Ragin watched the girl in front of him carefully, judging her reaction to the words. It seemed for a moment she hadn't taken them in, and was staring at him blankly. The first emotion was shock, then anger, then disbelief, each one passing across her face like a wave in the ocean. When she settled, he didn't know which one she had chosen.

"Ragin..." she said, a little hesitantly, "It's not cool to joke about that."

He sighed softly, and said in the ancient language, "I'm not joking."

It was like he had hit her physically. She staggered, and was forced to lean against the door for support. Her face had gone a deathly white, and her breaths began to go faster. Ragin watched her, part of him a little worried, part of him in sorrowful regret. Either way, he made no move to help her. He doubted she would want him to.

It was almost a minute later she spoke, "You know, it makes sense now. You always seemed to be... a little wary of me. Always hesitant to get close."

He was surprised at how calm her voice sounded. Though when she looked at him with a deep burning hatred in her eyes he felt a shimmer run down his back. He forced himself to remain passive. Whatever she did to him, he deserved.

"Stop that," she hissed, "Stop just sitting there! Like some arrogant, 'I'm too good for you'... you murdering bastard."

He turned away from her, fighting down that well of guilt that flooded him every time he thought about that time, and with bile in his mouth he said, "How do you want me to react?"

"Like a bloody human being!" she cried out, the sound of her sword being drawn ringing through Ragin's room, "Though I guess that's expecting a bit much from you, isn't it? Because you're heartless! You're soulless!"

He was forced to look her way again as she placed her sword against his neck, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. Her pale face had turned red and her eyes were full of murderous intent. He kept his face passive as he looked her in the eye. He hated doing this, hated why he was doing this. But there was no other way.

"You know," she said, her voice beginning to calm down, though tears had begun to stream down her cheeks even as she kept her sword pressed against his throat, "I was falling in love with you. I was bloody falling for you. Like an idiot I was. But you knew that didn't you? You knew that and you still let it happen!"

He nodded his head slightly, as much as he could without impaling himself on the blade.

She gritted her teeth, the tears flowing freely now like rain down her cheeks, "I used about dream about this. About holding a sword to the throat of the man that killed my parents and slowly pushing it forward, watching his life drain from his eyes. Like he did with my mum and dad."

"So why don't you?" he asked softly.

"Because Akaysha doesn't deserve it," Freya pulled her sword away, the grip on the hilt turning her knuckles white, "She doesn't know, does she?"

Ragin shook his head, "No."

The girl scoffed, "Some rider you are. When she learns what you've done, I hope she disowns you. I hope she agrees to have the riders bond broken, and then I'll be the one that takes your head off. I really do hope that."

Those words hurt him far more than anything she had said thus far. Part of him wanted to lash out at her, tell her she was wrong. But he held the words at bay, words he knew would destroy her. Instead, he kept his face passive, even letting a slight smirk cross his mouth.

"I suppose that means you no longer wish me here, hah?" he said softly.

"Wish you here?" she growled between her teeth, "The only place I wish for you is the deepest darkest part of the worst hell, under the worst gods. That is all you deserve, murderer. I wish you never gave me the chance to make the mistake of falling for you."

With those last words she stalked out of the room, sliding open his door and slamming it behind her. The guards quickly locked it again as she did. Ragin watched her go, and let out a shuddering sigh as she left, feeling the same guilt and heartache as before come back twice as bad. He deserved everything she said to him, whether he liked it or not, but it had all been worth it. Because she no longer wished him to be there. Which meant she no longer wanted him to follow the oath he had taken over a month ago. Which meant the oath no longer held him, because little did everyone know, but in the end it was her he had sworn the oath to.

* * *

Ragin was in no hurry to leave. His plan was to wait until nightfall. It would be much easier to conceal himself, both from the riders and their dragons. So, he spent the rest of the day planning and preparing. He packed a small bag of essentials, leaning his sword, bow and dagger against the wall near his bed. He was surprised that they hadn't taken his rider's blade away yet, not that he was complaining. He guessed they still suspected there had been something more to his attempted robbery than what met the eye. That and they thought he was still held by his oath, which would make him stay in the room, as Eragon had ordered it.

