Abyss: The Return of the Elves, Book 5 (EBOOK)

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• Found family
• Fated mates
• Different worlds
• Accidental pregnancy
• Tortured hero
• Enemies to lovers
• Second chance romance
• Friends to lovers
• Polyamory (MFF – one book only)
• Unrequited love
• Anti-hero
• Single parents
• Twisted mate bonds
• Mental health struggles
• Recovering from loss
• Finding one’s place
• Star-crossed lovers
• Fish out of water

Prologue

Shudders wracked Aris’s body as the blade sliced across his outer thigh. He hissed at the sting, but the pain numbed quickly in the frigid cave. The longer Aris dangled against the icy stone, his arms bound above his head, the more the burn of exposed skin faded. But the cold was not an oversight, nor was it mercy.
Frostbitten skin would be agony to regenerate.
“You have the power to end this.”
He squeezed his eyes tight against the sweet, cajoling voice. “No,” he managed to gasp through his raw throat.
“Just bond with me,” she said, slashing her knife along his side. “That’s all it would take. Our souls were made to be together, but your stubbornness keeps us apart.”
He didn’t bother to answer. If he didn’t goad her, she might leave him alone for a while, possibly even lengthen his chains so he wasn’t bound so closely to the wall. Sometimes weeks would pass between her torture sessions. She could give him a measure of freedom, even a few small kindnesses. Water to bathe. A walk to the mouth of the cave. If she interpreted his silence as weakening resolve, she would go easier on him.
Maybe.
She removed the blade from his flesh, but he didn’t move. “You’re no fun today, Aris,” she said, a pout to her voice.
Finally, he opened his eyes and glanced at the beautiful woman. Lips pursed, his captor stared at the blood dripping down his body before her gaze captured his. A tremble shook him at the coldness of her eyes, the window to her wicked mind. Her expression never changed. Her soul might be a match to his, but she was twisted inside.
What did that say about him?
She tucked her hair behind her ear, leaving a smear of his blood on the pale strand. “Start the bond, and I will treat you as the king you should be.”
Aris held back a snort. She led a small band of outcasts who’d made their home with the dragons, but she certainly wasn’t a queen. “Not this day.”
Her green eyes narrowed. “Then I’ll leave you to the cold.”
His captor spun away, and anger rang through her footsteps as she marched from the cave. He slumped against his bonds, a soft groan slipping free despite his resolve. Void take her, he shouldn’t have spoken. There would be no small kindnesses now. She would leave him hanging for days, and that was the best-case scenario.
At least she hadn’t lowered him into the crevice.
The light that streamed from a hole far above faded until the cave darkened into night. The unrelenting cold numbed the newest cuts but barely slowed the blood flowing from the wounds, and Aris could no longer contain the shivering of his body as he weakened. Maybe he would die this time.
Gods willing.
Then something shifted in the shadows. Had his captor returned? His heart leaped in alarm even as he peered into the darkness. An illusion meant to torture him further? She never arrived in the dark herself—the night was purely for the dragons, and any fae who wandered free risked death. That was their pact. Who would risk coming here?
A small flame sparked to life, and Aris cried out at the unexpected pain that speared his eyes. But he didn’t dare to blink. Someone had come, and he wouldn’t be caught unawares. As the light moved closer, his vision began to adjust.
He wasn’t reassured.
The flame hovering above the woman’s palm cast a soft glow across the sharp features of her face. Her golden eyes sparkled vividly as they stared into him, seeming to weigh his soul. Long brown-gold hair flowed around her otherwise naked body. His blood chilled at the blank, unnatural expression of her face. Then her head tilted in an almost birdlike gesture, and clarity hit.
A dragon in the guise of a woman.
“I refuse to wait any longer,” she said, her voice resounding oddly through the cave.
His brows wrinkled together. “What?”
“Your mate has delayed me for years, but—”
“I have no mate,” he snapped. He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone associating him so intimately with his captor. “Certainly not the drec who has held me here.”
The dragon’s uncanny gaze lifted to his wrists, manacled to the stone by thick iron shackles. “Perim said you were training.”
Rage heated his insides and caused his muscles to tense. “Is that her name? The blond woman who torments me?”
The dragon tilted her head again. “You’ve been with your mate for years, and you must ask me this?”
“She. Is. Not. My. Mate.”
The flame hovering over the dragon’s hand grew brighter. “I see. You are here unwillingly.”
