by LJ Andrews
I shook my head. “No, each royal has a personal seal. This is . . . mine.”
Teagan turned away as I watched the beautiful markings swirl into a sphere on his entire back, the abstract images and markings that I knew spoke of nature, water, and the bliss of the air. Everything I loved, carved into his skin.
“Our seals begin after our first year. They grow as we grow. This is my current seal.”
After a few moments, Teagan turned, his arms wrapping around me again. “Then there’s no need to doubt a second longer that I belong to you.”
I wanted to scream every feeling rushing through my thoughts in that moment. We stared at each other. I held his waist, my cheek on his warm, bare chest. With care, my fingertips traced the raised seal. My seal.
Teagan was mine, and I would be his. I pulled his lips against mine, and kissed him. Harder. Longer. Until all I could do was feel.
Chapter 21
Teagan’s arms were warm around my waist when the sun kissed my cheeks. My eyes shot open, and I leapt out of the safety of his hold. Teagan groaned, running a hand through his hair and fluttering his eyes open.
“Eisha will be worried about me.” I moved to the window, my throat dry from the sweet burn as we traded kisses through the night. As he touched me, held me, loved me.
I almost felt weak, my stomach gripping around itself at the idea of seeing Sapphire. I’d promised to go home, I’d assured my fellow royal I would be cautious. But the way Teagan watched me now, I was perfectly fine throwing caution to the wind and letting him hold me close to his chest a little longer.
“May I see?” I pointed to his back.
Teagan sat up and pulled his shirt around his shoulders, revealing his back. The seal was enormous. The bottom part of the sphere just above his waistline, the top curve striking between his shoulder blades. The whole of it filled with symbols and words of the old languages.
My hand brushed the surface and Teagan shuddered. After a moment, he leaned into my fingertips.
“What does it look like?” he asked.
“It’s everything I love. It’s my history. There are even spaces for what is to come,” I said, my voice cracked and an unfamiliar sting billowed behind my eyes. It was the human body—wyvern didn’t shed tears. “It’s one of the few things I have left of my parents. They begin the design, then the royal wyvern finishes it by their three hundredth year.”
Teagan faced me as he pulled his shirt down and took my hand tightly in his own. “I’ve never felt these things before.”
The smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I rested a palm to his cheek. “Nor have I, and I certainly don’t want it to stop.”
I was positive I’d never seen a more breathtaking smile than Teagan’s, especially when he kissed me, though faster than before. I still had the inward battle on whether to stay or leave. The idea of stepping away from him brought an ache I didn’t enjoy. Queen. I was the queen of elemental wyvern. I was the one to lead the people in all our traditions and to be a force of safety and confidence.
The idea weighted on my shoulders as I pulled away. I couldn’t even resist the thumping of my heart. How would I lead?
“I must go,” I said, easing my hand out of his grasp.
A knock at the door sent my heart to my throat.
“Teagan,” said Mitch. “Come on man, the bus is almost here.”
Teagan glanced at me. “I’m just supposed to go to school?”
I shrugged, still moving toward the window. “I thought Eisha would cover your schooling. Speak with Sapphire, I’ll speak with Eisha.”
He followed me to the window, opening the glide for me, but wrapping his strong arm around my waist at the same time. “I’ll see you soon?”
The same ache building in my chest shadowed his face. I kissed the corner of his mouth. “Very soon. I’ll speak with Eisha.”
I ducked around the side of the house when the door burst open and I heard Mitch. “Come on, man—whoa, you have more tattoos on your arms. Sapphire’s going to kill you.”
“Uh, don’t tell him, okay?” Teagan returned
Mitch scoffed. “Whatever. Come on, ever since Graham left you’re basically the only guy who isn’t filled with some kind of rage or complains about everything.”
I crept to the edge of the roof and leapt off. If only Mitch could see Teagan’s back. I ran across the grass, never concerning myself over making sure I was concealed from anyone catching me jumping from Teagan Ward’s window. I should have taken a little more care.
