Soul Bound

Chapter 16

Grayson once again pulled himself to a stop in the tunnel running underneath the base. He clenched his fists and muttered a curse.

"What are you doing?" he gritted out into the wind. It was brisk down here, untouched by the sun. "You're not doing anything wrong."

"You're not," Eran confirmed--you know, in case Grayson needed more reasons to feel like a fool, "which is why your indecision makes this all the more amusing."

"Shut up." He did not need Eran's sass right right now. His brain was already running amuck without his help.

He took two quick breaths then pressed forward. This was ridiculous. It was perfectly normal for him to check in on Eva's progress. She was Jacob's sister, who he had vowed to protect. Part of that protection was to make sure she was handling her training okay. Another was to make sure nobody wanted to cause any trouble.

He had heard whispers in the hallways. Jacob's poor little sister. The girl who faced Prince Darius and lived. A lucky hunter who stumbled into the last, lonely storm dragon. They pitied her. Envied her. Saw her unworthy.

They didn't know shit about her.

A light finally appeared at the end of the long tunnel. Grayson picked up the pace, growing more confident with each step.

One of Jacob's friends mentioned that Eva was already training on Big Bertha. Grayson had to see it for himself. It typically took new recruits two weeks to master Plummet.

The path before him opened up, leaving the tunnel in the mountain behind him, and giving way to the fissure wedged between two walls of rock. He followed the trail around the bend and spotted Anna standing with her back to him. The stopwatch in her hand glinted in the sunlight.

Passed her was a series of obstacles that tested many of the physical barriers riders faced on their dragons and out in the field.

It brought back old memories. Good ones. The kind that had him smiling before he knew what he was doing.

He approached Annaliese, purposely making his footfalls loud so she could hear him coming. She spared him a brief glance, but he saw the surprise before she hid it.

"What are you doing here?"

Grayson scanned the obstacle course for Eva's starlight hair. Without his dragon vision, he wouldn't have been able to spot her crawling through the claustrophobic tunnel carved into the fissure walls. She was wiggling her way up to one of the hardest parts of the course. The Leap of Faith. A six foot gap she had to clear.

"How's she doing?" Grayson asked, ignoring Annaliese's question.

She tapped her chin, studying Eva's movements. Anna wasn't anything if she wasn't scrupulous. "In her training? Exceptionally well. I can see why Arkon Bonded with her. She's quick. Mentally, though?" Anna shrugged. "She's managing. I think she's focusing on her training so she doesn't have to think about her loss." She peered at him through her lashes. "How are you?"

"Me?" He wasn't here to talk about himself.

Biting back a laugh, she slapped his chest, startling him. Only Annaliese Hargin would playfully hit him--and it still surprised him every time. "Yes, you. Your best friend is in mourning, and I heard you were with Eva when she arrived. Is that true?"

"It's true."

He held her while she cried, let her soak his shirt with her tears. Heard every heart-wrenching sob that tore through her chest. She trusted him wholly. Left herself vulnerable in front of him. No one had ever been so utterly themselves with him.