“Very,” Aris answered, though her words hadn’t sounded like a question.
“Then Perim must pay.” Her other hand lifted toward his manacles. Power built in the air until every hair on his body stood on end. With a sharp crack, the metal split and fell away, freeing him. “You’ll be coming with me.”
Aris dropped hard to his knees as feeling roared back into his limbs. Heat washed through him, banishing the earlier cold, and he bit back a yell at the harsh pain. His muscles quaked, but he braced his hand against the floor and shoved himself to his feet. Though he had to lean against the cave wall, he faced the dragon standing.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“I am Kezari,” she answered. “Your dragon.”
He shook his head, certain he hadn’t heard correctly. “My what?”
“Have your kind forgotten the bond we once shared?”
His stomach lurched at the mention of a bond. “Like a soulbond?”
“Not typically,” she answered in a flat tone. “But it has happened. No, I speak of a synthesis of elements. Magic most compatible. I am earth. You are earth.”
Aris frowned as he tried to understand her words. He had the feeling that she hadn’t been around many people—her grasp of the language was off. “You are here because our elements are compatible?”
“There are more links than soul to soul.” Her head tilted again. “You understand this?”
Unbidden, Selia’s laughing face flickered to life in his memory. Then an image of his son, Iren. His heart twisted at the memory of his family. Gods knew where they were now. “Yes.”
“Let us go, then.”
Before he had time to consider her words, Kezari stepped back, and the fire winked out. Fear sliced through him like his captor’s blade. Had this been some strange trick? A new method to torment him? Power built in the air once more, stronger than before. Aris shrank back against the wall as his head throbbed with the force of the rising energy.
A rough slithering filled the cave. Then a gust of air rushed over him, tossing his sweat-slicked hair around his face. Another flame sprang to life, but it was too far away to hurt his eyes. It glimmered near the far ceiling of the cave—beside the massive golden head of a dragon.
Aris froze like prey at the sight of the huge talons only an arms-length away. As the dragon lifted her claw and rested the tip of a single talon against his chest, Aris forced himself to remain still. If this was how he died, he would greet the moment with courage.
Power roared through him without warning. Thank the gods he’d braced himself against the wall. A slight pain flared across his skin, but the sensation was swept away by the glorious energy filling his depleted body. His muscles strengthened and his mind cleared. For the first time in years, he could detect the life in the cave around him as clearly as his own breath.
Then it was done.
The flame above Kezari’s head brightened, and he felt the surge of power in his own blood. She’d linked them. Bile rose up the back of his throat. Aris dug his fingers into his palms and breathed through his nose before he vomited. Linked against his will. The dragon was as bad as his captor.
“Leave me alone,” he rasped.
Kezari’s wedge-shaped head lowered until all he could see was her golden eyes. “You are distressed,” she said into his mind.
“You stole my choice.”
“I offer freedom.” Her heated breath warmed the rock behind him. “You were too weak to choose. Once a cycle of the moons has passed, you may sever the link. If you wish.”
Aris studied the dragon’s face, but he couldn’t tell if she was lying. Her slit pupils focused, unwavering, on him. In fact, the only movement came from her nostrils as she breathed. Then she tilted her head, much as she had in her elven form, and he caught a hint of uncertainty.
“The war between our peoples was millennia ago. Do you still hold animosity?”
Aris frowned. “Of course not.”
“Only elves who link with a dragon may ride one.” Her long neck arched upward as she pulled her head back. “Do you want to live? I can take you from this place.”
He swallowed at the thought. Freedom. He’d believed he would die here once his captor grew tired of trying to force their soulbond. How many years had passed? Four? Six? He’d tried to keep count of the days, but he’d lost more than a few to unconsciousness. His people probably thought he was dead. Selia would have moved on, and his own son would barely remember him.
Worse, he was damaged. Broken.
“Do not cast aside the millennia of life you could have because of your torment.” Smoke puffed from between Kezari’s lips. “Perim is not worth it. And we can do great things, you and I.”
Aris held the dragon’s steady gaze. He didn’t trust her, but he no longer trusted anyone. What did he have to lose? Better if Kezari killed him than his wicked potential soulbonded. Dragons were typically straightforward creatures, so the former would be a quicker death than the latter. And if his soul was twisted like Perim’s, Kezari would know. She could end him before he caused harm.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Then let’s go.”