“Jade,” Sapphire’s booming voice pounded inside my ears. Skidding to a stop, I turned slowly, my eyes averting his harrowing gaze. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, I lost track of time.” I didn’t have to apologize as the jade stone royal. It was more out of respect for our friendship.
“You assured me you would take care with this bond and not get lost.” Sapphire paused and lowered his voice. “That you wouldn’t lose sight of your priorities.”
My jaw clenched, and the ball of knots I’d had in my stomach all night lodged in the back of my throat. “Konrad, don’t mistake my interest in Teagan for losing sight of my position or my thought of our people.”
Sapphire stepped closer, his bulky arms crossing over his chest. “I am not doubting you, I’m simply concerned for you. And for Teagan. Both the mage and the wyvern have very specific rules for a reason. It keeps us all safe.”
“Does Mini have your seal all over her back?” I asked snidely, knowing the answer when I saw his expression.
“I’ve never inspected her marks closely,” he muttered. “But no. She would’ve said something, I’m sure. Did something happen to Teagan?”
“I don’t think it’s anything to fret over,” I insisted. “But at my touch last night, my seal coated his back. So it’s becoming clearer to me that this bond is something different. Perhaps it’s time for old rules to change.”
Sapphire raised a brow, his lips pressed firmly together.
Challenging the rules of wyvern wasn’t wise, and it wasn’t common for the queen to say such things. But there was the itch in the back of my mind that it was entirely possible I would be forced to challenge the elders themselves to keep Teagan. It could mean renouncing my position, my throne, my bloodline. I asked myself countless times if I was prepared to make such a move for a man I’d known for a few weeks.
“Jade, where are you going?” Sapphire called after me once I’d turned back toward the trees. “You say that to me, and just leave.”
“I must return and check with Eisha, Raffi, and Dash. Raffi has been licking his wounds, and you know he doesn’t lose well.” Through the trees I saw Teagan walking with Mitch—slower than usual—toward the old white school bus parked outside the reform house. I pointed across the lawn. “Teagan is leaving. If you want him to train, I suggest you and Eisha arrange something to cover his absence at the school.”
Sapphire’s gaze followed my point and he sighed, taking the first steps toward the bus. “We will speak of this later. It’s not something to brush away, Jade.”
“I’m going to stop telling you things if you worry about each word,” I said lightly, though I was serious. Sometimes it seemed everything I said was analyzed and dissected and only encouraged my people to keep me distanced from Teagan.
***
Raffi hadn’t taken the loss well, as I predicted. Dash was the opposite and had spent the night researching about the power of the mage.
“I don’t know what he called upon in the sanctuary, but the mages hold their powers very sacred,” he said, walking toward the forest at the back of the large house. “I found a few writings about calling on all the energies for one powerful charge, although the book made it seem as though only the most skilled mages could conjure something like that.”
I tied back my hair as we walked. Raffi opted to go shirtless, standing in the center of the back field. He’d spent the morning preparing an impossible obstacle course. Eisha an
d I had learned Mini thought it prudent that the two warrior wyverns should take the opportunity to test Teagan’s physical strength and endurance. I called it torture, but no one else seemed to agree with me.
Dash removed his own shirt, the heat of the sun rippling along his rich skin. Dash had several scars along his back that were nearly invisible when he shifted forms. I knew the scars came from his protections of me during the war.
“Jade, you are not participating,” Raffi muttered when I removed my sports jacket, revealing my own athletic clothes.
I glared, securing the tennis shoes on my feet. “If you’re going to train Teagan to fight for me, don’t you think I should learn how to defend myself as well? I’m the only one who hasn’t been able to shift. I think learning to fight in this body is wise.”
Dash glanced at Raffi and shrugged. “She has a point. We can’t leave her like a damsel in distress in the event we all should be slaughtered.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I sighed, the idea sending a sick wave through my insides.
Dash and Raffi snickered. Raffi’s skin was already glistening with sweat. He had the delicate mark of wyvern painted across his chest and shoulders. The design formed a wispy head of a dragon breathing beautiful blue fire. The marks were only visible when he was in human form, and he had gotten them when the school board instituted a “no tattoo policy” to the dress code. Eisha had spent that afternoon lecturing him about blending in. Raffi responded by getting two more along his calves.
