“Alright,” Kieran walked up the mounting blocks to stand next to the pegasus, who tilted its head back to watch her with interest. “Any chance we’re going to be able to do this the easy way?”
I loved the way she talked to the creatures directly, but I eyed the creature with concern as it trotted its hooves up and down in an anxious, anticipatory move. I fought the urge to call Kieran back as she ran a hand over his mane, testing his reaction. He seemed to calm moderately. I held my breath as she eyed the space between the mounting blocks and the pegasus before quickly throwing her leg over his large frame and mounting him in an efficient movement that would have worked, had he been tamed.
Unfortunately, the surge of hope I felt at his initial lack of reaction was quickly squashed as he lost his shit. With a panicked neigh, he reared back on his hind legs, and Kieran’s smaller frame went flying from his back and through the air.
“Fuck,” I hissed, my wings snapping out as I soared into the air and caught her, pressing her body against mine before her own wings even had a chance to pop out to prevent her from crashing into the gate. She groaned, potentially in relief, as I kept her pressed against me, wrapping an arm around her waist as I made as gentle a landing as possible. Kieran’s head fell back against my chest as she looked up at me, and while I couldn’t deny that it felt damn good to have her in my arms, I hated the disappointment in her gaze.
“Not the right fit,” I explained simply. “He’s an asshole. Don’t even think twice about it. No one’s been successful.”
“Or I’m simply not the right fit for Alfemir in general,” she murmured, looking back at the pegasus. I caught her chin andtilted it back to hold my gaze once more. I ran my hand over her throat, loving the feel of its delicate nature under my touch.
“Youfit, Kieran. We may have not found your placement, but you fit. You aren’t the outcast you think you are.”
Her gaze filled with soft, vulnerable emotion, her pulse hitching under my palm, and I fought the urge to dip my lips to brush against her own. Her words were soft, making my chest ache, after she took a long moment to respond, “I may not be an outcast in your eyes, but you’re the only one who feels that way, Ronan. I need to find a placement or else there’s nothing here for me.”
I nodded in understanding, knowing the hard rules of the kingdom. “We still have options, I promise. Let’s try the gryphon next. Depending on how that goes, we still have a dragon that’s untamed from one of the previous intakes. He’s a broody bastard, though, so we’ll leave that for last.”
Kieran nodded, and after a long moment of holding her gaze, I broke away from her to take the pegasus back to its stable. Moving into the third stable, I examined the options we had for gryphons and decided to go for one of the more subdued creatures. Finding a gentler beast was a bit tricky, considering they were unique and aggressive by nature.
A fascinating mix of creatures found in the human’s world, the gryphon had the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, but the head and wings of an eagle with talons on its front legs. They were fearsome and aggressive in nature, but they also were fantastic additions to the cavalry. They never shied away from the battlefront. The trick was ensuring they were trained and tamed enough to listen to commands. Out of all of the creatures I’d shown her so far, they were the most independent in nature.
“Don’t try any shit,” I sternly told the creature, using my magic to exert dominance over him as I easily led him out of the stable and toward the training yard, a heavier chain attached tohis leather collar. I noticed that Kieran was eyeing the creature with caution as we made our way outside and I attached his chain to one of the posts in the center of the yard.
“Do you get any sense of how he’s feeling?” I called out.
“No, not really,” she admitted as her shoulders slumped forward slightly.
“Come here,” I motioned for her to stand next to me so we were right out of reach of the gryphon. We stood to its left, though its dark gaze darted toward us as it watched us with curiosity. There was a calculating edge to the stare as well.
“They can be a bit unpredictable, so we’re going to keep it simple. Usually to get them to do anything, I have to actively use my magic to show them I’m more powerful than them, so I want you to attempt to reach forward and run your hand along its beak. If he jerks his head away, we will immediately stop. If not, you may be able to move closer, showing that there may be something there.”
“Okay,” she whispered with a determined nod. “I mean what’s the worst that could happen?”
Luckily, I was ready this time and grabbed her ahead of her getting the full brunt of the hit as the creature reared its head back to strike before her hand even made contact with it. Niz flew above us, letting out a low growl, and the gryphon backed away, moving anxiously back and forth and trying to pull from its tether. I muttered a curse under my breath as I straightened Kieran.
“So damn fast,” she mused. “He seemed totally fine?—”
“Maybe these just aren’t the right creatures,” I offered in an attempt to be positive. “Or maybe we need to try another phoenix or pegasus.”
I hated the idea of putting her in continuous danger, and Ireallydidn’t want her to attempt a connection with a dragon. It seemed that Niz’s reaction to Kieran was the exception, not therule. Even full-fledged, trained Beast Tamers often had trouble with dragons for a long time before managing to tame them to be used by the Angelic Army.
“The dragon,” Kieran insisted, turning and holding my gaze. “Let's try the dragon. After all, I have a small connection with Niz. We should at least try. I can’t leave without trying…It’s my last shot, Ronan.”
I hated the hopelessness in her voice, that she sounded so harsh in her belief that this was all or nothing. I nodded in understanding, knowing that I would always give her exactly what she wanted, even if it meant facing a dragon.
As we approached the largest stable, nearly fifteen stories in height, Niz flew ahead of us, going through the doors and landing on one of the high rafters. As we stepped into the space, we moved past several empty stalls until we reached the very end where our current dragon was housed. Unlike the others, he had a name and a personality that he very much let be known. His brown and gold scales glinted in the warm sunlight coming through the window, making him appear far more friendly than he was in reality.
Unlike the other creatures, we didn’t have another option to test her placement with this particular type of beast.
“Qerson,” I called out loudly as the dragon tilted its head toward us with disinterest. I noticed his attention move to Kieran for a long moment before going back to pretending to be asleep. I shook my head in annoyance at his grumpy fucking attitude but quickly chuckled as I noticed the resemblance to Kieran’s personality in that moment.
Maybe…maybe they would be a good fit.
“He’s an ass,” I murmured. “So you aren’t going in there, but if you want to try to approach him, you should be able to get a good gauge on whether you feel any type of connection.”
Kieran moved toward the cage with interest, and she began to speak to him softly, though I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying. Niz let out a warning rumble, and I nodded in understanding, following quickly behind her. I eyed Qerson’s attention on her, as well as the way he shifted his massive head so he could watch her. I could feel that his disposition was calm right now, but the smart bastard was far better at concealing his intentions than most creatures. That alone was probably why we hadn’t had much success in taming him.
“Kieran,” I warned softly, wanting her to move back as he moved his head closer to the bars of the cage.
