Ryven POV
My hands were still shaking from almost transforming in front of Kaida.
287 years old, and I'd nearly lost control like a hatchling. Uncle Aurelius would kill me if he knew how close I'd come to exposing everything.
But feeling Kaida's pain through our accidental bond was like swallowing fire. Every sob that racked her body sent sharp stabs through my chest. Every tear burned like acid on my skin.
Dragons mate for life. We can't help it—our souls recognize their other half, and once they do, nothing else matters. I'd soul-recognized Kaida when we were children, before I even understood what it meant.
She'd been seven years old, feeding injured sparrows in the garden. Her parents had scolded her for wasting time on "worthless creatures." She'd looked up at me with those amber eyes and said, "Nothing that's alive is worthless, Ryven."
That's when I knew. This human child was my fated mate.
And now, through the taming bond she'd accidentally created, she could feel me too. Not completely—not enough to know what I really was—but enough to sense my emotions bleeding through.
I had to get control before she figured it out.
"Your heartbeat is really fast," Kaida mumbled against my shoulder. "And you're so warm. Are you sick?"
"I'm fine," I lied. My dragon core was burning hot, trying to protect her even though the threat was gone. "Just worried about you."
She pulled back to look at me, and I saw the exact moment her mind started working again. Kaida was brilliant—everyone had overlooked that because they were too busy calling her useless.
"That phoenix," she said slowly. "It knew things. It said something was in my blood. And you said you heard it too." Her eyes narrowed. "How did you hear it, Ryven? You don't have a taming ability."
My throat went dry. "I was close to you during the attack. Maybe the proximity—"
"Don't lie to me." Her voice cracked. "Everyone else lies to me. Please don't you do it too."
The words hit me like a physical blow. I could feel her desperation through the bond—the need for just one person to be honest, to be real.
Uncle Aurelius's warning echoed in my mind: Any human who learns our secret must die. No exceptions. Not even for family.
But this was Kaida. My fated mate. The girl I'd watched suffer for five years because I was too much of a coward to help her properly.
"I can't tell you everything," I said carefully. "Not yet. But I can help you."
"Help me how?"
I took a deep breath. This was dangerous, but not as dangerous as the full truth. "I've been researching ancient beast taming techniques in the archives. Methods that the clans abandoned because they're too difficult or too old-fashioned." I met her eyes. "I think I can teach you how to actually tame beasts. Real ones, not just the scraps your family threw at you."
Hope flickered across her face, and it made my chest ache. "You really think I can do it?"
"Kaida, you're not useless. You never were." I wanted to tell her she was the most powerful tamer alive if only she knew the truth. That her dragon-taming ability meant she could bond with beings that made phoenixes look like sparrows. "Your family is just too stupid to see it."
She laughed, but it was wet with tears. "What kind of beast could I possibly tame? Everything I touch fails."
"That's because they gave you creatures already bonded to others, or ones that were dying, or completely wrong for your ability." Anger heated my words. "They set you up to fail."
"So what do we do?"
I'd been thinking about this for five years. Planning for the day I might be able to help her without exposing myself. "There's a cave system in the northern mountains. Rare beasts live there—shadow wolves, storm eagles, cave drakes. Small dragons." I caught myself. "Well, drake-like creatures. Close enough to dragon-type that your ability might respond to them."
"Cave drakes?" Her eyes lit up. "But those are dangerous. People die trying to tame them."
"People without proper training die." I stood up and pulled her to her feet. "But you'll have me. I know their behavioral patterns, their weaknesses, what they respond to. We can do this, Kaida."
She bit her lip, considering. I could feel her hope and fear mixing together through the bond.
"When?" she asked.
"Tomorrow night. After your duties. We'll need to travel in darkness anyway—cave drakes are nocturnal."
"Tomorrow?" She looked scared but determined. "That's so soon."
"The longer we wait, the more danger you're in." I thought about that possessed phoenix, about the threat it had made. "Something is hunting you, Kaida. I don't know what yet, but I felt its presence. You need to be stronger before it comes back."
She nodded slowly. "Okay. Tomorrow night. But Ryven—" She grabbed my hand. "Promise me something."
"Anything."
"Promise that eventually, you'll tell me the truth about what you really are."
My blood turned to ice. "What do you mean?"
"Your eyes glow silver sometimes. Your skin gets so hot it almost burns. And today—" She touched my cheek, and I felt my control slipping again. "Today I saw scales on your arm before you covered them. I'm not stupid, Ryven. You're not human. Not completely."
She knew. She actually knew.
"Kaida, you can't—" My voice came out layered with dragon resonance, and her eyes widened.
"I won't tell anyone," she whispered. "I swear it. Whatever you are, I won't tell."
Behind us, the archive doors burst open.
Uncle Aurelius stood there, his ancient eyes blazing silver fire. Three other dragons in human form flanked him—the council enforcers.
"Too late," Aurelius said coldly. "She already knows too much."
He raised his hand, and I felt the killing magic gathering. They were going to execute us both. Right here. Right now.
"RUN!" I screamed, pushing Kaida toward the back exit.
But she didn't run. She stepped in front of me instead, her amber eyes blazing with something I'd never seen before.
"Touch him," she said, her voice ringing with power, "and I'll show you what a real dragon tamer can do."
Golden light exploded from her body, and for the first time in three centuries, the ancient dragon-rider marks appeared on her skin, glowing like the sun.
Uncle Aurelius's face went pale. "Impossible. The bloodline died out—"
"Apparently not," Kaida said.
Then she grabbed my hand, and our combined power erupted, shaking the entire building.
The last thing I saw before the world went white was Uncle Aurelius's shocked expression.
We'd just declared war on the entire hidden dragon race.