“All right, fine,” Raffi said. “But I train Teagan.”
“I think you’re a sore loser, Raffi.”
He nodded. “Guilty. I admit freely I don’t lose well, my queen, because I never lose.”
Eisha sat at the top of the slope, arms crossed over her chest, but at least she wasn’t angry. In fact, when I’d returned home, no one said anything of my long absence.
There was a brush of air, and in the sky Sapphire’s brilliant, blue form sank from the clouds, Mini and Teagan both atop his back. My lips seemed to have a mind of their own when Teagan looked my way; I couldn’t control the smile even if I’d wanted to. I picked up my pace and strolled toward him, but Raffi and Dash moved in too quickly.
“We’re going to see how far you can go physically. If you think Nag or his followers will faint from exhaustion first, you’re wrong,” Raffi said.
“I didn’t ever think a dragon would lose to someone like me,” Teagan said with a quick wink in my direction. “Until yesterday.”
I chuckled and even caught a smile on Eisha’s face as Raffi’s cheeks painted in crimson heat.
“Well, that will be remedied shortly.”
“I will add,” Mini said, “pushing your limits physically can help you train your power to hold you up where your body cannot. This will be good practice.”
“Jade insists on participating. I think we should start here. Teagan competes with Raffi. Jade against me,” Dash said, pointing to the place on the field that looked much like an impossible obstacle course. “Let’s have some fun. Jade, if I defeat you, you must make me a crystal dagger.”
“Dash,” I whined. He knew full well how difficult it could be to call upon the more beautiful of stones in the earth. “You would ask for such a thing? Fine, if I defeat you, I want your royal blade you’re so fond of. The one the warrior bestowed upon you.”
“My knife,” he gaped, though his eyes flicked with a new competitiveness. “Prepare to fail, my queen. Thane’s blade is something I shall never part with.”
Raffi patted a sword in a sheath on the ground. “Nor will I.”
Teagan was quiet, but smiled at our back and forth.
“Line up then,” Sapphire said. Dash stood close to me while Raffi nudged his shoulder directly against Teagan. The first task was crossing jagged stones by only using ropes. My arms already ached at the thought.
I could sit out, but if my human form ached at the idea of such exercise. Proof I’d been too stagnant all these years. “Be fair and true—I’m speaking to you, Raffi.”
“Try to use your powers,” Mini shouted. “Feel it, Teagan, they will be there.”
Teagan sighed and touched his palms to the ground as though trying to reach something beneath the grass. Raffi and Dash focused on nothing other than winning the race.
Sapphire stepped to one side, a wide smile over his lips. “Ready. Go!”
At the end, I owed Dash a crystal dagger.
After scrambling to pull myself from a waist deep mud pond, I collapsed, my insides feeling as though they might spill all over themselves. My fiery lungs seemed ready to combust, and I thought I even saw steam puffing from my mouth. Wishful thinking. Of course, I felt better knowing that Dash only defeated me by a matter of five paces, and he was breathing as hard.
Teagan reached out his hand. When my fingers brushed against his, the shocking power surging between us settled my stomach quickly.
He smiled, though his chest pitted in deep breaths. “You’re incredible.”
I closed my eyes. “Teagan, you beat me.”
“Yes, but I cheated. I kept finding ways to use energy. And Raffi slaughtered me, so don’t feel too bad.”
“Don’t forget it either,” Raffi said, wiping mud from his eyes. For the first time I watched the warrior truly grin. Raffi was brisk and rough, but the way he eyed Teagan with respect, I believed Teagan had unofficially been initiated to the warrior brotherhood—even if he didn’t know it yet.
“Using energy isn’t cheating,” I said through a smile. “That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. What I should have been doing this long before to keep this body strong. I think I’ve found too much enjoyment with movies and popcorn.”
Teagan laughed again and helped me to my feet. His shirt drenched in sweat, so like Raffi and Dash he stripped it from his top, exposing the enormous, beautiful seal across his back. Mini drew in a breath, and Raffi’s eyes homed in on Teagan’s skin.
