Kerrigan gulped. “You didn’t say that your dad had to accept me.”

“What would have been the point?”

“What if he rejects me?”

Fordham shrugged. “We won’t let that happen.”

Kerrigan blinked up at him, her headache now the least of her worries. She put her foot into Tieran’s leg and hoisted herself into the saddle. She wobbled slightly and felt her stomach clench. She tightened her grip on the pommel.

If you throw up on me, then you will be walking to the House of Shadows, Tieran said irritably.

“Noted,” she grumbled.

Netta took the lead, gliding toward the exit and then flying out the entrance. Tieran followed behind her. Normally, this was Kerrigan’s favorite part—the first free fall into oblivion before they leveled off—but today, it was the last thing she wanted. She should have given up a few extra minutes to run to the infirmary for something to settle her stomach. But it was too late now.

“Take it easy,” she pleaded with Tieran, but he either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

He vaulted off of the stone opening in the mountain. He tucked his wings in tight to his body as they plummeted hundreds of feet toward the surface of the valley. Kerrigan’s stomach rose to her throat. She closed her eyes and held on for dear life, hoping that she wouldn’t unleash the drink from last night onto her dragon. She didn’t doubt that he wouldn’t let her ride the rest of the way.

Then, at the last second, his wings exploded out of him, and they rose as he caught the wind. Going up might be worse, as it jolted her stomach down toward her toes. She leaned hard against the saddle, running her hands along his cool scales to try to settle herself as they pulled up into a glide off of Netta’s right wing.

“That was not nice,” she groaned.

Tieran’s body rumbled, as if he was laughing at her. Ass.

If they were bonded, as they were supposed to be, he would have been able to feel her discomfort. He wouldn’t have tried something like that because he would have suffered too. But nothing had gone how it was supposed to.

At the bonding ceremony, they had both drunk the potion that would connect them for life. She went under and saw a vision of her father being beaten by a large man in a white toga. She’d never seen anyone like that before, and when she tried to get the man to stop, he looked at her. She had no idea what any of that meant, but as soon as she returned to herself, she knew it had gone wrong. She and Tieran hadn’t bonded.