The most difficult part of his escape would be getting passed the guards. The best way to go would be over the balcony, using an invisibility spell. He knew there were those that were watching from afar to make sure he wouldn't try something like that, but it would be difficult to tell.

He had placed the small bag of belongings he planned to keep under the bed so that no one would realise what he was doing. After he was finished with that he sat back on the bed and closed his eyes in a pretence of meditating. In reality he was going over his plan, again and again, trying to account for every possible eventuality and how to overcome it. He had done this with his previous attempt as well, but had been ignorant of the giant metal man guarding the eggs. This time, he wouldn't have that problem.

A flap of wings caused him to open his eyes in surprise, and he froze when he saw the familiar night blue scales of his dragon as she stalked into his room. His heart fell slightly. Part of him had hoped to avoid this confrontation. Logan and Eragon he could cope with hurting. He could cope with how he had broken Freya's heart. Shutting down his own dragon however... that would bring him close to the breaking point.

The dragoness looked as beautiful as ever, her scales pristine and shining as though she had just swum in the river below. It wasn't hard to tell that she was angry however. He still had the ring on his finger so he couldn't feel her thoughts, nor she his, but her twitching tail and tense posture said everything. She growled angrily at him, glancing at the ring on his hand then looking back to him. It was obvious what she was asking.

"Akaysha," the rider said, this time unable to keep his voice from breaking, "I'm sorry. I had to."

She snarled at him again, glancing at the ring again.

He put his hand over the ring, covering it, "I can't. If I do they'll break into my mind."

Akaysha snorted at him, and suddenly the familiar swirl of wild magic rang through the air. Ragin gasped in surprise as an invisible force picked him up and shoved him against the wall, pinning him there. The ring on his hand suddenly burned a white hot, causing him to cry out in pain, but it was quickly cut short as the burning disappeared, along with the ring. Suddenly his dragon's conscious rammed up against his own. He gritted his teeth, surprised at her actions, but he let her in, carefully concealing what he needed to, such as why he had stolen the egg.

'Ragin, what have you done?' Akaysha's voice rolled through his head like a thunderstorm.

He gritted his teeth as he looked at her, unable to move against the force of her overwhelming power, 'What I needed to do.'

'What you needed to do?' She snarled again, 'I leave for a day. A day! And you become this delusional.'

'I am not delusional,' he said.

'Then what other reason is there for you stealing a dragon egg Ragin!? What other reason?'

'I can't reveal that to you.'

She snarled again and rather unceremoniously dropped him back onto the bed, 'You know what they will do to us right? They could separate us! Remove our bond.'

'The only reason they would do something like that is if you wanted it,' he told her, 'They care little for me, but they care a lot for you.'

'So, what? You're gonna rely on me to protect you from a punishment that your sorry ass deserves?' she growled.

'Of course not. There was a reason I did what I did. You have to trust me,' he said, looking away from her and blocking her probing mind.

She hesitated at his words, before snorting and shaking her head, 'I do trust you Ragin. I really do. I know you wouldn't do something like this without a damn good reason. What I don't understand is why you won't share it with me.'

Ragin turned to her, his heart clenched and the words nearly coming out. He wanted to tell her, he really did. He wanted to tell her the danger she was in. He wanted to explain himself, but he knew, the moment he gave her the truth, that he was doing this to protect her, she would link it back to Tharin. It was the only conclusion she could come to.

Even now, her mind completely unguarded, he could see the thoughts swirling around her head. She suspected it had something to do with Tharin, but she couldn't be sure. He had to keep it that way. For her sake.

'I know who you are Ragin,' Akaysha began talking softly, 'You are strong. Smart. Powerful. Confident in your own ability. Independent. You are all those things Ragin... but you are also so afraid. So scared. I've seen it. So scared of letting me see you.'

'You don't know what I've been through,' he told her, 'I can't let you suffer that.'

