“My bond failed with my dragon. I don’t know what I did wrong. Do you think it has something to do with my spiritcasting? Or can you help me work on the bonding?”

“I’m confused,” Cleora said. “You bond yourself to the dragon? How barbaric!”

Kerrigan winced. “That’s… that’s not how it’s done by you?”

“Certainly not. The greatest among us use a coupling. They reach with their crux and hold a dragon with sheer force of will.” She shook her head. “But only the emperor and their lot are that powerful. Most use a crux bond.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a way to control the beasts without the massive amount of crux necessary for a true coupling. My brother is a dragon trainer, and his crux bonds are superior to all others. He’s even tied some for officers to use. If you have sufficient magic, you can create a crux construct like so.” Cleora used her spirit magic, and suddenly, a golden light appeared before her hands. She stretched it out until it made a long, thin line. “This is spiritcasting, but you can do it with other forms of crux. Just in the liminal space, you wouldn’t physically be able to see what I’m doing. From here, you tether the crux bond to your dragon. It puts you in charge of the beast, and once you are through, you remove it quite like any other creature. Just make sure the beast is tied down before removing it. You don’t want an accident.”

Kerrigan wanted to try it and also feared it terribly. The way Cleora talked about dragons, she most certainly was from a different world. She talked about them as if they were just larger horses. Like they had no thoughts or feelings. Just animals to their core. Nothing at all like Tieran or any of the other wonderful dragons she knew.

But if what Cleora had said was true? Then, Kerrigan could crux-bond with any dragon she wanted at any time. There would be no need for an individual bond. Which was both exhilarating and incredibly invasive. She could never imagine taking Netta away from Fordham or Tavry from Helly. They were bonded for a reason.

“Go on, try. I know it’s different where you’re from, but here, even littlings can create a construct.”

Kerrigan nodded and reached for the spirt magic—crux—within her. Found the space where she’d saved herself from the deadly fall and pulled a speck of gold light out.

“Good. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Kerrigan shook her head. “No. It was almost easy.”

“Easier off the plane too. Now, stretch it.”

Kerrigan pulled her hands apart, and the light flickered and stretched slowly at first and then with gusto.