2

The lizardmen shrunk back into the grass, and left me quietly. My core was nearly recovered. It only caused me a faint twinge of pain now. Like a sore muscle. I'd drawn from it when I struck that lizardman in my rage.

Having realized the lizardmen had been watching us while we were in pain had angered me in a way I'd never experienced before. Such a white hot rage mixed with a frightening calm. I didn't like the way it felt, but at the same time it felt right. The guards at the gate nearly shot me when they saw my eyes glinting through the dark. They didn't let me in until I showed them Ethan.

It was odd to know that the only reason they even attempted to trust me was because of my bonded. Savannah looked concerned when she discovered Ethan was unconscious. She grew irritated with me when I refused to say anything about what had happened. Her irritation growing when I refused to let her take him from me. I didn't even make excuses.

I just let her be irritated with me for now. Ethan could explain if he wanted to when he woke up. It wouldn't be long. His rest was quickly energizing his body. I could feel it.

I needed my own rest in the meantime. The assault would begin at noon tomorrow. I would need to be well rested. I intended to rile myself up as soon as I woke so I could summon Gaia at first light. It would be easier now that I had Ethan's rage to draw upon as well.

I had no idea how much rage Ethan had bottled up until now. His calm sleep was the only thing keeping me from drawing on it now. I wanted to know how much strength his advancement had given him. My wings twitched as I settled slowly. Savannah attempted to take Ethan from me again, but I found myself curling up around him childishly.

Putting my own bulk between her, and him. He was still tucked up safely in my wing. I tucked my head in there with him. Breathing in the slight change in his scent. I wasn't used to smelling him.

The fact that I even knew his scent was surprising. His scent had changed slightly. Fading a bit as if he gave off less of it. I pushed the thought out of my mind as I tried to doze with as much of my face touching Ethan as possible. I only managed an hour or two before pulling my head away from him.

His scent overwhelming me. I hadn't realized that I was weak to scents. Grass, and such didn't bother me, but my body recoiled from the idea of having the scent of something warm, and living rammed into my nose. I found that my scales didn't have a scent as I drifted off completely. Four hours of blissful nothingness was what I expected.

I didn't get blissful nothingness. My dreams were filled with pieces of memories. None my own. All mixed together. Some from the perspective of the dragon queen.

Others from the perspective of the dragons I'd absorbed cores from. A distinct impression formed. An impression of betrayal, and a deep sadness. Something the dragon queen had done. Something terrible.

Something I wasn't meant to know of. Something I wasn't meant to see. The blurred images, and impressions didn't make enough sense for my mind to take them in properly. I knew I would forget it all again when I woke. I wasn't meant to know any of it after all.

She didn't want me to see what she had done. She'd sacrificed everything on this second chance for our race. I woke up with a start. Savannah had thrown some gear at my head. My mind tried to claw the memories of what I was dreaming about back to the front of my mind.

Something about sacrifice? I shook it off as my mind cleared up slowly. Ethan was already awake. Staring at his hand as if it were something alien to him. He looked freshly showered, and his armor had been cleaned recently.

What little of his shirt I could see also looked clean. Savannah didn't look nearly as irritated with me now that Ethan was up, and seemed fine, but she was still a little wary. Ethan had lost what little baby fat he'd had. Giving his face a sharpness it hadn't had before. I couldn't see anything else of his body so I didn't know what other visible changes had occurred, but I didn't really care how he looked.

The way he alternated between just staring at his hand, and clenching it experimentally told me there were other changes that weren't visible. I'd already known about the other changes, but Ethan hadn't known of the physical changes. He just thought that our connection would widen like before. That he might be able to draw more of my strength. Not gain a strength of his own.

I liked that about him. Our bond thrummed happily when Ethan glanced toward me mentally. My eyes going slightly out of focus as I let him freely rummage around my mind. He looked up surprised when he saw himself though my eyes. My own vision was so much better then his that the sheer amount of information they gave him made him recoil away from that part of my mind.

I'd grown so used to it that I filtered out everything I didn't consider important. A slight almost imperceptible glow now constantly streamed from Ethan's eyes. His own eyesight had grown a good bit better then normal human vision. I stretched my wings casually. The guild was alive now with everyone mobilizing.

Aurora, and Goliath both helped as well. Rushing around with the intent to get as much done as possible. Ethan joined the fray slowly. Testing his strength. He was pulling just as much weight as the larger Goliath.