#
Kezari circled the village stretched out along the coast below, descending gently to avoid upsetting Aris as he clung to her back. Though it was night, she could identify each stone dwelling with ease. More buildings had fallen into disrepair since she’d last flown by, though it had only been a year. The once-proud population of fae, descendants of the dragons’ riders during the war with the elves almost forty thousand years prior, continued to dwindle.
No wonder Perim wanted to gain her freedom from the island.
But the fae woman had gone too far. It was one thing to interrupt council meetings to demand redress from the queen—that had earned Perim a month’s imprisonment a few decades ago—but something else entirely to torture a dragon’s skizik under the guise of training. Of course, Kezari had allowed herself to be fooled. She swallowed down the acrid taste of flame rising up the back of her throat at that reminder.
Perim would pay.
Kezari glided lower, though she wanted to dive as though catching prey. Even at this slow pace, Aris’s arms tightened around the base of her neck, and his legs dug his saddle into her shoulders. She couldn’t risk tipping him into madness by hasty actions.
But finally, she hovered near the house she sought. Her wingbeats resounded around them, echoing off walls and rattling glass windowpanes. Kezari cried out, a shriek of challenge, and blasted a stream of flame just above the tile roof. It was a traditional summons, though one never given at night when the fae remained indoors.
“I smell Perim,” Kezari said into Aris’s mind. “Is it a remnant, or do you sense her presence?”
Aris trembled against her, and his mental voice was a faint whisper. “I feel her near.”
She hadn’t wanted to risk the reminder, but she had to be certain. She shrieked again, more loudly now that her target was certain. They ignored her at their peril.
One of the windows lifted, and a man gaped at her through the opening. “My lady?”
“Send forth Perim,” she sent into his mind.
His expression shuttered. “She is not here.”
He dared to lie? Kezari shot a stream of flame high into the sky. “Then she breaks the law by wandering in the night?”
“No. I didn’t mean…” the man stuttered.
“I will have justice.” Kezari lowered her head until the smoke from her nostrils curled through the open window. “Send her out, or I will melt this rock into a puddle of lava.”
A deep, harsh scream echoed from the other side of the village as another dragon plunged from the sky. Tebzn. What was she doing here? Kezari whipped her head around and hissed as her cousin hovered a neck’s length away, her forearms lifted in challenge.
“This is beyond the bounds of law,” Tebzn snarled in their tongue, too high-pitched for the fae to easily discern.
“Perim tortured my skizik.” Kezari gnashed her teeth. “She will pay.”
Her cousin’s claws lowered. “If that is the case, then justice will be delivered. But not now. The fae are to remain undisturbed in their homes at night.”
“Tebzn—”
A cry from the window interrupted her cousin’s words. “What have you done to my bonded?”
Perim. Steam poured from Kezari’s nostrils as she focused on the wretched woman. “I have saved him from you. Come out and face me.”
Tears leaked from Perim’s eyes as she peered out the window, the man no longer in sight. Her guileless expression might have fooled Kezari under different circumstances, but not after finding Aris chained and bleeding. Not after connecting to him and examining his memories.
“You must return my bonded to my care,” Perim said, her voice shaky.
A clever ploy, but a wasted effort.
Unfortunately, Perim’s demand proved too much for Aris. Though only a shadow in Aris’s mind, Kezari felt the exact moment his hold on reality shattered. His unending mental scream filled her own head until she sent him hurtling into sleep with a quick spell. Another flex of power ensured he would not topple from the saddle, but she could only hold this spell for so long. She had to get him away from here.
Kezari pinned Tebzn with her gaze. “She lies.”
“Regardless, we do have laws.”
Without warning, Kezari sent a single memory of Aris’s torture into her cousin’s mind. Tebzn reared back, her wingbeats faltering before she recovered control. “As you can see, I speak the truth.”
“In the morning, we can haul Perim before the queen,” Tebzn answered.
“I must get my skizik out of here now.” Kezari’s nostrils flared. “Now. His mental health is fragile.”
Below, Perim let out a sob. “You cannot take my soulbonded.”
Neither dragon answered her.
“Go,” Tebzn said to Kezari. “I will ensure that justice is served.”
Through her connection to Aris, Kezari detected his thoughts beginning to stir. She had to get him somewhere alone. “See that you do,” she conceded. “I will check with you soon.”
Perim’s shriek sounded below as Kezari propelled herself into the sky, faster than she would dare with Aris awake. There was a small, abandoned island a short flight away. She could take her skizik there. And she would do her best to help him heal.