eyes thoughtfully. So we’re doing this tonight?
Is there a point in waiting? he asks me. I will wait if you want to, but I am fondest of learning bad things quickly so I know how to deal with them.