'But I do Ragin. I've seen what you've seen. I've suffered what you've suffered. I've seen the burning house through the boys eyes. Felt the hard cuts of steel against my skin. Felt the frustration of failure. Felt the fear of success. Felt the bloodthirst and hatred as the man I looked up to revealed that he had been the one that had driven me to that desperation in the first place. The one to start that fire. I've seen it all Ragin,' she said.

The rider went still, narrowing his eyes, 'You went through my memories?'

'Yes,' Akaysha lowered her head, 'Yes I did. But it only made me love you more. Don't you understand that? I've seen you at your worst and I still love you!'

He barked a laugh, shaking his head, 'You say you've seen me at my worst? Yet you didn't know I killed Freya's parents. No... you haven't seen me at my worst. Not by a longshot.'

She growled again, 'Maybe not, but I wasn't surprised when I heard it. But it doesn't matter. I still love you. I will always love you! No matter what you do, because you are my rider.'

'That doesn't change anything!' Ragin snapped back, 'It doesn't change what I've done. Nor who I've become. Either way, I told you not to go through my memories, and you did anyway. That's on you.'

'Don't you dare make this about what I've done! I know it isn't what you wanted. But it was necessary. You refused to open up to me. You were the one that refused to open up in the first place. You refused to trust me!'

'Trust you? I've always trusted you.'

'Have you?' The dragon snarled, 'Because I've opened myself up to you Ragin. I've tried to get you to open up. Again and again I've tried but you are so hidden from me.'

'Well maybe there is a reason for that.'

'Yes, the reason being you don't trust me.'

'I do!'

'Then say it, right now, right here,' Akaysha lowered her head until all he could see was her snout and eye, 'In the ancient language. Say it.'

"Akaysha I... I...,' he choked, he couldn't say another word. Not in the ancient language.

She sighed softly, sitting back on her haunches, 'Ragin... please... trust me. Please... I need to know. I need to know.'

She wasn't making any effort to hide her emotions, or her thoughts. Each one hit Ragin like a truck. Her anger. Her confusion. The feeling of betrayal. It wasn't like she had lost a scale or broken a claw, or even snapped a wing. It was like a part of her had been thrown into the air, where it was prodded and twisted and pulled until it was unrecognisable. It was the part of her that connected to him. The part of her soul that clasped to his in an unbreakable grip. And he felt it, each emotion lain out before him on the table. Each one he experienced in their entanglement. Akaysha knew this, and she looked at him, pushing the emotions toward him, forcing him to face what he was doing to her. He couldn't look at her, and placed his head against his knees to hide the tears running down his face.

'You know... yesterday... I thought everything was perfect. We were finally fitting in. My rider was finally letting himself loose. I was finally becoming a dragon. This morning... when I heard what you did... I couldn't face you. I spent the longest time just flying around the mountains, trying to figure out why you would do such a thing. But I knew I had to talk to you. So here I am. I can see your guilt Ragin. I can see that you despise every action you took last night. Why can't you show me why? Please! I'm begging you!'

"I... I... can't!" the rider gritted his teeth, whipping the tears from his eyes and forcing himself to face her, "I can't!"

She lowered her head, sadly, that feeling of betrayal washing through her like a hurricane, 'I'm not going to sleep here tonight.'

She turned, walking away from her rider to where the balcony was. Ragin stay on his bed, his back against the stone wall, leaning against his knees and staring at the stone wall. The dragoness stopped as she came to the ledge, looking back at him.

'You know... I thought you had changed. I thought coming here had changed you. Obviously not.'

He glared at her, the anger and frustration coming out in a single line, "Well if you wanted me to change so much than why did you choose me as your rider!?"

She snorted in a scoff, her reply hurting him far more than anything else she could have done, 'I'm beginning to wonder that myself.'

With that she launched herself into the air, flying away from the man she called her rider.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed, vote if you did and comment what you thought. What do you think will happen next? I always feel like these chapters seem too short or not as in depth as I want them to be... but I don't know how to make them better. So please, give me some feedback if you know a way. Anyway, next chapter out soon! I aim to have this finished by at least the end of August, hopefully sooner. See Ya!

Pennator^^