Chapter 18 #2
The dress fitting was an unusual experience for me, but Vanya dispelled all the tension and awkwardness of being measured, of being questioned on fabrics, on styles, and on the cut of the bodice.
I felt a bit like one of my sister’s dolls.
Though the dressmaker nodded to everything she said, clearly enjoying serving royalty, he hesitated slightly when she said drop-waisted and just below the knees.
I let her order me a dress I never would have ordered on my own, a fully impractical evening dress in what she convinced me was the up-and-coming trend for all the most fashionable ladies.
I’d seen these loose-fitting dresses on several of the girls at the night race, and Vanya assured me her new dress was also in the same style. Evie would be proud.
As we walked back to the school from the train station, a voice called out from behind us.
“Hatchlings!”
We both stiffened, thinking it was Luther coming to yell at us, but when we turned, Shep was jogging toward us, a derby hat on his head, a suitcase in one hand. He’d left a few days ago to attend his older sister’s wedding in Brookedale, a town south of Treston.
“How was the wedding?” I said as he paused, removed his hat, and bowed his head at us.
“When my family gets together, it’s always a little tense. My mother, you see, is from a noble house, but my father is a haberdasher.” He shrugged.
“Oh,” I said, unsure what to say next.
Vanya, never at a loss for words, jumped in with, “I bet the conversations are positively sparking.”
“Like wildfires,” he said with a grin. “But that’s what you get when someone marries for love.”
The strangeness of his statement was eclipsed as Vanya looped her arm through mine. “See, Ari, people like him. They’ll come around about you, too.”
Blush flooded my face, and I tossed Vanya a silencing glare.
Shep, however, chuckled. “When I turned seventeen, my grandfather sponsored me, glad to see me bonded with a dragon and bringing honor back to his family name, rather than pursuing a career in hatmaking. When I first started at Cardan Lott, I tried to keep my background a secret, but it’s hard to keep secrets at this school. ”
I almost choked on my next breath, but I managed to pass it off as a slight sniffle.
As we walked under the archway into the school’s courtyard, Shep pulled off his hat, almost reverently, as he looked up at the words etched over the school’s front doors. “So you can see why I pushed so hard to be the best.”
When we reached the door to the common room, Shep held it open for us. Vanya slipped inside first. As she vanished inside, Shep propped against the door and asked, “Where are you headed after class today?”
“Probably the library,” I admitted.
“Right, ah, first year,” he said with a nod. “It was grueling. Teachers here show no mercy to first years.”
“Do they to third years?” I asked.
He blew out a short breath. “No, you just get used to it, I guess. Well, if you finish your homework and want to come with a few of us for a hunt, you’re welcome to.”
My brows popped up. “Oh. I didn’t think we were allowed to ride outside of lessons. Bryce was pretty clear about that.”
Shep suppressed a grin. “Ari, no one only rides in lessons. Surely you know that.”
My lips pinched together as a wave of annoyance washed over me. Of course they evaded the rules. “Vanya doesn’t,” I said, lifting my shoulders.
“And she’s been holding back in lessons.
She’s won races already in her country.” At my look of surprise, he added, “I research my competition. Anyway, going out with your dragon to hunt is not expressly forbidden.” He shrugged.
“It’s the easiest way around the ‘rules.’” He winked at the last word. “After dinner. If you want to come.”
After a beat, I said, “Thanks for walking with us.”
He offered another small bow, which sent a tiny shiver of delight through me. “It was my pleasure, Arivelle.” He smiled as I slipped inside.
The evening air was damp but not freezing, and wearing my riding uniform was enough to make me burn with excitement. Vanya had squealed with delight when I’d told her about Shep’s invitation, but she’d refused to come with me, citing that the invite had only gone to me.
Now I walked into the lair, trying to look casual as I strolled by the third years saddling their dragons for the hunt.
“Ari!” Shep called out, jogging over from where Petra was already saddled in the rotunda.
Overcast skies kept any moonlight from shining through the oculus above, but a few students had kerosene lamps burning beside them on the ground.
Long, curved shadows moved across the walls. “Glad you made it.”
I grinned, then glanced around at the other third years, who moved with practiced ease around their dragons, cinching saddle straps without even looking. I would never be able to keep up with them. This had been a terrible idea.
“We’re going to hunt on the west side of the mountain, start out over the lake, head north from there.”
Nodding absently, I pictured myself plummeting from my saddle into the ice-cold water. “Do you just…ride while they hunt?” I shrugged.
Shep laughed and scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed for me, perhaps?
Or just embarrassed he’d asked me. “So riding while hunting is definitely harder, but that’s why I asked you.
You’re not going to get this kind of practice in lessons.
Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you won’t fall off. ”
He followed me to Myth’s den and helped me saddle him. While we worked, he asked about my classes and how lair lessons were going.
It was so different being here with Shep instead of Covington.
I didn’t have to jump at every sound, worried someone would discover us.
And my shoulders weren’t so tight from holding my arms crossed the whole time.
But I kept glancing around, as if certain Rushland Covington would prance into the lair.
Once I’d climbed into the saddle, Shep stood beside Myth until I was appropriately strapped in.
“Now, Myth might want to hunt alone, but you can direct him to stay with the group. Once a dragon finds a family of deer, the rest will follow. Then it gets…interesting.” He grinned. “You’ll let him do the work. Your only job is to hang on.”
“That sounds ominous.”
His smile widened. “Consider it good practice.”
“For what? The circus?”
He chuckled, but the sound was lost beneath the whoosh of wingbeats as the other third years took off, some flying up through the oculus, others darting out the wide aisles of the lair. “For the night races, Ari. I assume you want to try it?”
“Oh!” I rocked backward in the saddle. “There’s no way I’d be…” But I cut myself off. If I could fly in a night race, that might just be the kind of practice I needed to beat Covington in the year-end race. I nodded firmly, swallowing the nerves rising in my throat. “Of course I want to try it.”
Shep slapped Myth’s side. “That’s what I thought. We’ve got to prove our place here, you and me. Show them they’re wrong about you, Ari.” He winked at me and hurried to Petra, who waited across the rotunda. In seconds, he was crouched over her back as she launched into the air.
His words still playing in my mind, I curled my fingers around the saddle’s handles and whispered to Myth, “Let’s fly.”
Rather than bolt out through the aisle, like Petra, Myth shot straight upward, flapping his wings as he aimed straight for the window to the night sky. We burst out into the chilly air, and Myth twisted into a partial dive to gain speed.
I screamed and hung on for dear life.
Petra swooped past us, and Shep called out, “That’s it! Just let him fly.”
We banked over the forest, the lake passing underneath us in a flash.
My stomach was like a tennis ball inside me, each turn, each dive, each climb leaving me on the verge of revisiting my supper.
Myth had never flown like this in lessons.
And while Shep’s words to me about proving my place here had left a sour taste in my mouth, he was right that I’d never get practice like this at the lair.
At least not soon enough to win this year’s race. To beat Covington, I needed this.
So I let Myth fly.
I didn’t whisper any commands to him at all, not even bothering to tell him to keep up with the others. This was his hunt, and I was merely along for the ride. I only hoped I lived through it.
He veered away from the group, flying a little apart from them but never so far that we lost sight of the others.
When he dove through the trees, I was certain I’d die.
But the straps and my white-knuckled grip kept me in the saddle.
My screams dwindled into silent panic that eventually faded into an exhilarating thrill.
By the tenth time we’d nose-dived toward the ground, I was smiling like an idiot and watching with my eyes open.
It only occurred to me that Myth hadn’t caught anything when I watched a rabbit hop across the ground, easily within his reach.
“You let him go!” I shouted over the wind whipping at my face.
A swell of pride surged in me that felt at odds with my recent panic. Myth beat his wings, bulleted through the tree branches, and came down hard on a deer so startled it barely had time to take a single leap.
The sudden jolt at our stop had me slamming into Myth’s neck. “Ow!” I huffed, rubbing my chest where his spikes had bumped me.
The deer was already being torn apart beneath me. I held my hand under my nose and looked up, humming to try to cover the sounds.
Myth’s elation, however, seeped into me, masking the disgust I felt until I was barely aware of the animal getting eaten below me. When he was finished—faster than I thought possible—we took to the skies again, this time his flying less aggressive, less hurried.
We floated back toward the lair, a tangible peace pulsing on the strange connection between us. I smiled and patted his neck.
“Thank you for not letting me die,” I said as we dropped through the oculus. A few of the others were already back. Among them, Shep, who must have already unsaddled Petra and put her in her den.
He hurried toward us when we landed. “How was it?” he asked, his expression and tone almost cautious.
I pulled my matted hair from my face and climbed down from the saddle. The feeling of solid ground beneath me was comforting. “The truth? Terrifying. And also amazing.”
Shep clapped. “That’s the spirit. I’m glad you had fun.” He leaned forward. “For a minute there, I was afraid you’d kill me when we got back.”
“It crossed my mind.”
We laughed as he helped me unsaddle Myth. The entire time, my legs shook and my heart raced from the adrenaline of the ride, but through it all, I couldn’t stop beaming at Myth. He was incredible. He was fast. He’d been holding back in lessons, and I was to blame.
But now that I’d seen him really fly, I felt like, maybe, we actually had a chance.