Bloodlines: Dragon Rider Book 2

Chapter 48: Fall or Fight

Hey guys, here's a little sneak peek for the next chapter. One, shit is about to get realllll wild. Two,the title is called Night of Scars. And if you've got some theories about anything in the book, or what you think might happen in the next chapter, by all means feel free to leave it in the comments. I would love to see what everyone thinks might happen or maybe questions any of you guys have. Anyways, we're getting super close to the end of book 2, we probably have about three of four chapters left and then it's off to book 3. 

I'm excited. 

Anyways, please consider voting for this chapter, it would really mean a lot to me. Happy readings! 

Norah

I try not to move, try not to breathe too deeply.

Even turning my head has my armor shifting over me. It was never something I gave much thought before, but now, even the slightest movement makes me feel slick with blood once again.

Clarika had been smart, as always. She had brought a spare piece of storm grey armor on this trip and died in her blue one. Both would have been too long on the legs and arms for me to wear and men's armor would never fit me. When I had left the islands I had been focused on traveling light and fast, a second set of armor would have taken a toll on Rima. Now I must endure being in the armor I had been in when she died.

"Are you sure you're not just hungry?" Easton asks, adjusting his many layers of jackets, pants, and masks.

"Yes, I'm sure," Adam says, exasperated. "There is something here but I can't describe the feeling. And just because I feel it in my stomach doesn't mean I'm hungry."

Easton shrugs, never denying Adam's gut feeling. "I don't feel anything." Green eyes dart to me in a way that makes that yawning void within me split into a new endless bottom. It makes me want to scream and cry and bury myself beneath the snow to rest. I hate the way he looks at me, as if I am glass ready to shatter.

I feel numb; I feel frozen; I feel everything and nothing.

I am a leaf under frost.

Dagen leans against the cave wall, his mask hiding everything but his eyes. "That's because you're not a mage."

"Well," Easton says. "What does it feel like to you?"

He shrugs. "Death. But very wrong death."

Adam winces, glancing down the tunnel that runs further up then out as if something might leap out of it's darkness. "I mean, you did say that Thrawlers felt wrong."

Bright, silverfish swimming in clear water flash in my head. Any sliver of annoyance I had fades into icy numbness. My head feels heavier as I look down, meeting Squirms expecting eyes. He shifts.

I search my heart for a glowing brightness, a burning candle that is Squirms center--his very being. The bond is far different from Rima's. Our souls are not connected, our thoughts and hearts are separate. And the formation of our bond was not deliberate as it had been with Rima. An outburst had cracked that wall between us, a release of emotions had given him a way through. My grief had caused this. And it's the only way Squirm will communicate with me, he refuses to acknowledge me if I talk to him outloud.

I find his brightness and wrap myself around it, sending a picture of him eating at night.

He stomps his foot, white antlers flaring. Images of fish of every kind begin pouring into my mind. It only stops when I think about grabbing him. Rima lowers her head to glare at him, her annoyance caressing the back of my mind. It does not reach Squirm.