“Lance!”
“Gods, if I could just go for one moment without hearing my name,” my escort muttered as several men wearing a lot more silver insignias marched over.
“Got word you were in the keep, old man.” The stranger offered his hand to Lance who shook it firmly. “Tell me you’re here to take the sword master position? I was just about to send a letter to Dragon Rest frankly begging for you to join us, but the gods are kind and have brought you here. This must be fate at work.”
“Talk to George,” Cora urged Lance. “I’ll take Fern down to the women’s intake hall.” She shot him a tired smile. “I was just on my way down there myself.”
They were all focussed entirely on Lance, but he turned to face me. Both of his hands took mine, feeling too warm, too immediate. No man other than one related to me had ever touched me in such a way.
“I’ll take you to the door of the intake hall, but they don’t allow men in there for obvious reasons,” he explained.
“It’s fine.” I was already taking a step away from him. This was always going to happen. While riding into a major city on the back of a dragon, escorted by a handsome rider was right out of the pages of one of my books, this was not my adventure. Becoming a cadet, a queen rider, was. “I thank you for all your help. Viridian too,” I added quickly.
His lips twitched, a dimple popping in his cheek as his eyes held mine for what felt like an age.
“Call upon me any time you require help.” I was about toprotest but he kept going. “For anything. Consider me and my dragon your loyal servants.”
Told you, Auren said, her acerbic tone almost dragging a bark of laughter out of me.His dragon is quite personable. These stones he has gifted me are very fine. He says he’s been collecting them for years in anticipation of meeting me.
“Of course,” I replied, sketching a quick curtsey. “Thank you, Rider… Lance.”
“Come and have a look at the facilities,” the male rider said, steering Lance away. “The prime minister has approved a budget to improve them. You could redesign them any way you see fit…”
But Lance wasn’t listening. He allowed himself to be dragged away, even as he looked back over his shoulder at me.
“Well…” Cora’s focus shifted from Lance to me. “I wasn’t here when Lance and Pippin were cadets, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look at another woman like he’s looking at you.”
“Oh, no, that can’t be.” I turned abruptly, conscious of the many eyes upon us. “I’m sure he was just being polite.”
That had her laughing, but just as quickly, she started running down the stairs.
“Well, we don’t have time to debate the nature of men’s hearts right now. Every intake day the general promises it will go more smoothly, but it never does. We need…”
Her mouth moved as fast as her feet and I was forced to grab my skirts and run after her in a way that would scandalise my mother. That knowledge just had me moving faster, right up until Cora came to an abrupt stop.
“What in all the hells…?”
Her concern, her curiosity, was a collective one. I glanced down the stairs and saw people rushing towards the windows that pocked the stairwell, treating us to a view of the courtyard below. A brown dragon the size I could not have conceived of before now landed but that wasn’t what got people twittering.
It was the beasts he kept company with.
Silver as newly minted coins, one, two, three dragons landedin the courtyard. They were of the same size as the brown, no, bigger, though considerably less docile. Tails flicked back and forth like that of angry cats, their necks craning low, right as three men dropped down from their backs.
“Silver dragons…?” Cora said, her hand going to the wall beside the window.
“Is there such a thing?” I asked, which was frankly stupid. The evidence was there for all of us to see. “I’ve never heard of silver dragons before.”
“Me either…” she said.
Silver mates with gold?Auren sounded completely outraged, but when she rose to her full height, she was still outmatched by the massive beasts.Not this gold dragon.
Auren?My mind felt like it quested out, seeking connection with hers.Auren, are you alright?
She didn’t answer, not via mind link. Her rattling throat, her roar, making clear what she thought. The large brown dragon shouldered forward, a conflict sure to break out, but the three riders just strode towards the keep.
“Who the hell are they?” Cora sounded concerned now, which had my own anxiety spiking. It felt like the keep turned as one. Every person stared as three men marched inside, their leather armour quite different in design to the official uniform of the Royal Dragon Riders of Nevermere.
When they paused in the foyer, I froze, watching them scan the crowd and feeling an irrational need to shrink back. Why? My logical mind asked, unable to come up with a single reason why I would need to. They weren’t here for me.
