Imogen #3
Once I’m about ten feet away, I catch sight of Quinn hanging from the lowest branch, her blue-streaked blond curls blowing in the breeze, and my shoulders immediately sag with relief.
I never wanted to care about my bubbly little year-mate, but she has a way of wearing down even the most surly person. That being me.
Plus, she declared that we’d be friends immediately after seeing my rebellion relic and never once questioned her decision. Now I just have to make sure the trend of dying once close to me never catches up to her.
“Gen! You made it!” Quinn drops from the branch, her labrys axe strapped to her back. Her face falls as I approach. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.” I nod.
Her eyes narrow over my shoulder. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Garrick throws his hands up. “I didn’t touch her.”
“Oh, I can tell.” Quinn glowers at him. “I’m so glad I’m into girls. You men are all drama.”
“Unbelievable.” Garrick gawks at her and leans back against the tree.
Movement in the field catches my eye, and my focus jumps to the pumpkin-orange daggertail prowling our way. Those horns, that sneer, the pattern of her chest scales…it’s most definitely her.
“We’re about to have words!” I shout at her, lifting my finger.
“Oh gods, Gen, you can’t just yell at a dragon,” Quinn mutters, lowering her eyes like Kaori taught us. “Let alone an orange one.”
“Navarrian!” she bellows, and that’s the only warning before she peels her lips off her teeth and hisses out a narrow stream of fire between her fangs, aimed straight at Quinn.
My stomach drops straight out of my body.
“No!” I lunge for Quinn and hurl us both behind the massive tree trunk. Power erupts through me in a torrent of heat, and I throw my mental front door shut again. The last thing we need is for me to burn out while being burned alive.
Fire streams past as the three of us huddle behind the oak.
It ends as suddenly as it began, but my anger is just getting started.
“Good thing this tree was petrified,” Garrick says, knocking on the trunk.
“You better have known that!” I yell at Glane, leaving Garrick and Quinn behind the oak as I surge into the field.
“Did you die? No. Cease whining.”
“She is my best friend. My only friend!”
“Her kind killed your mother. Your sister.” She lowers her head into a battle position, slithering it like a snake.
“She had nothing to do with it! Just like I had nothing to do with the rebellion!” I charge straight up to her nose, pointing my finger at her. “And so help me Dunne, if you touch one hair on her head, I’ll tell everyone who you really are.”
She lifts her orange head and narrows her eyes. “I am Glane.”
I snort. “You think I don’t remember you? It’s hard to forget the first dragon your grandmother introduced you to, even if you were five.”
“I am only twenty.” Steam billows from her nostrils. “Perhaps you remember incorrectly.”
“Perhaps you’re full of shit.” I fold my arms. “You bonded me, even knowing it’s forbidden. Kaori will know.”
“I am recorded as Glane to all.” She tilts her head down at me, making me feel like I’m five all over again. “Including you.”
How the hell did she pull that off? Kaori’s predecessor must have kept shitty records.
“You want me to call you Glane?” I drum my fingers on my arm.
“You must.” She breathes steam over me, but I don’t so much as flinch. “You are lucky to be mine. My kill count—”
“Is zero, Glane.” I arch an eyebrow at her.
She growls low in her throat.
I bare my teeth at her.
“Mature.” She huffs.
“You’re one to speak.” I glance over my shoulder to be sure Quinn hasn’t spontaneously burst into flames or anything.
She gives me an encouraging wave and giant grin.
“I suppose you are my elder,” Glane says, flexing her talons.
I scoff. “You leave her alone and I’ll keep your secret.”
“I’ll do one better.” Her head swivels southward, and a Green Scorpiontail walks out of the forest.
“Cruth!” Quinn shouts, then takes off running across the field with her arms open like some kind of fictional heroine who’s about to be reunited with a long-lost love.
My mouth curves into a smile as I shake my head. Of course it’s just that easy for her. I’m glad it is.
“Let’s go.”
“Imogen,” Garrick calls out. “We’ll talk at the flight field. Our conversation isn’t over.”
I cringe. “Oh, but it is!” I take off at a run, mounting with ease. The motions are second nature, the product of having been trained since childhood. Her scales shine in the sunlight as I find the seat and settle into position. “I should warn you, I have every intention of dying in combat.”
“As do I.” Glane takes three steps and launches us skyward with great beats of her translucent wings. “In that, we are matched.”
Wind rushes through my hair as I look down at the field, leaving Garrick behind. “I bet I’ll kill more of the enemy than you will.”
“Challenge accepted.”
I throw out my arms and let my head fall back to embrace the sun as we climb, headed for the flight field. “I made it,” I tell Katrina and Mom. “Just like you said I would.” A smile curves my mouth. “Tell Grandma I took her dragon.” More accurately, her dragon took me.
My body curves over Glane’s spine, and we head toward the flight field, sharing a secret that would destroy Kaori’s faith in the Empyrean.
But it restores mine.