Page 55 of First Light
Duncan put his hands on his hips. “Might have what?”
Cadell stared down his nose at Duncan. “Lachlan’s Brightkin was not in the Shadowlands when your sister was killed. He is not a suspect.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes at Carys. “You think I’m a murderer?”
“Not if Cadell doesn’t,” Carys said.
“Low, Carys. That is low.”
“I don’t trust anyone right now.” She looked at Cadell. “Except for him, and I don’t even know why.”
“There.” Cadell pointed himself toward a hill just outside the village where a stone tower dominated the skyline and sheep were grazing on the slope. “You can trust me. Because I am your bonded dragon, Carys of the Brightlands.”
“How? Because I am Seren’s Brightkin?”
“Yes.” Cadell frowned. “And no. I cannot explain it any more than you can, but the moment the magic of this place touched you, I felt you. From hundreds of miles away. I felt the heat of Seren’s death as if it were a spear piercing my heart.” He turned to face Carys, and his golden eyes were filled with emotion. “Yesterday I felt a new root grow in the hollow Seren left. The moment I felt it, I knew that you were in our world.”
“Yes.” A root. That was exactly how it had felt to Carys too. Not a string or a chain but a living, growing vine that connected this magnificent creature to her own soul. “Does it always happen this way?”
Cadell smiled. “Yes. Dragons live very long lives. We can go centuries without a nêr calling to us, but once that connection is made, there is no doubt.”
Duncan spoke up. “This is all very moving, but can we get back to why it would even cross your mind that I might have murdered Seren? After everything we planned, Cadell?—”
“I believe Seren was poisoned” —Cadell kepthis eyes on Carys— “but this human was not in the realm when it happened, and he has no magic.”
Duncan crossed his arms over his chest. “I contribute in other ways, dragon.”
The dragon’s glance was withering at best. “You can trust the cross human and me, my lady. Everyone else could be a danger to you.”
The landscape before them opened up, and Cadell stretched his body out, a fiery shimmer glowing over his skin. The human form disappeared, revealing Cadell’s true body, an iridescent dragon the size of a small jet with two muscled back legs and two wings folded back from his front legs.
“You’re a wyvern.” Carys smiled. “Not like on the flag.”
The four-legged beasts are depicted in paintings, but all my kind take this form. There is some variation in other populations, but I am dragon.
She walked around his body and her hand reached out, but she paused. “Do you mind?”
My lady.He nodded his great serpentlike head, which bore a row of spikes that almost looked like a crown.I understand my form is new to you. You may examine me if you wish.
She ran her hand along his pebbled skin, olive green and shimmering under her fingers. The top layers were translucent, giving Cadell the appearance of striking iridescence and allowing the fire at his throat to glow.
His skin seemed to ripple as she touched, and Carys had the strangest sensation that she had done this before. “Did I dream about you?”
It is possible, Nêrys. Brightkin can dream of their Shadowkin.
“Do you mind?” She put both hands on his neck and rested her cheek against his skin. “You’re so warm.”
No human has touched me since Seren died.The voice in her mind ached with grief.
“I am so sorry, Cadell.” The tears that came to her eyes were hot and fast. How could you cry for a sister you never knew? Seren’s death felt fresh when she heard Cadell’s voice.
She continued to walk around him, fighting back tears and giving this strange dragon the touch he seemed to crave. “Do all dragons live in Wales? Cymru?”
No, there are dragon populations spread across the world. Our kind need large territories to keep peace among ourselves.
Duncan cleared his throat. “In the Shadowlands of Western Europe, the dragons all live in Cymru, but there are other pockets that I’ve heard of. Eastern Europe. Persia. China, of course. A couple in the Americas, I think.”
“How big is the Shadowlands?”