Sired: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (Ascension Book 3)

by Kenna Bardot

  I popped my head in, happy when I saw Iva. “Where’s Jas?”

  “Up here!” I saw her at one of the platforms in the room, so high it was nearer the ceiling than the floor. “I’ll be right down.” Iva straightened and Jas jumped onto her back, sliding down and landing on her wing before gracefully falling onto the floor on her feet.

  She eyed me before turning her attention to Hydra, who had barely reacted when we’d walked into the room besides tucking herself firmly behind me. “Not that I’m unhappy that you’re here, Mireyah, but I figure you’re awake this early for a purpose.”

  “I’m worried about Hydra. She’s just so jittery. A few days back, something scared her while she was in the yard and it was horrible. She’s mostly bounced back, but she gets so nervous sometimes. I’m so scared for her.”

  “Hmmm…” Jas looked down at Hydra again. “Let’s see then. Come on.”

  I coaxed Hydra to move and because she wouldn’t cooperate, hefted her up onto the clear white counter where Jas could examine her. Jas carefully took her face in her hands and closed her eyes. A green light pulsed from her hands and Iva held out a claw which Jas clasped. I felt a pulse in the air and took a step back as the feeling suffocated me.

  Jas opened her eyes and sent me a sad smile. “Yes, there’s definitely fear, but she feels safest when she’s with you. All you can do is humor her through her being a little extra needy.” She spun around and to a cabinet, pulling several bottles. She walked back and laid them on the counter, opening one. She poured the cloudy gray liquid into Hydra’s mouth. She tried to move away, but I laid a calming hand on Hydra’s head.

  “Take the potion and make sure she takes it once a day for the next two weeks. But just continue as you have been. She feels your love and knows that you’ll always be there for her. So just keep on doing that.”

  I nodded just as Haisley came rushing in. “Jas, Gwynna’s egg is hatching! I thought you should know.”

  “Is she? I should just finish with Hydra and Mireyah and go to her and Illyrio. He must be frantic, I’m sure he’s frantic.”

  “There’s going to be a new baby!” Haisley squeaked in her excitement.

  “So I heard,” I said with a smile as I stroked Hydra in an attempt to soothe her.

  Chett walked in after Haisley, touching his wife on the shoulder, and I could see I startled him when he saw me. “Ah, Mireyah, I see you’re early. I was just about to ask Jas if she could take a look at Hydra later, but since she’s here, I needed her opinion on whether Hydra is big enough to do the basic exam.”

  Jas’s eyes met mine, sad and wide. She frowned as she looked at Hydra. “I just finished an examination of her, actually. And, yes, she’ll be ready but no less than two weeks from now. I’ve given Mireyah a potion for Hydra to take until then, but she’ll be fine after that.”

  She rounded the island, stopping before me. “Don’t forget, okay?”

  “I won’t.” I spun around just as Haisley and Jas sped out of the room.

  Chett gave me a big smile. “Training? You heard the girl, you will have your basic exam in about two weeks. Not that I want to rush you, but it’s more because the new baby dragon means there are changes in the duties and Guards. And when the baby dragon does eventually enter a bond, I would need to train that Guard. For decades we haven’t had any new dragons and in a year, we have two.”

  “I understand, Chett. Hydra and I will be ready. I’m ready to train.” But first, I had to make sure my baby was well.

  ✽✽✽

  Hydra and I made our way to the front door, pausing with my hand on the knob. I glanced down at her as she nuzzled my knee.

  I didn’t know why I felt like such a wreck. I’d faced challenges where the consequence of failure was death without feeling this nervous.

  Perhaps it was because it wasn’t just me anymore. I had Sires to make proud, and a dragon who wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. I couldn’t be the reason she lost that connection, not with how severed I was from all the things I’d shared with my own mother.

  We weren’t even the same race anymore. Her being human, me being a Goddess. Literal worlds apart.

  Running a hand over the top of Hydra’s head, I took comfort in the familiar feel of her scales against my palm. Like cold armor, despite the fire that raged inside her. It felt so much like I supposed many saw when they looked at me when I’d been human.

