trip home.” Krysta tried to look on the bright side, but deep inside she harbored reservations. Thy gryphons’ rhyming prophecy had lain heavy on her mind all day.
“I can’t believe it’ll be just that easy,” Drake said from her other side. He tossed a twig into the fire and the expression on his handsome face was fierce. “They had to have a reason to take Wil all this way. I can’t see them just letting him go because we flew down and asked nicely.”
“I don’t like that gryphons are involved. They’re altogether too magical for my comfort,” Mace grumbled as he got more comfortable against Nellin’s warm flank.
“They are powerful, but the few I’ve dealt with in the past have been entirely honorable,” Drake said. “If the gryphons I knew are anything to judge by, I’d say we have less to fear from gryphons than we do from whoever lives on that island.”
“Do you think it really could be a wizard?” Krysta’s voice was small in the darkening night. Wizards were to be feared. They’d been banished from this realm for a reason. Some of them were downright evil and the stories of ancient days told of great wars between the evil ones who wanted to enslave all creatures in this realm and the few who wanted to let the world evolve on its own.
“I don’t know. But there are still some in this world who have wizard blood. The royal house of Draconia, the Black Dragon Clan and the Doge of Helios, for example.” Drake tossed another twig to the flames. “That’s why gryphons serve in her court, I suspect. Magic seeks its own kind. Whoever we find on that island, they will have powerful magic, indeed. Of that I have no doubt.”
“We can protect you,” Nellin said softly from behind them. “That’s what the gryphons meant when they talked about our bond. Dragons are mostly impervious to magic, since we are creatures of magic ourselves. Mace’s bond with me will protect him from whatever awaits us tomorrow.”
Jenet shifted her head on the cold sand to look at them. “I believe it’s why they gave you the gift of speech with our kind, Krysta. With that pathway now open, we can bond with you as we do with our knights. Our protection will extend to you.”
“But—”
Jenet sighed smokily. “Don’t fight it, Krysta. It is as the Mother of All wills it. You will bond with our knights and with us. I don’t know why you humans must fight the will of the Mother at every turn.” Jenet shot a despairing glance at Drake. “And now I’m sure you will make some argument about how you’re not good enough to bond with me, though it’s what we’ve both wanted deep in our hearts since the moment I hatched. Go ahead, Drake. Do your worst. But the fact remains. If you do not bond with me, you doom our mission. I would rather have had you willing, but at this point, my pride is in tatters. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”
“Sweetheart,” Drake’s voice was as soft as Krysta had ever heard it.
Drake got up and went to the dragon, his long legs carrying him to Jenet’s side. He tugged her sinuous neck into a loving embrace. Drake kissed the ridges of Jenet’s eyes as tenderly as a lover and Krysta had to look away, lest the love she read in his every move stir her to tears.
“Never think that I’m not willing to bind my life to yours. I love you more than anything in the world, Jenet. I always have and I always will.” Drake didn’t care if his words carried. They should all know how much he loved this dragon who was his closest friend in all the universe. “I’m a stubborn ass.”
He moved back and stared into Jenet’s faceted eyes.
“I won’t argue that point.” Hope glittered in the depths of her miraculous gaze and Drake felt his spirits rise.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
“Are you willing to be my knight and all that entails for the rest of your days?”
His little girl was tough, but he loved her that way. Drake nodded solemnly and bowed his head, answering her in his mind as he knew it must be. He projected his thoughts to all present, knowing they needed to be witnesses to this most momentous of occasions.
“I don’t deserve you or your forgiveness for my many transgressions, but I love you, Jenet, my sister of