Soldier (Talon, #3)(81)
“It’s not... I mean...”
“Spit it out, Firebrand. It’s not that hard.” Her eyes flashed, and I crossed my arms, knowing I was being a dick, but not backing down. Anger, perhaps, would be the most useful in getting her to talk. I would apologize later. “What did she say?”
“I was going to explain everything later.”
“There is no later.”
“You’re going to flip out.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
“Riley...”
“We can stand here all night if you want. I have time.”
“We’re supposed to be life-mates!”
“I... What?”
Okay, that was not what I was expecting. I stared at her, unable to form words or even a cohesive thought for a moment. She glared back, jaw set, eyes bright with anger, fear and a defiant I told you so expression. “It’s called Sallith’tahn,” she went on in a quieter voice. “That’s the Draconic word for what we’re feeling. Jade explained it. In the old days, the only times dragons got together was to mate, but sometimes a bond would form between two dragons, and then that pair stayed together for the rest of their lives. No one knows how it forms or why, but once a dragon finds its Sallith’tahn, its life-mate—” she shivered a little at the word “—that’s it. They’re supposed to be together. Or, that’s what Jade said, anyway.”
“I’ve... I’ve never heard of it,” I said, my voice coming out somewhat raspy. “In all my years in Talon, this Sallith’tahn thing has never come up.”
“Because Talon doesn’t want us to know it exists,” Ember replied. “We’re supposed to be loyal to the organization and nothing else. So they’ve made sure to erase the Sallith’tahn from our language and suppress any knowledge that it exists. If dragons knew about the life-mate bond, they might choose the welfare of another dragon over the good of the organization.”
“And that’s something Talon wants to avoid at all costs,” I finished, feeling a bit dazed. Dammit, here was yet another thing the organization had hidden from us in the name of control. Where did it end? How could they justify suppressing something so inherent, something that made us who we were?
Forget Talon for a second! Ember is your Sallith’tahn, or whatever that word is. Life-mate, Riley. Ember is your life-mate. Just give that a second to sink in.
I waited for the shock to hit. For the skepticism and disbelief, even the slight panic and disgust at the notion of a life-mate. Nothing. I felt...relieved. Almost elated. Ember was my Sallith’tahn. I finally had a word for what I felt, and it wasn’t unnatural or strange or perverse in any way. It was something as purely Draconic as flying or breathing fire, something humans, with their twisted, messy emotions, could never understand. Ember was my life-mate. We were supposed to be together, simple as that. Cobalt wasn’t the least bit surprised; even when we hadn’t known the word, he’d recognized his Sallith’tahn from the beginning.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I husked at her. “All this time, ever since the monastery you’ve known we were life-mates or Sallith’tahn or whatever, and you didn’t want to mention it? That’s not like forgetting that you left the door unlocked, Ember. This is kind of a big deal, maybe the most important thing to happen between us, and you kept it from me. Hell, you weren’t even going to tell me today until I was a massive dick about it. Why?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” Ember said. “Not yet.”
“Did you think I’d be angry? Or that I couldn’t handle it?” I shook my head. “I already told you, Firebrand, I want you with me. This doesn’t change anything. If anything, it just proves what we knew from the start, we just didn’t have a word for it.” She turned away, looking miserable, and I stalked forward with a growl. “Don’t run away. Look at me, Ember.” I reached out and snagged her elbow, but though she didn’t flinch, she didn’t turn to face me, either. “Why are you fighting this?” I whispered. “You know I would do anything for you, even before I knew the word. This...life-mate thing, don’t let it scare you, Firebrand. It just shows we belong together. Simple.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Ember snarled, whirling around, “I think I’m in love with Garret!”
Silence. I stared at her, hearing the words in my head, not fully comprehending them. I knew the soldier was a lost cause; his feelings for my hatchling were as blatant as dragonfire. Odd as it might sound, he really seemed to care for her, love her even, in the way that humans did. I’d tolerated it because we needed him, and because I thought Ember had finally realized what she was. That what she’d “felt” before was a passing curiosity, the desire to experience a human relationship, and when the novelty faded she’d realize a dragon and a human had no business being together. That the very thought was ridiculous.
It appeared that I was wrong. And Cobalt, rising from the darkness like a vengeful flame, was suddenly hell-bent on finding a certain human and ripping his head off.
I pushed him, and the rising fury, down. “That’s impossible,” I told Ember in a flat voice. “Dragons don’t love, Firebrand. We can’t love, it’s not in our makeup.”