Cassia had dressed for warmth. By the look of Aevrin’s long sleeves, dark collar buttoned up to his throat beneath a heavy leather vest, he’d done the same. He paused in the doorway of the kitchen, eyes meeting hers with an intensity that left her breathless.
“Time to go?” Cassia asked, wiping her hands and trying to push down the fluttering in her chest. He nodded, his eyes not leaving her. She followed him out to the porch, clasping her hands before putting them in her pockets, unsure what to dowith herself around him. She felt far too aware of every inch of her body and where it stood in relation to his.
Kazeic, Aevrin’s dragon, wriggled on his back in the dirt patch in front of the house, grunting lightly. Seeing Cassia stare at him, the gray dragon abruptly straightened. Kazeic’s expression changed to one of solemn dignity. The drake shook off a cloud of dust and launched back off towards the herds of cattle. From the corner of her eye she could see Aevrin shaking his head, but she didn’t miss the soft almost-smile on the rancher’s lips.
He loved that dragon, and that dragon loved him, even if they were both too grouchy to admit it.
“How did it happen? The two of you?” she asked. Aevrin, halfway down the steps, paused and glanced at her.
“Who, Kazeic?” he asked as she caught up. Cassia nodded. “We went to an exhibition outside of Lareo a few summers back. This young wild drake kept lurking around the edges of the fields, spooking other people’s cattle. Nearly knocked a trick-rider out of his saddle during a run, too; he just dove right through where they were flying. The bonded dragons chased him off eventually. I thought he was an asshole, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, off how good he moved. On our way home, he landed right on the road in front of me and snorted in my face. And I just kinda knew.”
Cassia giggled.
“He had a funny way of saying he liked you,” she said.
“Nah,” Aevrin said, and started walking away from the house. “We didn’t choose each other or anything. I don’t think he even noticed me in the crowd during the exhibition. It justhappenedall of a sudden.”
Cassia tilted her head to the side and followed him.
There was a bull tied up at a hitching post, just far enough away the house wasn’t at any risk of sudden flames. The beast had long ears and soft, brown eyes. His black ribbed horns curved out from a head that was as plated as the rest of his body, his natural, thick armor split at his joints like the fancy metal plates worn by imperial soldiers she’d seen before on parades.
The cart rested five feet to the left of the bull. Driving equipment and other tools cluttered its bed.
“Youallhave one, though, don’t you? I thought it was supposed to be rare,” she said. Cassia had seen other bonded riders during her trip through Zhavek. They weren’t necessarilyunusualin these parts, but a whole family of dragon-riders seemed like remarkably high odds, at least to her. “How could you get that lucky, if nobodychoseanyone else?”
Dragons seeking out the Rivekers made sense to her, no matter what Aevrin said. They were the best family she’d ever known, and she got the sense that their ranching business was more than a little successful, which was no doubt attractive to a dragon.
“Well, you know. We’ve been here a long time,” he said with an awkward shrug.
“How’s that got anything to do with it?”
Aevrin scratched his neck.
“Well, I guess it’s… we come across more of them than most folks, you know. That’s more chances for it to happen, more dragons met over the years. And there’s some old talk that it runs in families.”
“Being lucky with dragons?” she said.
“Bonds,” he answered. “Sorven’s Cobrid is the tenth dragon in her line to bond to a Riveker, that we know of. My older brother Dariek's and Gramma Prisca’s are cousins, and from afamily we’ve had a lot to do with over the years. Ashelle and my father have long runnin’ lines too. Dunno why that is.”
“So Kazeic’s ancestors and your ancestors…”
“Nah, not unless itsfarback. He’s the only gray near Dawn Ridge. He just showed up for some reason. But most of the people around here are more recent settlers, these days. A few generations, maybe a hundred years. Not much history,” he said simply, and walked away from her to stop beside the bull. “Anyway, this fellow is Stal.” He ran his hand down the bull’s neck. The cowherd’s eyes met Cassia’s, where she’d stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Aevrin grinned at her. “Come on, he won’t hurt you.”
“Well, that’s good,” she offered. She was stunned by the idea of anybody being able to trace their family as far back as he could. To before the Empire, even, by the sound of things. The furthest backherfamily tree went were her parents. But Averin seemed to treat this like it was a normal fact, as ordinary as asking about the weather, and so she decided to follow suit.
“Well? Come say hi.” The corners of Aevrin’s eyes crinkled. She gulped.
“What if he—? You know—?”
“Flames? He won’t.”
“How can you tell?”
“They only do it when they’re agitated. Or aroused.” She must have been making a face, because he quickly added: “he ain’t either right now, Miss Cassia. I brought you a gentle one. Anyways, it’s the cows you really have to be careful of, not the bulls.”
“Is that so?” she said, trying to sound conversational without moving closer. Aevrin narrowed his eyes at her.
“Come on. You can’t learn to drive ifyou don’t learn to hitch up, first.”
