The matron went rigid as dozens of dragons landed outside the city and two black dragons landed within her courtyard. She gathered her flowing skirts and hurried out to greet the two towering princes, but froze as she saw Illyria nestled in the taller man's arms.
"Gather the Silvers, Winters is injured" She called out to Vivi as she passed her and the blonde woman ran into the tower without another word. Then the matron motioned a couple of black guard to follow her and the armored men quickly followed the older woman into the Courtyard.
"you must be Crown Prince Akazan of House Tarakon" she muttered cordially as she stopped in front of the larger man, holding Illyria in his arms, and he nodded.
"I am already your debt, matron. Unfortunately, now I am in need of your assistance once again" he muttered calmly as he looked at the woman cradled in his grasp and the matron sighed, "hand her over to the guards and they will take her..."
Suddenly, the massive Warrior set his jaw and glared at the approaching men making them freeze in their tracks as he snarled, "no, she does not leave my sight. I don't think you understand the situation here, matron. She is my bonded and I will not be separated from her." His grey eyes flickered red as he struggled for control of his magic and his brother went rigid.
"What do you mean she's your bonded? There has not been a binding in four centuries. I am not sure that it is even possible anymore" the matron asked cautiously as she looked at the massive prince and he bristled angrily as he growled, "she used Kaldarian on me and it worked exactly the way it was designed to. As unlikely as it is, her magic flows in perfect harmony with mine and when she used the Kaldarians on me she accidentally completed the binding. Unfortunately, unlike the women four centuries ago, she was not trained to ease into the binding and almost burned herself out trying to save me."
"Are you sure it's not a temporary..." Akazan cut the woman off as he snarled, "She is bound to my dragon brother as well as me and I know what Kaldarian temporary bonds are. I can feel her emotions and her magic flowing through me. All I need is for your healers to treat her and then I will take things from there."
"Bring her this way, Prince Akazan" the matron muttered softly as she walked towards the tower and the prince started forward, but his younger brother yelled, "when were you going to tell me who she was to you?!"
"After I had worked it out in my own head. Xagen has been helping me process the fact I am Bonded to her" Akazan answered calmly as he followed after the matron and Sevran stumbled after his brother.
"That's why you put guards outside your tent and rushed your own recovery. You were worried about your Bonded... That's why you healed so incredibly fast..." Akazan cut him off with a glare and Sevran blinked as he looked down at his feet in embarrassment.
"we can discuss this further after my Bonded has been tended to and is resting" Akazan barked firmly as he followed the matron into the winding stairs at the heart of the tower.
The healers gaped at the prince as he carried the unconscious woman into the ward and Vivi rushed forward.
"what happened to her?" she demanded almost angrily as she glared at the man and the matron sighed, "she is just drained and exhausted from saving Prince Akazan's life."
"Prince Akazan, just lay her down over here and we'll take it from..." Akazan bristled as he glared at the woman and the matron sighed, "We will take good care of your bonded, but we need space to do that." At the mention of the word bonded all of the women in the room looked over at the unconscious woman with awe and Vivi glared at the warrior prince.
"What did you do to Illyria? She would have never chosen this for herself! What did you do to her?!" Vivi yelled accusingly as she turned on the prince with hatred in her eyes and he met her gaze with steely grey eyes.
"It seems that the silver tower has forgotten much of our people's shared history in the last four centuries. Allow me to educate you on the binding process. When your friend used her Kaldarians on me she should have known there was a possibility of a permanent binding, but she did so at her own risk. Then because your teachings have fallen lax, she was unprepared for the binding and nearly burned herself out trying to save me. Normally the binding takes place simply because a Warrior's magic harmonizes with a Kaldari, but she took the binding to the extreme because she didn't understand what was happening and lost control of her magic. This caused the fusion of my lifeforce with hers, which was rare even in the dark wars for bonded pairs..." Vivi cur him off as she spat, "What are you talking about? There is only one type of permanent bonding."
"Hush, child. There are things that we in this tower do not teach anymore because they have been lost over the centuries. Many things have changed as peace fell over the land and the scourge receded. In our books there is very little mention of this type of bonding. They have not happened since the dark wars and even then they were so rare it was almost unheard of. Even in the books where it is written about there is very little written about it and none of us completely understand why it happens in some cases and not others. When One member of a bonded pair, usually the Warrior was gravely injured sometimes the other member of the pair would bind their life force together in an attempt to save them. However, as a result of this they share magic and life, meaning one will die if the other dies and there is no boundaries between their minds. There is no way to undo this and it was usually only done between bonded pairs who were not simply bonded out of necessity, but out of romantic relations as well. If I understand the text correctly, he and his dragon can hear her thoughts as well as speak to her within her mind. This was not a choice either party made, but it seems fate has bound them together for the rest of their lives. Prince Akazan is rightfully protective over her, but i cannot have the two of you antagonizing each other while I try to heal Illyria" the matron explained as Akazan laid the woman on the bed and Vivi gaped at him in awed horror.
"If you can speak to her in her mind why don't you tell her to wake up? Is she even all right? Is she scared?" Vivi hissed in frustration as she glared up at Akazan and he let out a slow breath.
" It would be best if I did not speak to her in her mind before she awakens. I think it would be best to explain the bond to her before I try to speak within her mind. Plus, right now her thoughts are so jumbled I don't think she would be able to discern my presence from that of her own dreams" he answered calmly as he stared at the woman on the bed anxiously and Vivi scowled.
