She nearly swallowed it whole in her eagerness and then begged for another.
“Take it easy—don’t let her overeat,” Ryse said in my ear. “It’s not good for them.”
But he was grinning proudly at me as I cradled L’eesha in my lap.
“She’s beautiful,” he said. “I’ve never seen a Pure Gold dragon before, though the old texts I’ve been reading talk about them.”
“I haven’t either,” I said, as I fed her more meat. “She’s the most wonderful dragon in the world!”
“All riders feel that way about their dragons,” he said, grinning. “By the way, M’alex said congratulations. Actually, he said, ‘Congratulations on your Golden Queen.’ Whatever that means.”
“Tell him I said thank you,” I said distractedly. I could barely pay attention to anyone or anything else—I was lost in my little golden drakeling’s rainbow eyes as she gulped down chunk after chunk of meat.
Her little wings were already spreading, her baby-soft scales hardening as they came in contact with the air. It was proof that cracking the shell for her hadn’t hurt her—she’d still struggled enough getting out, that blood had circulated to her wings, which were good and strong.
Already she looked bigger, I thought proudly. Though she was still less than half the size of the other drakelings, she was utterly perfect.
But not everyone thought so.
Master Yarsmouth appeared abruptly, standing over me with a frown on his face.
“What’s this?” he demanded, frowning down at L’eesha. “Cadet Lysandra—what have you done?”
48
AURORA
“What do you mean, what has he done?” Ryse demanded, rising to stand protectively over me and L’eesha. “Auri hasn’t done anything—he’s bonding with his dragon!”
“Cadet, you have allowed an unfit drakeling to hatch!” Yarsmouth said, ignoring him and glaring at me. “That is strictly against the rules of the Academy.”
“What do you mean, unfit?” I asked, looking up as I cradled L’eesha protectively close to my body. “She’s perfect.”
“No, she’s a runt and a genetic anomaly,” he declared, frowning at her. “There is no such thing as a golden dragon.”
“There is now,” Ryse growled. “So you’d better get used to it!”
“Don’t touch her!” I warned the Master. “She’s mine and I’m hers—there’s nothing wrong with her—not a thing!”
L’eesha must have felt my animosity for Yarsmouth and my fear for her safety because she suddenly piped up in my mind,
“this is the bad old one? the one who made my Auri sad?”
“Yes,” I told her distractedly. “That’s him. But you can’t?—”
But before I could finish the sentence, she’d snaked out her long neck and nipped Yarsmouth. Well, I say “nipped” but as he jumped and howled, I saw that she had actually taken quite a sizeable chunk out of his calf.
“That creature is a menace!” he exclaimed as L’eesha delicately spat the chunk of flesh out onto the sand. Apparently he wasn’t good enough to eat—or not as good as fresh goat, anyway.
“I’m sorry,” I said stiffly. “She doesn’t like you.”
“Doesn’t like me? She’s too young to form opinions of humans yet!” he exclaimed.
“No, she’s not,” I told him. “She hasn’t liked you since you said she wasn’t really talking to me.”
When I looked up at Ryse, I saw he was struggling not to laugh.
“It seems she’s not too young to have opinions after all,” was all he said.
