Shattered Bonds: A Dragon Rider Romance by R.A. Vincent

Author:R.A. Vincent [Vincent, R.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R.A. Vincent
Published: 2024-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

We made our way through the city, walking close and closer together.

Rain thickened the air, and darkened the clouds—weighing down their bellies. That’s what it felt like. A thick, sludgy weight in the pit of my stomach weighing me down with every narrow-eyed glance and behind-the-hand whisper that came our way.

As it was, I barely glanced at the steeply sloping roofs with their gold-dipped, upturned edges; the open-air lush gardens placed between buildings and shops, or wonder of a city I’d never been in before—different in every way to Ossian, Golden City, and Itzala.

My eyes couldn’t linger too long on Laykan, Ghidorah’s beautiful capital city, because all eyes were on us.

“Akasha,” I whispered. “Are you sure they can’t see our real faces?”

“I’m sure. I changed everything about us. Hair color, eye color, clothes, height, weight. We even sound like we’re speaking Old Nehebkan. They’re staring at us because—”

“We’re strangers,” Poet finished. “We look like we don’t belong.”

“Have we become this already?” Keely whispered. “Looking at others like they don’t belong?”

“They’re scared,” Junia spoke up, voice flat. “Watchers walk around in plain clothes these days, searching for a whiff of unique magic, offering rewards to those willing to whiff it out for them, and punishing anyone who conceals a unique mage from them.

“That’s how I was found.” She drew her shawl tighter around her, warding off a chill that wasn’t in the warm air. “I was manning the dress shop for my mother one day, when a Watcher in disguise came in and tried acting friendly with me—asking questions about our customers. She was trying to hide her intentions, but couldn’t. She tackled me two seconds after blurting that she was sleeping with her married commander. Just like that, my life was over.”

Junia’s eyes shone. “So yes, this is where we are now. No one trusts anyone anymore.”

Akasha laid her hand on her shoulder. They shared a look a magicless girl like me knew well.

“Let’s just get inside,” Junia said. “I’ll feel better when we’re behind closed doors. Roark, are we close?”

“Very close.” He veered off and climbed the short steps of a pretty, red-brick building with a golden, steepled roof. The hanging sign above the door read Grand Laykan Inn.

We piled inside—thankful to be free of the stares... for all of a millisecond.

We burst into the dining room, stopping a host of spoons and mugs halfway to people’s lips.

“Grab that booth in the back.” Dominic gestured to the corner booth off the bar. “I’ll order and tell Adan we need six rooms.”

The five of us passed tracking eyes and hushed whispers, walking over the red and gold marble floor to the bright blue upholstered booth in the back. Nothing about the golden utensils, ceramic plates, fancy mugs, or crystal chandeliers screamed nondescript place to lie low out of sight.

Dominic said the owner would never betray us, and I believed him, but what about all these coin-heavy nobles looking at us like we walked into the wrong place?

We all slid into the booth, barring Atlas who made his appearance as we stepped into the inn.

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