"Prince Akazan, I think it is time for you to rest seeing that you are not fully healed either and her energy will continue to expend for your recovery. Vivi, take the prince and work on healing his injuries so that we can work on Illyria" The matron announced firmly as she glared at both of them and pointed towards the door. Vivi started to complain, but was silenced by the matrons glower and trudged out the door with the massive warrior in tow.
As the two of them walked down the silent hallway, Vivi turned to the dragon prince and hissed, "I don't like you and if healing you wasn't the only way to help Illie, I'd kill you myself." Prince Akazan raised an eyebrow in response as he towered over the woman and she balled her hands into fists to contain her own rage.
"I assure you that I will do everything in my power to help your friend..." Vivi cut him off as she turned to him with anger still blazing in her eyes and snapped, "what about her happiness? I know that as soon as she is well enough you are going to drag her back across the mountains to a world she knows nothing about. You're going to take her from everything she knows and loves."
Akazan What's quiet for several long moments before letting out a slow breath and responding, "I don't think you understand the situation entirely. I don't have much of a choice. I cannot leave my bonded a 1000 miles away from me where I cannot protect her. If I were just a soldier I would stay here with her and join the black guard, but I am not a soldier. I am the Crown Prince and I have duties of my own I must attend and that means she must return with me where I can protect her..."
"she can protect herself. She doesn't need you. She is the high commander of the black guard..." The massive Warrior Prince finally looked at the woman with a serious scowl as he interjected, "you truly do not understand, woman. I am taking her back for her own protection because once my enemies find news that she is my bonded and she is my weakness she will be a target. There are enemies who would hunt her that you cannot even imagine and I will not put her in that situation." Vivi looked at the man for a long moment, processing everything that he had said, and looked at her shoes as she realized he was right. Illyria was better off under his protection and she hated that fact, but now that he had laid the facts out she couldn't deny him.
"come along, my Lord, we need to get your injuries healed so that Illyria can be healed properly" Vivi sighed as she motioned the prince to follow her into one of the healing rooms where couple of her sisters waited. The three women looked up in surprise as Vivi led the massive Warrior Prince into the smaller healing room.
Nazira, the youngest of the 3 healing women was staring at his blade and looking back at Vivi nervously. None of the women were accustom to seeing anyone outside of the black guard carrying weapons within the city's walls because it was forbidden. The other 2 women Amara and Bri just waited for Vivi to explain.
"we heard that Illyria was injured gravely and the matron herself is tending her! What happened to her? Why are you not with her? I know that the 2 of you are quite close..." Vivi raised her hand to cut off Amara.
"it seems that when Illyria was healing the Prince here she over exerted her magic and happened to have magic that harmonised with his own..." Nazira immediately cut her off as she blurted out, "she's bound to him? I didn't know that was to possible! I have only read about it!"
All 3 of the other women immediately turned to her with shocked confusion and Amara managed to stutter out "how do you know of such things, young one?"
Nazira blushed as she looked at the floor and the Crown Prince looked at her expectantly as well and she finally answered, "well, my great grandmother told me a story of such a thing happening and it was all quite romantic in my eyes so when I was allowed access to the grand library, I read as much as I could on the subject."
"how interesting that 1 so young would know something that the most skilled healer in your city did not know" the prince mused as he sat on the edge of the heavy wooden bench that served as a table for patients to be examined on and all of the women.
"that still doesn't answer my question, Vivi. Why are you here with this strange man who dare into our city armed and not with Illyria?" Amara pressed and the prince scowled.
"this man is actually Crown Prince Akazan of House Tarakon and he needs to be healed fully before the matron can help Illie. That is where our work begins" Vivi explained and the three women gasped as they stared at the man before them.
They had not expected the man in front of them to be one of the most feared Warriors they had ever heard about and Nazira had most certainly never expected to meet royalty. The 3 women just stared at the Crown Prince for a long moment before Vivi cleared her throat drawing their attention back to her.
"ladies, focus on the task at hand we want our sister to be healed" Vivi hissed in frustration and Akazan sighed.
After several hours of working on the Prince, Vivi decided it was time to go and check on her best friend. The matron looked up as Vivi entered the Room and motioned all of the healers to continue working on the woman as she turned towards Vivi.
"how is the Prince?" the matron enquired simply as she watched the younger woman's eyes continually darting to Illyria.
"he is resting, but he should be fully recovered by the morning. How is Illyria? "Vivi answered nervously as she looked at the matron and the woman looked back at her with a sad sigh.
"winters nearly burned herself out and her body is not reacting well to it. However, she should pull through in a few days. On the other hand, I do not know how she will react to learning of her new situation" The matron answered calmly and Vivi rolled her eyes.
"the Prince's already made the decision she will be returning across the mountains with him and convinced me that it was probably for the best. If any of his enemies knew about her they would hunt her. The best place for her is at his side where the dragons can protect her." Vivi muttered almost bitterly and the matron smiled at her.
"We both know how Winters can be when it comes to letting other people protect her. I am rather interested to see how the prince intends to keep her protected when she wants to run out in protect everyone else" The matron laughed making the younger woman roll her eyes as she realised the truth behind the older woman's statement. The matron had been fighting Illyria Winters on the same topic for years and had made no headway with her. How exactly was the Prince going to convince her to follow his lead in days?