“Not here to become a cadet again, Jonathon.” There was a growing coolness to Lance’s tone. “Just escorting a lady to the intake hall.”
“One of the women enrolling?” Jonathon spared me a quick look, then refocussed on Lance. “Always was one for the ladies. You and Pippin… We always thought you and her would get together, but the drill sergeant got there first.”
“And Flynn,” one of Jonathon’s friends said. “And Ged, and?—”
“Yes, well, we need to get down to the hall.” Lance interrupted them smoothly. When he took a step forward, I followed. “Good to see you, Jonathon, Kent, Harold.”
My feet were forced to move fast to matchLance’s longer stride. My skirts threatened to tangle around my ankles, so I pulled my hand free lest I tumble down the steps and smash my brains out on the stone.
“If you wanted to stay and catch up with old friends,” I said, “I won’t be offended.”
With a glance downstairs, I could see where everyone was converging. In the massive foyer below, a line of women went one way, the men, the other.
“And why would I want to do that?” He approached me then, placing my hand back on his arm, but moving now at a much more sedate pace. My hand clung to it, needing it to steady me. “Talking to idiots who just want to relive the past when the future…?” Had any man ever smiled at me like that? A secret, sweet thing, it felt like, but surely I was just imagining things. “It’s looking brighter by the second.”
You’re not imagining things.Auren’s voice was a shock to hear inside my head. It was as if she was standing right next to me.This male likes you. He likes you holding onto his arm very much. He’s hoping you’re noticing how big and strong he is.
My lips twitched, a grin ready to come unbidden, but I suppressed it.
“So you were a cadet at the keep, Rider Lance?” I asked, needing to fill the silence somehow.
“Five years ago,” he said as we reached the next landing. “Got out before the war with Harlston, thank the gods. Viridian and me have been living in Dragon Rest since. But yes…” He stared over the railing at all the people pouring in through the doors of the keep. “I remember intake day like it was yesterday. Quite different back then, though. You were marched in and placed before the dragon eggs, and if one rocked for you, then you were in. No egg movement, out the door you went.”
“When dragons were…” I nearly said enslaved because that was the rhetoric used by the more progressive news sheets. Father deplored it but read it to keep abreast of their arguments, giving him something to complain about when other lords came for dinner. “Impressed from birth.”
“Just so,” he said, “though I must say the newer process seems far fairer. How did you come to bond with Auren?”
Again, I went to reply, only for someone to cut me off.
“Lance!”
It seemed the rider was well known within the keep. A beautiful woman with waist-length blonde hair bound back in a tight braid appeared. Most of the men we’d seen wore the black leather uniform of a rider, but on her, the effect was quite shocking. More and more women chose to wear pants. The shift to universal suffrage where every man and now every woman got to vote for who ran the country, had meant some women affected men’s dress, but Father would not countenance it. Perhaps it was because her curves were outlined clearly by her uniform. She gazed up at the rider with blue eyes full of desperation.
“You’re here to fill the role of sword master? Please say yes.”
The strange woman clasped her hands under her chin, frankly pleading with him.
“Your—”
He went to bow deeply, but she waved that away.
“Don’t bother with that silliness here.” Her grin was impish. “No rank in the corp except that which is earned.” She tapped the silver insignias on her arm. “Now, sword master? There hasn’t been a single person who can push me the way you did when you were last here.”
“Cora.” Lance gestured to me. “Can I introduce you to Lady?—?”
“Just Fern,” I corrected. If we were dispensing with rank here, I’d do the same. Offering her my hand, Cora took it with a smile, shaking it firmly. “A pleasure to meet you, Cora.”
“Fern has bonded with a queen dragon as well,” Lance explained.
“With Ember?” Cora’s eyebrows shot up. “I was sure she would bond with Lily.”
“With Auren,” I replied, my cheeks burning hot for some reason.
“One of Hadrian’s daughters?” That seemed to impressCora more than this dragon, Ember. Hadrian, king of the dragons, I remembered what the official had said up on the roof. Gods, he must’ve been the tyrannical father Auren spoke of.
King of the dragons…Auren sniffed.We dragons will never countenance a king, especially not him.
“Well, welcome to the royal keep.” Cora swept an arm outwards. “It’s not normally completely insane, but intake day…”
