Child of Ardor

xv

"What the fuck?!" I murmured under my breath, looking down and away from the dragons that looked way to fucking similar to be a joke or by random chance.

I am sure Colm and Sgaeyl are siblings ... I am sure of it!

"It is against the Codex to have dragons bond with a rider that is in the same familial line as their previous rider." One of the other people came to stand next to General Melgren, saying in a very fast voice.

"And? Colm's previous rider is not in our— Teagan's immediate familial line. He has no previous rider!" Xaden repeated.

"How do you know Colm?" I said loudly, turning to face my brother. There was no way he could have heard me say my dragon's name leading me to believe he knew Colm even before he bonded with me.

"Later, little dove, later." Colm's deep voice sounded in my head.

I don't know when I'm going to get used to some random voice floating around in my thoughts and inner feelings...

"Well, you better get used to it soon or we're going to have a problem."

"Get out of my head!" I fired right back, easily figuring out how to mindlink Colm instead of me talking and him in my head. "And how the hell do you know my brother?"

"Language." Colm muttered.

"Well?" I urged.

"Later." He said the exact same thing as before.

I groaned but turned back to the argument in front of me between Xaden and General Melgren.

"No." General Melgren cut off the lady who had come to stand next to him, speaking to Xaden. "But you and her are as well as your dragon and this one" — he referred to Sgyael and Colm — "meaning that, that is a direct contact."

"What?" I spoke. I'm a little slow.

"Let me handle this." Xaden spoke to me, so only I could hear — a nice way of saying 'shut the hell up' essentially. "There has never been a rule in the line of dragons and who they bond with. My sister and her dragon have not gone against anything."

"Your sister has gone against many rules!" General Melgren bit back harshly.

"Who the fuck—"

"Riorson is right. There is nothing in the Codex against this bonding. Although it is unusual ... we should be happy Colm has agreed to finally bond. And that two black dragons have joined our ranks this year." Professor Kaori broke in, effectively turning the conversation away from me and back to Violet and her two dragons.

"Let's go, T." Xaden said nonchalantly, grabbing my hand and tugging me away to stand near where our two dragons stood together.

"What's happening?" I asked him, not even bothering to look at our dragons who clearly want to speak to us. They can be patient.

"I do not excel at patience." Colm said in my ear almost warningly.

"Well great. This gives you a chance to work on that then!" I snapped back, turning my undivided attention back to my big brother.

Xaden looked at me funny before realizing that I was speaking to Colm. "Nothing. The Empyrean needs to decide if you are allowed to bond with Colm and if Sorrengail can possess two dragons."

"The Empyrean will not tell me who I can and can not bond to, boy." Colm cursed Xaden out in my head.

I ignored him.

"How do you know Colm?" I asked.

Xaden sighed, grabbing onto my shoulders and turning me around so my back was against his chest and we were staring at our two dragons. "See them. Don't you think they look similar?"

"Yes..."

"Good. You're not blind." He grunted, standing up to his full height. "Colm and Sgaeyl are siblings. They come from the same line."

"But ... Colm is black and blue."

"Half-siblings." Xaden corrected himself curtly. "Colm comes from one blue and one black dragon — both very powerful which is why he's discolored, neither color could win out."

"I prefer the classification of mixed." Colm muttered, his lip slightly raising up at out Xaden called him 'discolored.' "Tell your big brother that." He ordered.

"He prefers the word mixed." I said almost absentmindedly.

"I know." Xaden said simply. "I just got the same lecture from Sgaeyl."

"Why?"

Xaden runs a hair through his dark black locks. "Sqaeyl tends to be protective of her little brother."

"What!" I started to get excited. "He's younger than her! That's so cool!"

"Huh?" My brother stares at me blankly.

"Colm is a guy and Sgaeyl's a girl and you're a guy and I'm a girl. But I'm younger than you and Colm's younger than Sgaeyl! It's like opposite and the same. Don't you think that's cool?" I gushed.

"Sure. Very cool." Xaden rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" I playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Go talk with Bodhi and Garrick." Xaden mutters to me out of the blue, his eyes suddenly transfixed on something across the field — Violet and Dain speaking to each other.

"What?" I asked.

"You heard me." Xaden says, not looking at me. "I'll be back later. Stay with Bodhi and Garrick. There's something I have to take care of."

"Z..." I caught his arm with a questioning look on my face.

"Go Teagan." He urges.

I roll my eyes. "Whatever Xaden." I mutter. I hustle, and run over to Garrick and Bodhi who are standing together, almost looking at me awaiting as if they knew I was going to come over.

"What's up, little cousin?" Bodhi asked first, intercepting me as he reached in to hug me. "Sick dragon you go there."

"Colm." I told him his name. "And he's Sgaeyl's younger brother."

"Really?!" Bodhi's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Damn, that's fucking crazy. Is that why the generals were having a problem?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I guess — Hey, Gar." I said, flashing him a smile.

"Teags, how was threshing. Heard some kid died on the field." He questioned.

"I wasn't there for that." I said honestly. "But it was fine other than long!"

"Don't question my timing." Colm growled.

"Don't you have better things to be doing?" I said back.

"Actually, I don't."

I ignored that.

Garrick laughed. "Yeah, no one ever expects how long it takes. Longer now that the Empyrean is going to have to talk about you and Colm and Sorrengail and her two dragons."

"Isn't that crazy!" I exclaimed.

... and just like that we jumped into an animated and long conversation filled with stories about their Threshing and dragons and all sorts of things. 

[A/N]

don't worry! I know this was a short part but I wanted to makes more sense for these parts (xv + xvi) to be in two separate chapters instead of one so go onto the next part!

what is Xaden going off to deal with?