“Medra, I...”

‘No,” I said coldly. “I think I liked it better when it was just Pendragon. Because you don’t know me. And I clearly don't know you. You’ve bullied me, tormented me, humiliated me. I know what you did with Visha. She told me.”

He looked taken aback and I felt a surge of satisfaction.

“She told me the truth,” I repeated. “You sent her after me that very first day. You, not Regan. You wanted me to fail. I could have died.”

“She lost herself to bloodlust. I went and got Sankara as fast as I could,” Blake protested. “I didn’t want you to fail. I wanted to test your mettle, that’s all.”

“Sankara. Right. Sankara not you. You could have stepped in at any time if you’d really cared. You could have stopped her, undone what you’d started. But you didn’t. You got a teacher to do it instead. And I’m sure you only did that because, what? You were afraid of getting into trouble?”

“No, because even then, I felt something for you,” he insisted. “I wasn’t supposed to care about you. I never was. But I did. I do. More than you can...”

“I don’t care,” I cut him off, my voice flat. “I don’t care if you cared then. I don’t care if you care now. I don’t care about any of it.” I shook my head. “I don’t want you. I don’t want this. You think that just because you come from a family, no, an entire culture, of people who manipulate and control one another that you can do that to me with any repercussions? Well, you can’t, Blake. I won't let you.”

His eyes darkened. “What’s done is done.”

I stared at him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we’re bound, whether you like it or not. I can’t undo that, even if I wanted to.”

“And you don’t,” I whispered. “Do you?”

He didn’t respond, just took a step towards me.

“We’re mates now. Of the highest order. I can’t feed from anyone else, even if I wanted to. And your body...” His voice softened, but a dark undertone remained. “Your body will respond to my call. Whether you want it to or not.”

My mind reeled. “That’s not true. It can’t...”

“It is true.” Blake cut me off, taking another step closer. “You feel it, don’t you? The pull.”

“No.” My voice was sharp with fear, but a traitorous warmth was spreading through my body, despite my protests.

“I’ll have to show you,” Blake murmured.

I turned on my heel, my only thought escape.

“Stop,” Blake commanded.

I froze. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t walk. My body was betraying me.

Panic ebbed through me. Invisible chains pulled me back towards him.

I gasped. “What are you doing to me?” I choked out. “You’re using thrallweave.”

I slammed up my mental wards, trying to shut him out. But there was nothing there. I couldn’t feel him in my mind.

Yet my body was clearly under his control.

Blake stepped closer. “I'm not,” he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. “This is the bond.”

His eyes were dark and hungry. “I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

His mouth hovered over my neck. His hand lifted the hair away.

“No,” I whispered. I was trapped, caught in a spell I hadn’t even known was being worked upon me.

Blake didn’t hesitate. He sank his fangs into my neck with sudden force, piercing my skin.

I gasped. The pain was instant, sharp and hot.

I could feel the blood pulsing from my veins into his mouth. My body shuddered.

My breath came in quick, shallow gasps. My mind screamed for me to push him away.

But my hands wouldn’t move.

The pain began to fade. Something almost like pleasure replacing it.

I lifted my hands, not to throttle him, but to tangle them in his hair. “Blake,” I pleaded.

“I feel it, too,” he murmured, between pulls. “We can’t deny it. We aren’t supposed to. It’s never been so good. You’re mine now. Always.”

Blake’s fangs were deep in my neck, his lips pressed firmly against my skin as he drank.

He wasn’t stopping. The pull of my blood called him.

Something was changing. Energy was draining from me. My body, once warm with heat, was beginning to grow cold. I tried to move, tried to shove him off, but my limbs were weak.

“Blake...” I gasped.

He didn’t stop. Or he couldn’t. His hunger, his need, seemed all-consuming.

His grip on me tightened as he drank deeper, more urgently.

My vision began to blur, the world around me starting to slip away. I felt my body shaking. The ground was trembling.

But it wasn’t just me.

The stones of the Dragon Court were shaking.

Suddenly, we were thrown to the ground, Blake’s fangs ripping from my neck, as our bodies collided with hard stone. I cried out in pain but my voice was drowned out by the deafening sound of stone erupting around us.

The entire courtyard was vibrating with incredible force.

Blake rose up over me, wrapping his arms around me, and shielding my body with his own. “Stay down,” he growled, his voice harsh.

“Get off,” I choked out, struggling weakly against him.

But he wouldn’t move.

A huge chunk of stone crashed nearby, sending dust and debris swirling into the air.

Then another fell, striking Blake on the head.

I screamed as blood began to trickle from a gash on his forehead, dripping onto me. But still, he didn’t move. His breathing was heavy, his muscles tensed as more stone rained down around us.

Amidst the chaos, something caught my eye.

The stones that were falling. Every single one of them was black.

The ground shook again, harder this time.

There was a shuddering roar. I watched Blake’s eyes widen.

But I already knew what was happening. Maybe part of me had known all along.

I watched Blake turn his head just in time to see the black dragon’s stone shell begin to crumble and the ancient beast beneath begin to move.

Layers of rock slid away from the dragon’s body, revealing sleek, midnight-black scales.

It shook its wings free from the debris, unfurling them with a powerful snapping sound.

With another, earth-shattering roar, the black dragon stretched its wings wide, blocking out the moonlight.

The sight was horrifying. Utterly magnificent. Utterly terrifying.

I pushed against Blake. “Move. Blake, move.” My voice was hoarse, desperate, and this time, he did as I said.

I scrambled to my feet, my body weak. I shook my head a little and stepped towards the dragon.

He was looking back at me.

The creature was immense. Seeing the skulls had been one thing. This was another.

His wings stretched wide, every inch covered in shimmering black scales, an impenetrable-looking armor.

His eyes were deep-set, reptilian, glowing like embers in the dark.

His head was long, graceful, and crowned with dark, spiraling horns.

He lowered his head slightly and his jaw parted, revealing rows of razor-sharp, white teeth.

My heart raced, but still I took step after step towards the dragon.

Then I heard him speak.

“Thank you for waking me.”

I froze. He was speaking in Classical Sangrathan, his mind to mine.

“I didn’t wake you,” I replied, my voice trembling slightly. “I think perhaps there’s been some mistake.”

“No mistake.” The dragon’s head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing as he regarded me. Despite his massive size, there was an elegance to his movements. “You spoke the words. You severed the binding. You brought me back.”

“I don’t understand...” I began. Then my thoughts flew back to the incantation I had performed in the very same courtyard, months ago. The one I had used to break the soul-binding.

“By blood and breath, by night and sky,” I whispered. “The binding of souls I sever.”

The dragon inclined his head slightly.

“Let what was trapped be freed to fly,

No longer bound forever.

From heart to soul, from blood to bone,

Let life return where stone has grown.