Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“I know.” We share a look and continue toward the field where my future waits.
I almost never get to see him alone anymore, especially with the addendum in place, so I take advantage of the situation. “Are you going to see Cat? Is that where you have to be?”
“Fuck no.” He grimaces. “I spend as little time with her as possible. It’s not worth the trip when all we do is annoy the shit out of each other. I don’t know how much longer…” He rips his hand over his hair. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You deserve to be happy,” I say quietly, and somehow it feels like the loudest thing I could have said in a forest full of dragons.
“What is this elusive happiness of which you speak?” He scans the forest around us, ever on guard.
“I think it’s love.” I nod to myself. “Like what my parents had. Love and family and a future beyond all the misery—or at least someone who makes the misery worth it.”
“I like that for you.”
“I like that for you, too.” My hands curl into fists again. “I hate that you’re betrothed to someone you won’t have that with. Hate that you had no say in the matter. Most days I wake up just wishing it would all…stop.”
“The betrothal?” His brow furrows.
“The wars. The fighting. The powerlessness, including your betrothal.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, Bodhi.” He drapes his arm over my shoulder. “I’m the one who’s responsible for you, remember?”
“All I do is worry about you,” I blurt. “You think I don’t see what this place is turning you into? I barely recognized you when I showed up in July. You hardly ever smile anymore. You almost never laugh. I’ve seen you kill on the mat when a knockout would have sufficed, and you didn’t warn those first-years that the red was going to bake them because they were in a group. You should break the betrothal. Fuck whatever agreement Uncle Fen made. I’ll back you with the council. You know I’ll do it. I’ll keep my word.”
Durrans always keep their word. Dad’s voice slides through my memory.
“I know you will. It’s not the betrothal changing me.” Xaden squeezes me once in a half hug, then drops his arm. “And does it really matter what I become if it means you’re safe? Garrick? Liam? Imogen? Sloane? Soleil—”
“You don’t have to list every marked one,” I counter as we approach the line of trees surrounding the field. “I get the point.”
“You don’t.” He pauses, then pins me in place with a look that instills fear in most of the quadrant. “But you will. Because you didn’t warn those cadets, either. Not that I give a shit, but I’m bound by Codex not to interfere, so what’s your excuse?”
My mouth snaps shut. A pit hollows my stomach because he’s right, even if I don’t want to admit it. I could have stepped out and said something to those cadets.
He looks up to the sky, takes a long breath, and then looks at me again. “This place changes everyone, including you.”
“We can choose not to let it,” I whisper.
“If we don’t change, we die.” His expression softens into something akin to pity.
“What would our parents think?” My pulse pounds as I turn away from my cousin and walk into the field.
“Our parents would think those cadets had already been warned by Kaori, and it was their choice not to listen to guidance. We can’t save everyone, Bodhi,” Xaden calls after me.
A big Blue Clubtail that isn’t on Kaori’s list waits in the center of the field, standing at its full height. Its claws flex on the ground and, above a scar that bisects its snout, its golden eyes narrow on me.
“Bodhi—” Xaden’s words die from the edge of the field behind me. “Oh, fuck. Not that one.”
It’s not the green I’ve been told I’m going to bond.
Fuck it. I’m done having my choices made for me. I may not be a Riorson by name, but I am by blood, and I can handle a blue. I break into a full sprint, my arms pumping as my feet devour the distance across the field.
“Bodhi!” Xaden shouts. “No!”
Three things seem to happen all at once.
The blue lowers its head and opens its enormous jaw, tongue curling, fire welling in the back of its throat. Shadows rush the ground in front of me. And I realize I may have just made the biggest mistake of my life and am about to pay for it.
I throw out my arms in front of me like they have a chance of saving me from the impending inferno, and my mother’s face flashes in my mind.
This is bigger than any one of us, Bodhi. She held me so tight, as if she could squeeze a lifetime of love into me if she tried hard enough. If we stand by while evil consumes the most innocent of us, we will deserve what happens when it reaches our own doors. Stay close to Xaden. He’ll protect you, and you’ll keep him in balance. You need each other.