Soul Bound

Chapter 14

Annaliese Hargin chewed on her thumbnail, while Eva changed into her night attire. She hadn’t been this nervous since she first stepped in front of a crowd.

She hadn’t meant to keep her Bonded status from Eva. It just never came up in conversation, and it wasn’t exactly something she liked to talk about. But Anna wanted to be friends with Eva, so she would make this right. Not only because she was Jacob’s sister, who was clearly in dire need of a friend, but because. . . she wanted to know what it was like to be friends with another woman. Trying to gossip with Grayson was more painful than having her ribs removed. While Jacob went shopping with her frequently, he didn’t share her enthusiasm and mostly stood by the door and offered to hold her bags. The day either of them sympathised with her cramps was the day Commander Hargin allowed her to leave Dragon Canyon to follow her passion.

Eva came out of the bathroom in shorts and a camisole. Her hair fell at an envious length down her back. It was too long to be practical for a Knight, but Anna would keep that to herself until Eva struggled with it and wanted to cut it. She wished someone had paid her the same courtesy when she had joined the Knights--instead of forcing her to chop her hair to her shoulder-height. It had taken her years to grow it back.

“Sit.”

Anna gestured to Eva’s nightstand where she had already made some camomile tea for the both of them. Silently, Eva settled on her bed, cross-legged, placing a pillow in her lap, then held the mug in her hands. Anna fell back onto her bed and chewed her bottom lip, unsure where to start with her explanation. Though, like any story, she should start from the beginning. . . .

•°• •°•

Four years ago, Annaliese had gained quite the reputation in Central Aboria. She travelled from tavern to tavern, singing for whoever would listen to her. Before she knew it, tavern owners were seeking her out to come sing for them.
It was a dream come true--and she had no one to share it with. Her mother was a workaholic, who shut her out of her life the moment Anna told her she wasn't going to become a Dragon Knight on her nineteenth birthday. She never had any friends, because up until she walked away, Kira Hargin had trained her day in and day out to become an efficient monster-slaying machine.

Despite her mother's shortcomings, Anna should probably thank her. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't have needed a creative outlet. If it hadn't been for the many lonely nights and painful lessons, her songs wouldn't have been so heartfelt and relatable. If she hadn't taught her how to keep her cool when her nerves were at their highest, she wouldn't have been able to sing in front of so many crowds, to bare her heart out to them without a worry what they thought of her.

She was on her way to her biggest gig yet--she'd been asked to sing at a lord's wedding!--when she overheard something she couldn't ignore. She was in Hillfar, a city accompanied by Fort Yarran, where, you could imagine, soldiers were quite prevalent. A group passed her in shining armour, on their way towards a tavern; she barely heard them over the clips and clops of horses' hooves on the cobblestone.

"Did you hear about the dragon that was shot down?" the guard in the lead asked the group.

"Dragons don't fly here," one of them piped up.

"I heard it was a Dragon Knight's dragon. A red one."

She had stopped to listen to them, then she was hiking up her skirts and marching over to the three city guards. She stood in front of their leader, blocking their path. His lazy eyes took in her appearance then he smiled back at the group, seeming to think she'd fancy a smelly, greasy-haired man. "What can I do for you, my lady?"

She had the ever-so tempting urge to knock him back onto his ass and show him exactly what she thought of his creepy leer, but, for productivity's sake, she buried the urge deep, deep down and pinned him with a stern glower. "The Dragon Knight that was shot down--what did they look like?"