  The cold, Northern bitch and nobody ever saw the flames of vengeance that stirred inside me until it was too late.

  Finally, turning the knob and stepping inside, I couldn’t be surprised when the others vaulted to their feet. “What did the healer say?” Hollis asked, immediately moving forward to gather my dragon into his arms. The uncomplicated love and bond between them reminded me so of my own bond with Hollis. Occasionally, he genuinely pissed me off, but more often than not he was the voice of reason. The bridge between the stronger personalities that went head to head with me, and often the ones that Hydra didn’t care for.

  I wondered how much of that was a reflection of the tension and anxiety they made me feel regularly. If she somehow missed the love that drove the arguments and just hated the fighting.

  “She’s good. Jas said that she’s all healed. She gave me a few potions for her to take. So good, in fact, that they’ve moved up my exam because of the hatchling.” I chewed at the corner of my mouth, trying to disguise the nervous tell with an awkward smile.

  “Why don’t you seem excited? You’ve been working so hard for this,” Tate murmured, stepping up and touching his thumb to my lip until I released it from between my teeth. His hand caught my cheek, cradling it gently as he stared down at me.

  Feeling the attention of the others on me, I shrugged and tried to play it off. I couldn’t explain the nerves, couldn’t even grasp them myself. I stood no chance of explaining them to someone else.

  “Mireyah,” Char commanded, making me snap my head to stare into those intense white eyes.

  Tate glared at him in warning, before turning his attention back to me. “Talk to me.”

  I glanced at Char cautiously, returning back to Tate’s silver gaze. “What if I fail?” I whispered.

  Ryle huffed a laugh. “You won’t. You’re far too stubborn to fail at anything, Winter Girl.” Tate leveled him with an exasperated look.

  “Ryle’s an oaf, but he’s right about this,” Tate whispered, tucking a finger under my chin and making me raise my head high. “You won’t fail.”

  “But what if I do?” I asked again. “I’ll lose my one chance. Everything I’ve been working for will just fly out the window. The Cadre.”

  “Then you’ll do something else,” Hollis inserted.

  “We’ll be here. Hydra will be here. You’ll still be in the Dragon Guard and you’ll be badass at whatever you end up doing. You’ll still strive for your ultimate goal and want to help the humans. What is Unwanted duty, being part of that Cadre, compared to all those things?” Shep asked.

  “Most people prioritize the things that are the most important to them,” Char said. “Is the Unwanted more important than the powerful bond you share with Hydra?” he asked.

  I shook my head. There was nothing more important to me than the bond I had with my dragon.

  “Is it more important than your bond with the five of us? Is it more important than helping your family and friends in Wintercairn?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then fuck the Unwanted Duty,” Char shrugged. “Everything that matters is part of you. It will be there whether you pass or fail. But you’re our Mireyah, so you’ll go and you’ll give them hell, anyway. You’ll make them all realize they were wrong to ever doubt you or assume you would be less. Because that’s what you do. You take stigmas and prove them wrong,” Char said.

  “Don’t let them be right about you just because you’re too stressed to believe in yourself for the first time,” Shep added with a smile. He stepped up, touching my shoulder gently. “P
rove them wrong.”

  I nodded.

  Nobody was allowed to tell me what I could or couldn’t do. Not my Sires. Not judgmental Gods who wanted me to fail.

  Not even myself.

  Eighteen

  Mireyah

  A missing limb. But more vital. That’s how being separated from Hydra felt.

  Nothing but the dark back of the cloth wrapped around my eyes, and the way my soul begged to be whole again.

  I heaved a deep breath, relaxing into the feeling of my dragon. Of the tether between our souls, the part of her that lived inside me. Her energy pulsed in the distance, a dim beacon shining for me to follow. I just had to feel her, had to focus on that connection.

  The woods echoed around me; the sounds ringing louder because of the deprivation of my sight. Birds chirped and Patrick’s shoes scuffled the leaves behind me as he trailed in my wake. My connection to Hydra couldn’t help me navigate the wooded terrain or prevent me from tripping over tree roots.