“It really happened.” Mini drew her fingers over his seal. “Konrad said Jade mentioned a seal, but I was positive he’d misunderstood.”
Teagan glanced at me, and there was a smirk in the gleam of his eyes that sent a thrill through my chest. He wasn’t the slightest bit unhinged at the idea of my seal, nor it would seem, how it had gotten there. “I think it’s my favorite mark yet.”
Dash rolled his eyes when I linked my arm around Teagan’s elbow. “Please, you both are beginning to make me ill.”
“This isn’t a wyvern ward mark, Teagan,” Mini insisted, her fingers tracing the edges of his seal.
“I still like it best,” Teagan said and took a long drink of water.
“Yes, well, when the wyvern elders or the priesthood come poking around at your back, maybe you won’t think it’s so wonderful.”
Teagan draped his arm around my shoulders. “I don’t know Mini, I think you might be a little jealous you don’t have a seal.”
Mini looked horrified. “Your pardon? I don’t need to go to bed with my wyvern for power.”
Teagan grinned and kissed the side of my head. Raffi, Dash, and Sapphire inspected the seal, a little stunned. Teagan stood by like a piece of art in a museum. Eisha didn’t look at the new mark. When I’d told her about it earlier, she only shook her head, a furrow over her brow.
What was at the heart of her worries?
It wasn’t only Teagan and the rise of the mage.
No. When she looked at Teagan, I got the feeling my guardian saw someone else entirely.
Chapter 22
Raffi and Dash offered different theories as to why the seal was there and who Teagan was.
“Maybe you’re a seer mage, and you’ll help guide the outcome of Jade’s future. I mean, she hasn’t completed her seal yet, so it could make sense,” Raffi said.
Mini shook her head. “Seers are more witch than mage. And they aren’t wards for the wyvern race.”
“Well, he’s the jade bloodline mage, right? So, Jade’s the only o
ne left. It’s probably just marking his place in the bloodline. A reinstatement, maybe. What were you doing when it appeared?” Dash asked, but when he saw the flush to my face he shook his head and said, “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
Raffi chuckled and nudged my elbow. The warrior who was the hardest on Teagan was now the one who seemed most willing to accept this bond was more than a partnership of protection.
“You really don’t have anything like this?” Teagan asked Mini quietly, his voice sounding more direct than playful.
“Only the armor marks. It’s beyond my understanding. I wish I knew who you came from, Teagan.”
Sapphire met my eye, and I knew he was wondering the same thing. I’d thought of little else this morning. Who was Teagan Ward, really?
“You and me both.” Teagan tossed his damp shirt off to the side and stepped toward Raffi.
“Teagan,” Mini said, pulling out her knife. “Wait. Give the warriors a rest, I want you to fight me.”
His brow furrowed, and Raffi and Dash took a new interest in the exercise. “Fight you?”
“Yes.” Mini removed a leather strap she’d slung over her shoulders that held a second knife and a bag of some sort of powder. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what your power means at times, but it’s quite possible you’ll face dark mages someday. There is a place where you fit in these tumultuous times, and you must be able to use your power against theirs.”
“You’re not dark though,” he argued, his bare shoulders tensing.
“No, but I can threaten you with the same power you hold. Are you frightened?”
“No. I fought against two dragons. No offense, Mini, but I think I’ll take you over them.”
Mini chuckled, but didn’t say anything. Doubtless she had a few secrets. Mini tossed her second knife to Teagan and gripped the knife that had revealed Graham’s form.
“Any rules?” he asked. He rolled the blade in his hand, not as skilled as Mini with a blade, but he was learning.
“No,” she said, drawing her black hair off her neck with a band. Mini gave petite a new definition, but her face was filled with wisdom that didn’t match her size. Between the two, Teagan dominated her physically, but Mini was cunning. I could see it in her eyes. “Use your strength to get the upper hand, but also use mage energy. The first unable to proceed loses. Jade—no intervening.”
