Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Cleora jumped, her eyes flying wide with alarm. “Did you hear that?”
Kerrigan laughed. “Yes. Dragons have mind-speak.”
“How?” she gasped.
Tieran inclined his head. It is our way.
“Fascinating.”
“He won’t hurt you,” Kerrigan assured her.
“Do you have the crux bond in place?”
“I do.” Cleora relaxed at that, but Kerrigan continued, “However, I modified it.”
“Modified it?”
“Yes. You taught me that I could make what I wanted as long as I shaped it with my intention. So, I decided that instead of having a leash where I was in control, I would create a two-way bond.”
Cleora paled further. Her skin nearly blended in with the white-blonde of her hair and the white of her clothing. “That is … ill-advised.”
“Just meet him first before you decide.”
I will not bite, Tieran said and then showed his teeth unhelpfully.
Kerrigan couldn’t help her laugh. “You’re an ass.”
That is why we get along.
“I thought that was out of necessity.”
That too, he agreed.
“He has a real personality,” Cleora said, following Kerrigan’s lead and slowly crossing the distance toward Tieran. Her hand was shaking as she bravely reached forward to touch his snout.
I have a spectacular personality, Tieran said in mind-speak.
Cleora jumped in surprise, but Tieran just eased forward, putting his snout in her grasp. She cried out but gently stroked the scales. “I cannot believe I am doing this. I have never been this close to a beast without an incredibly strong crux bond.”
“Do you think they’re a different sort of animals than you have where you’re from? Our dragons are nothing like how you describe them.”
“They must be,” she said softly. “Also, he is smaller than our dragons. They are as big as houses.”
Some are, Tieran agreed. Most of the giants died out during the Great War. We have been breeding smaller as of late. Either way, I am small for my kind.
“Fascinating,” Cleora said. “And you allow her as a rider?”
She is mine.
Kerrigan’s heart bloomed at those words. It had taken so long for them to overcome their differences. Something that simple made her feel complete.
“He also has control over the spirit plane,” Kerrigan informed her.
“Does he … do you,” she corrected herself, addressing Tieran, “have other abilities? Dreamwalking, visions, illusions, energy? That sort of thing.”
He shook his head. I have never known a dragon with those abilities. Just Kerrigan.
“Well then, we will continue with our training. I wish we had more time,” Cleora said with a sigh. “I would love to learn all there is to know about your dragons. I could write an entire dissertation on the differences. But alas, we are here for you, not me. How did your training go over the last cycle?”
Kerrigan bit her lip. “Excellent.”
She gestured to the table, and they sat. “Tell me about it.”
“I managed to pull someone into a dream and carry on an entire conversation with them.”
Cleora froze, momentarily shocked. “Explain how this happened.”
Kerrigan wasn’t sure exactly what to say. How could she explain that she had drowned and that was how she had gotten sufficient magic to call Fordham? She settled with a base explanation. Cleora’s eyes got wider and wider as she explained.
“My dear, should I be concerned about your safety? I feel as if you only told me half of what happened, and it sounded like … a ritualistic sacrifice.”
Kerrigan flushed. Well, she wasn’t wrong.
“No, it was a healing pool. When I was dunked under, my magic opened, and I was able to access it fully.”
“That level of magic shouldn’t be within your grasp just from a healing pool. It must have been part of the ritual.” Cleora shook her head. “Well, it sounds outrageous to me, but I will try not to judge your unusual … customs.”
She wasn’t exactly doing a good job of it.
“You were able to perform dreamwalking, which is all that matters. Even without the ritual, it should be easier to do it again since you have done it once before. For now, we should move on to visions.”
Kerrigan heaved a sigh of relief. She’d thought that Cleora would want to keep working on it. Kerrigan felt more and more like she was running out of time.
“Visions are sort of middle of the road for the five tenets. Now, that isn’t because they are more dangerous than dreamwalking—they’re not,” she said calmly, getting into her element. “Dreamwalking is more dangerous in many ways to your physical form, but visions are problematic for your mental capacity.”
“I understand that. I’ve had visions.”
“Then, you understand their danger.”
“Sort of,” she admitted.
“Have you ever had a vision that was positive?”
Kerrigan thought about it. Most of them had put her in life-threatening situations. But if she hadn’t followed the vision, she wouldn’t be where she was right now. She wouldn’t have gotten Tieran or joined the Society or had Fordham.
“Well, no, but …”
“Exactly. Visions are almost always harmful. They’re not going to show you a happy moment in the future. It doesn’t work like that. If you’re able to push your mental state into the future, it is going to cling on to the thing that is most important. Something that could alter history.”