Dragonbound: Blue Dragon by Rebecca Shelley

the cloth and bowl of hot water, now tinted red with Kanvar's blood. He opened the flask of liquid and poured some into his cupped hand. "Dragon saliva. Your leg will be fine now. Good as new. Though you'll have a lovely scar to show off to your children and grandchildren." Carefully he smoothed the liquid down the length of the cut.
    "But it hurt mother so badly when he disappeared," Kanvar protested. "How could you do that to her?" Another even more revolting thought struck him and he had to ask. "Did my mother even really love you, or did you just force her to believe she did?"
    Amar wiped his hands on the cloth and recapped the flask of dragon saliva, turning away as he did, so that Kanvar couldn't see his face. "I loved your mother. I told you that."
    "That's not what I asked." Kanvar felt helpless anger as he lay unable to move beneath his father's power.
    "I did not force your mother to do anything," Amar snapped. "I courted her the same as any other man would have. I courted her, and I won her heart. No mind control involved." He returned the flask to the cupboard and slammed it shut.
    "But now she's rejected you, you might as well let Grandfather Raza come home. Go and give him his memories back. It was cruel to send him away, wrong to meddle with his mind." Kanvar battled with his father's mind to get control of his own body back.
    "Stop it." Amar strode over to the bed, touched Kanvar's forehead, releasing him and returning feeling to his leg.
    Kanvar sat up. His leg ached, but the skin was already starting to knit together. He glared at his father.
    Amar returned his glare, eyes flashing, light shimmering from the gold band on his brow. "If I give Raza his memories back, he'll go home. Mani will tell him what I am, and he'll come hunting me. He'll never rest until one or both of us are killed. Do you want that Kanvar? Do you want to see the two of us kill each other?"

Chapter Eight
     

     
    Of course Kanvar didn't want either his father or grandfather dead, but he clamped his mouth shut and said nothing. His sweat-soaked body ached from the fever. His heart throbbed as if beating had become a hideous chore. Though he forced himself to breathe, his lungs burned like he was drowning. At least the sharp pain in his leg was gone.
    He dropped his gaze from his father's angry eyes to stare at the rapidly healing wound on his leg. No wonder it was so hard to kill a Great dragon. They could heal themselves so fast.
    But all things couldn't be healed with the lick of a tongue. Kanvar had adored his Grandfather Raza and been torn up inside when he went away never to return. Even though Kanvar now understood why, it didn't make him miss his grandfather any less. He licked his lips and wrapped his right arm across his chest, gripping his stumpy left one, which had started to ache again. Kanvar tried not to think about that. He didn't like the wall his father had put around his mind, and he was glad to have a little of Dharanidhar's presence slip through. He sensed the Great Blue dragon curled up in a cavern somewhere at the base of the cliffs.
    A breeze, heavy with moist air, swirled through the room, rattling the scrolls in their canisters. Except for the wind, the room was silent. Kanvar had gotten used to the constant throb of noise from the jungle. Even in the colony behind its rock walls, the screech of the birds and chatter of the monkeys could be heard night and day. But this high up the cliff, up higher than the vegetation and animals, everything stilled to silence.
    His father continued to stand angrily over him. Kanvar refused to look up or speak. Chills took him again, and he started shivering. He hated it. He must look so pathetic to his father. Too weak. Too empty and alone. Dying. He could feel it now with every feeble beat of his heart. His chest itched and burned. He tried scratching it, but that only made the itch worse.
    His father let out a hiss, tore Kanvar's shirt off and pushed him back down against the