Bonded

Chapter Seventeen

Early Access: Bonded

Chapter 17

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Ronin

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"What... Where is... Where is he?" The panic in Kavya's voice mimics the panic currently thriving in my chest... The small library that we had found our beloved in yesterday appearing before our eyes completely empty, full of nothing but our own fear... Neither of us having thought to ask him if he might be found somewhere else today other than just enjoying the solitude he told us he prefers when performing his self-study...

Not finding him here quite literally fills me with dread and I find myself reeling... My heart aching over the strange thoughts and cohesiveness that fill my mind...Unlike my Kavya though... I cannot seem to vocalize my concerns... I cannot seem to find my voice... My body only responding to the panic filling my system by stopping shortly after realizing that he is nowhere to be found in this tiny secluded space that I had thought to be his safe space so that I might turn and redirect us, Kavya sticking by my side as we start the mad dash that looking for our sweet India requires...

All of the awful thoughts that we had shared with each other when trying to rest seeming to become more and more likely with each step that carries me forward... The fact that we are never to be without our weapons when strolling about the palace one I had thought of as foolish before but one that I am grateful for now since it means that we do not need to return to the barracks in order to grab them and be ready for whatever might be waiting for us and disrupting India's normally peaceful day...

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Kavya

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Try as I might to keep up with Ronin as he forges ahead I cannot seem to clear my mind enough to actually keep up with him... My feet wanting to stumble and trip over themselves as my mind races... No India to be found where we had expected him to be... Ronin's feet seeming to lead us towards the main library... Our entrance sure enough to cause waves if we transplant ourselves into the room at such an intense pace...

I do not know what to think... And it makes absolutely no sense in my mind that the two of us feel so very flustered over not finding him where we thought we might find him... It makes no sense for us to be so very worried... It makes no sense for our hearts to be pounding and our beasts to feel so enraged over the thought of anything negative happening to the delicate beauty that so far has done nothing but enchant us with his gorgeous eyes and long flowing raven locks...

The thought of anyone... Or anything... Harming him brings up so much bile into my chest that I do not know how I shall ever manage to swallow it or keep it from spilling out of my mouth onto the polished tile floors that all of the newcomers to the palace marvel at so very curiously... I find that it is all I can do to catch Ronin by the belt so that he might lead me while my mind finds itself so very foggy and distressed... My beast wanting to rise up and call to our angel as if it might be just as easy as having him call out back to me... So that we might know that he is safe and whole and not endangered by the very royals that we've been charged with keeping watch over... The King himself one of my biggest worries even though I wish he was not...

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India

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"Have you made any sense of that passage, Ji-" the words barely have time to leave my mouth before I, and everyone else situated around Jian and myself in the great library, find myself interrupted by the noisy clatter of rushed boots hitting the tile... Heavy breathing and a chorus of alarmed voices that around so achingly familiar that I cannot resist the urge to lift my eyes from the table of scrolls Jian and I have been working our way through this morning...

Only to find myself starting right into two pairs of very stunned eyes... Kavya looking as if he is on the verge of tears as their shoulders drop... The relaxing of their bodies seeming as though they had not been prepared to find me here... In the library... Exactly where I should be... The strange scene they have seen for to cause in the middle of the room ending right then and there as they walk away from Master Qiao in order to stride up to my table... Both of them drawing up chairs and setting themselves down as if their human forms weigh just as much as their dragons do... The looks on their faces scolding me even though I am very sure that I have not actually done anything wrong... The reproachful gazes causing knots to form in the pit of my belly... Jian proving himself braver than me once again by being the one to stop the exchange of our strange silence, "Well, it seems you two know how to make an entrance... Have you found yourselves here in hopes of picking up some studies of your own? Because if you are... You won't find any scrolls based off of India's pretty face I'm afraid." 

His half-whispered response to their presence seems so very audacious that the first sound out of my own mouth is actually laughter instead of actual words, the shushing that comes at me from all sides for my giggles well earned and well worth it with how it washes away some more of the worry currently still etched into Ronin's handsome face, "Jian, if they want that kind of scroll they will have to pen it themselves... And I find myself hoping that they stick around long enough to do so."