  Patrick always took great care to catch me when I stumbled, to keep me from falling into the ditches as the land dipped and rose. Directions with my sight I could navigate, would have been able to tell if I was going North or South or East or West and what I might find if I kept walking by the position of the sun in the sky or the stars at night.

  Without that, I didn’t know where I was going. Only that it was toward Hydra. Toward my other half.

  The last time I’d done something so similar, I’d known exactly where I needed to go.

  I just hadn’t been sure if I should.

  The confliction I’d felt in those moments during the Challenge at Godsvail crashed over me so vividly that it became impossible to ignore the differences. The stakes of that Challenge had been life or death. Succeed and get an advantage or lose and have a higher risk of death.

  This time, I knew I’d walk away with my life intact. This time I had someone to protect me, and a life that was precious to the very same race who had been so willing to callously throw me to the wolves as a human.

  A little less than seven years ago, I hadn’t mattered. I’d been just another human who could serve and entertain the Descendants at Godsvail. I’d been nothing but a girl in a situation she couldn’t win who just refused to die.

  Now, I was bonded to a dragon, so I focused on that connection. On the Holiest of all bonds that ran from her and through me. Her impatience came loud and clear, making me chuckle as I stumbled over a root and Patrick righted me to my feet.

  “I won’t die if I fall, you know?” I teased him. “I mean, unless you push me down a cliff.”

  He chuckled, but didn’t answer. Brushing off the nerves, the feeling that I might fail, I trudged forward.

  There were no real dangers in this exam. Like the guys reminded me, the only thing I had to lose was my pride. I could stand to lose some of that, though I refused to let it happen. If I failed, I’d go down with a fight. But I wouldn’t, because the bond between Hydra and I was too strong to fail in this.

  I wouldn’t let the trio of hate be right about me, wouldn’t let them rub it in that I couldn’t serve with the most elite of the Dragon Guard. It wouldn’t matter that none of them had that honor. All they would see was the human taint to my blood.

  I’d show everyone what humans could be.

  The vague sense of the trickle of water slid over my toes, and then my entire foot plunged into chilly depths despite the boots on my feet. The other remained dry, no matter how I pivoted my body. There was no sound of splashing water in my ears as I spun, no sign of anything resembling water nearby.

  But in the distance, the same direction as Hydra, the light trickle of flowing water echoed through the trees.

  Hydra’s smug satisfaction echoed through the bond, cracking like a whip. My dragon grew tired of waiting for me. I glanced over my shoulder at where Patrick lurked behind me and stepped forward with more sure steps.

  I followed Hydra and her throbbing energy inside me that grew with every step closer to her I came. Patrick trailed behind me, and I lifted my feet high so I wouldn’t trip in my haste to get to Hydra and Chett.

  My second foot bathed in cold when Hydra put her other into the water like the defiant little shit she was. I imagined Chett’s frustration with her, with the willful dragon who would never let me tackle an obstacle on my own.

  Not when she was far too independent to be told what to do.

  My other half, after all.

  I knew the moment we reached the creek, the small clearing around us opening up so that Hydra’s emotions filled it.

  Heat licked the side of my face as she let out a triumphant blast of flame, and a flick of my wrist turned the flames to ash.

  “Naughty dragon,” I murmured, and Chett’s laughter echoed through the clearing as Patrick untied the band from around my head.

  Hydra stood with her front two legs in the water, giving me an unimpressed look with one brow raised. I laughed at her impatience, at her facial cues that communicated everything I felt to those who didn’t have the bond to interpret her.

  It took you long enough.

  ✽✽✽

  Hydra raced along at my side, antsy to fly in the second part of my exam as we made our way to the training grounds in the Southern region of the Reserve.

  My throat closed when I remembered the first time we had to fly. The moment I had almost lost Hydra. I was determined that I would surpass that Mireyah. I would not fail.

