My head was pounding.
My heart was racing.
And my breathing was once again quick.
“How was he able to bond with you? I thought dragons only ever had one bond,” I rumbled, hands raised to my temples to help ward off the splitting headache I could feel roaring towards me.
I was standing in the middle of the lake.
Standing because all of my extra power had done that.
With nothing else to do with it, the excess started to leak out of me and into my environment.
It’s never happened in my lifetime, and I’m over a thousand years old. That’s not to say that I haven’t heard of it happening before. I just never thought it’d be with me. I was very loyal to your father.
My heart hurt slightly at the mention of my father.
But it felt right to have my son taking on Angus.
“And the power trip? Can you explain that?” I asked carefully.
You’ll feel that with anyone that has a blood bond with you.
That was news to me.
I’d never felt it before, and I’d been around through quite a few bondings in my time.
“Why?” I asked.
Because you’re King, he said simply.
“What’s the difference if he’s King or Prince? Either way it goes, he’s still the same person. No ceremonies have been held. He’s not told anyone. What’s the freakin difference? He’s the same!” Blythe growled in frustration.
She was right. I’d been wondering much the same thing.
You’ve taken the old King’s place, if only by mouth. It could be just your state of mind. You weren’t calling yourself King. Or it could be that those that follow you have accepted you as such. No matter the name in which it is called, something has changed. That’s you. End of story.
“But it’s not me. I’m not the King. Not yet anyway. The ceremony is set for two weeks from this Sunday,” I denied. “Right before our wedding.”
You’re the King. Get over it.
I forgot how annoying Angus was. He always knew stuff that I didn’t and still don’t.
Declan was a little less than half of Angus’ age, but that still wasn’t anything to sneeze at.
Angus, though, was a smart cookie. And maybe I should just get over it like he said I should.
“Should I expect a bonding like the one that happened today with you and my son to be the new norm every time a dragon rider comes into power or was it just special because our son wasn’t born yet?” I asked.
“I really, really wish I could understand what is going on. I feel like I’ve only gotten half the story,” Nikolai grunted darkly.
Blythe crossed her arms across her chest, narrowed her eyes, and then Nikolai’s eyes went insanely wide before he dropped to his knees and started to gasp for breath.
“What’d you do to my brother?” I asked, interrupting Angus’ next explanation to look at
my soon to be wife with upraised brows.
“I was showing him what we were talking about...” I heard her mutter as she looked at her hands in surprise.
“How’d you know you could do that?” I asked carefully.
She finally gave me her eyes, and I could see that she was scared.
The powers she was manifesting were scary to her.
She was overwhelmed, as well.
Hell, I was overwhelmed and I’d been doing this magic business since I was old enough to ask my father questions.
And Angus, now that I thought about it.
“It’ll be okay, Drakina. I promise,” I whispered to her.
She gave me a sad smile. “I know. It doesn’t matter right now. There are so many things on our plate that I should…Keifer?”
I hadn’t realized that anything was wrong until Blythe vaulted forward and grabbed my hands up into hers right about the time that for the second time in less than twelve hours, I experienced the rush of power tearing through me.
Touch him.
That was said by Angus, and I felt the power that was building up at a breakneck pace slowly go back to manageable levels, until, finally, I could see again.
Hands touched me everywhere.
Well, not everywhere, but everywhere that wasn’t covered by clothing.
This time, the transformation of all that power was exponentially easier.
I could choose who got the power, and how much.
“Holy shit,” someone breathed.
I could even hand off some to both Declan and Angus, who were each touching me with the tips of their tails.
Declan having arrived sometime in the last few minutes as we were harnessing all that energy.
To answer your question, dear King, it won’t be like your first time, every time. Not if you can hand off the power before it becomes too much. Your father used to carry around an energy channel. He used to channel it straight into a metal insulator that would harness the energy and store it for later use.
The vision of my father’s cane, the one he used to carry with him everywhere, came to mind, and I finally understood.