Dain #3
“No problem.” I hold out my hand. There’s a red welt across the center of it, and the second I notice, both my palms begin to throb.
“You’re good in a tree.” She takes my hand and we turn awkwardly on the branch so she’s closest to the trunk.
“I had a good teacher.” A smile curves my mouth as she starts to climb down. “Try not to fall out of another one today. I might not be in that one to help out.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She blows a red curl out of her face and jumps to the ground. “Good luck up—” Her head turns west, and she smiles. “There’s a green coming!” She runs off to the north, and I move back to my previous perch.
A green. Exactly what my father hoped for. Arranged. Whatever.
My heart starts to pound as the heavy footsteps approach. He’ll be proud of me. He’ll trust me the way I do him, and he’ll ease up on the constant hovering.
Trees move to the east, and my attention pivots.
A Red Swordtail with scales the deep shade of a tomato walks between the trees, its tail knocking the leaves off the branches as it stalks in my direction, snarling at the approaching green.
Its head is low in the firing position, its golden eyes shifting, assessing the potential battlefield in a way that reminds me of how I searched for the perfect tree.
The green maneuvers to the right of the tree, while the red prepares to pass on the left. They’ll be underneath me in a matter of seconds, and every instinct bellows to go red.
“Whatever will you choose, Dain Aetos?” A snarling, masculine voice barrels through my head, emphasizing the Ss. “Choose wrong, and I’ll discover how long it takes to burn you to ash.”
My chest cranks tight, like my ribs are trying to squeeze the breath out of me. One of the dragons is talking to me, which means he’s mine. But which one?
I should go right—to the green. He has to be the one speaking. That’s what logic dictates. That’s what Dad wants.
But this will be the most important relationship in my life, and what I want, how I feel matters, too.
Dunne be with me. I leap left.
My boots hit solidly between the red’s shoulders, just in front of the seat, and my knees bend to absorb the impact.
The red’s head swivels around at an impossible angle, and I throw my arms out for balance as it unhinges its jaw and roars. Heat and sulfur blast me in the face, and the pure force of the sound shakes every scale beneath my feet. I recognize his face from the cards—Cath.
Oh. Shit. I’d better be really fucking sure he’s the one, or I’m about to spend the rest of the day getting reacquainted with Violet’s dad and Brennan.
“How sure are you?” the voice asks, and everything shifts. Muscles ripple beneath me as the red bolts forward.
Momentum hurtles me backward, and my feet come flying out from under me. I grab for the pommels, but I hit the hard ridge of scale with my chin instead. White-hot pain erupts in my face, but there’s no time to process it. Not with Cath launching into the sky.
“I’m sure!” I shout, slipping backward as he climbs with sweeping beats of his wings.
I grasp the pommel scales with my aching hands.
Then I pull with all my strength, hauling my body into the seat.
My toes find the grooves between his scales, and I hunker down against his back as he pulls us into a stomach-curdling vertical climb.
“You would go against your father? Your superior officer?”
Cath reaches a peak and our momentum stalls for just a heartbeat. The world goes quiet, and in that moment, I touch what feels inexplicably like…peace.
We’re hundreds of feet above the ground, and up here, nothing else matters. Not my father. Not whatever challenge is called next. Not the quadrant. My life hangs in the balance of the next minute, the actions of the dragon beneath me, and it makes everything else insignificant, meaningless.
Gravity calls, and Cath tucks his wings as we dive.
“There is no bond more vital than that of a dragon and its rider,” I yell, locking my muscles to hold my seat. “No order may surpass its importance, or it is deemed unlawful. Article one, section three—”
“Do you give allegiance to the Codex while you ride the edge of Malek’s doorstep?”
I clench my thighs even harder as Cath banks right, throwing my weight in the opposite direction to maintain my hold as he starts to spiral. The horizon rotates over and over as wind whips across my face. He’s right. Codex isn’t going to save me up here. “No.”
“Then what truly holds your allegiance?” He straightens, and the world evens out.
“You.” My heartbeat steadies. More than ever, I’m certain the voice is Cath’s, that I’ve made the right choice.
He swivels his head just enough to look over his shoulder at me. “Never forget that. It is the only condition of my allegiance.”
“Never,” I promise. Nothing—no one—could be more important, more essential than the bond I feel clicking into place. It makes even Dad’s meddling feel inconsequential. For the first time in my life, I’m connected to someone I can’t disappoint, because he already knows everything about me.
Cath turns his head back toward the horizon, and we fly as one.