  I expected Corban to be there to watch. There was nothing that the Head of the Dragon Guard missed when it came to the force he commanded so thoroughly.

  I should have expected Gaige’s presence. Chett would have informed him of my goals to join his elite of Unwanted duty, the Cadre.

  Nothing could have prepared me for Jarek leaning against his dragon’s side, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face. I glared at him, feeling my heart plummet to my stomach. Given how in sync Hydra and I were, it seemed impossible to think Jarek and his dragon would be any different.

  I took back my earlier thoughts that there wasn’t any actual danger in the exam. His dragon would drop me to my death in a heartbeat. My only reasonable doubt stemmed from the fact that to kill me would mean killing Hydra. While Jarek hated me, I had to hope he wouldn’t want to harm her.

  It was getting more and more impossible to think my exam would go any better than my first time up on a dragon. And that time I had been on Leone and he genuinely liked me.

  “It would be too easy to let you ride a dragon you know,” Corban said, sympathy in his gaze as he studied my reaction. “You’ve practiced on two you know, yes?”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “I’m uncertain why needing it to be a dragon I don’t know means that I have to ride a dragon who will hate me because of his bond with Jarek. Surely there can be some middle ground.”

  Corban cast his eyes to Jarek uncertainly. “It is unusual for conflict between Dragon Guards to be so blatant. If it would make you more comfortable, you can use my dragon Anguisa, for your exam. I wasn’t aware that you were so at odds with Jarek given that he volunteered Sobek for this.”

  “No,” Gaige inserted, stepping forward. “There are times when my Guard need to communicate and interact with one another’s dragons. We treat ourselves like a team, and we are only as strong as our weakest link. From what I’ve heard, hatred appears to follow Mireyah wherever she goes. If she wishes to join my elite, my Cadre, then I need to see that she can tame even the fiercest of dragons. Let us see what you’re capable of, Mireyah. I would very much like to see what makes a Goddess who rises from the pits of humanity to survive the Challenges and impress the ambassador of the Gods.” It always came back to Lathyn. To my bond with him.

  I didn’t bother arguing that I was not his wife, or that his continued connection to me shouldn’t be so presumptuous.

  I’d need that connection in the near future. I couldn’t shun it when it became inconvenient for me.

  “I impres
sed him because I refused to take off my clothes,” I said with a self-satisfied smirk when his face twisted into shocked amusement.

  “And why would you do such a thing? Many would argue you would draw far less attention to yourself if you just did as you were told.”

  “Because I’m no one’s bitch. Especially not his,” I gestured at Jarek with a flick of my head, watching as Gaige smiled at me.

  “So show me,” he drawled, waving me forward with an arm. Jarek stepped back from his dragon, his arm barely brushing against mine as he passed.

  Chett nodded me forward, silent support at my back as Hydra growled at Jarek.

  I stepped forward, approaching the giant blue dragon with sure steps. I couldn’t afford to show fear, not with so many of the most important members of the Dragon Guard watching and judging every step I took.

  It felt like far more than a basic exam with Gaige present, like it instantly became more of a job interview, rather than a precursor exam. Sobek flung his neck around, whipping his massive head directly into my face. Whereas I’d never felt fear with Hydra’s mother when I approached her, the way his chest rattled with a growl and he bared his elongated teeth at me made me flinch back.

  Heaving in a deep breath, I held my ground and stared into the intense blue eyes as they narrowed into slits and glared at me. Jarek laughed somewhere behind me, and it was the image in my head of his torment if I backed down that motivated me to reach out a hand. I waited, letting Sobek determine if I could touch him.

  I gave him the respect the Gods never afforded me as a human. I treated him as my equal, exactly as he was, and recognized his right to his own body. Unwanted duty or not, I wouldn’t touch him without his permission.

  Those narrowed eyes of his widened bit by bit as his frame relaxed, and I waited while he studied me. Eventually consenting, he dropped his nose down as his mouth closed and my palm touched the top of his snout. He purred briefly, but the sound cut off as his eyes darted over my shoulder to watch his partner warily.