Chapter 7
Harper
We’re flying back to the academy, but there’s a thrumming under my skin. A need to do something other than return to the academy and take on the next task. I’m tired of the tension. I’m tired of the fighting. I just want to have a little fun.
“Ebron, want to play a little?”
He sounds amused in my mind as he says, What do you have in mind?
I stand on Ebron, arms out at both my sides, and close my eyes. It’s an incredible feeling. I love the air rushing all around me. I love the sensation of flying.
“Harper!” Prince Gareth shouts nearby.
Opening my eyes, I see him flying at our side, looking concerned.
I send a thought to Ebron, grin at Prince Gareth, then leap off Ebron’s back.
The air whips me, harder this time, so hard it’s painful, but I relish the feeling as adrenaline pumps through me.
Below, the water rises up, a shockingly hard surface from such a far fall.
Then, Ebron is there, his solid body beneath me, and I fall hard onto his back, grinning like a mad woman as I realize all three men have dove down to catch me too. As we rise, they adjust their dragons’ directions to come up along with us.
“What the fuck!” Prince Gareth shouts angrily.
I smile back. “Come on. I’m just having a little fun.”
“That’s not fun,” Prince Alaric says, the scales of his white dragon flashing beneath the sunlight. “It’s reckless and dangerous.”
“What’s life without a little danger?” I say.
Prince Lucien’s golden dragon knocks into Ebron ever so slightly, and his gaze locks with mine. “You’re absolutely insane. You know that?”
I lift a brow. “Afraid of a little fun?”
He shakes his head of beautiful golden waves. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Try it then,” I challenge. Then I look at the others. “Try it.”
We keep rising into the clouds, then above the clouds, riding our dragons into the sky like the dragon riders of legend.
I don’t honestly think any of the three will freefall from here, but I watch them anyway, wondering what they’re thinking.
Probably just that I’m crazy, or silly, for trying to have fun on my dragon instead of just worrying about war and death.
Suddenly, Prince Lucien leaps from his dragon, falling from sight so fast it’s shocking.
I see the look on the other two men’s faces before they jump too, not willing to be shown up by their brother.
Their dragons take off after them, and I don’t have to say a word for Ebron to follow them down through the clouds.
I watch, heart racing, as they seem to fall ever closer to the water, before their dragons catch them on their backs.
Ebron comes alongside them, and I can see the three men breathing hard. Prince Lucien is smiling. Prince Gareth looks surprised. But Prince Alaric simply looks confused, like he hasn’t quite figured out how to feel about what just happened.
I laugh. “What did you think?”
Prince Lucien’s gaze meets mine. “Next time, we race.”
Smiling, I coax Ebron to go back up through the clouds while the others follow me.
We do three freefalls, and our dragons catch us each time.
Each prince wins once, but I can’t fault them for it.
All three are heavier than me. Then, we dive down to skim just above the water.
Their dragons follow Ebron’s every move, and I lean over, running my hand along the surface of the water as we go.
Behind me, the three men do the same. Their looks of delight make my heart swell.
Watching them enjoying playing on their dragons is even more fun than playing myself.
We do different tricks in the air, and then the others repeat what we do.
We dive around hills and mountains. We fly as close to the sun as we can manage.
I hear their laughter. It catches on the wind, swirling around me. The sounds are genuine. Unexpected. And I like it.
Lying on my back on Ebron, I stare up at the cloudy sky, my heart happy. I hear motion at my side and see Prince Gareth, his jet black hair flying around his face. He’s wearing a look I’ve never seen before, a mix of peaceful and happy.
“You know this isn’t what dragons are for,” he tells me over the wind.
I smile back. “Why not? Bonding time is just as important as practice time!”
Instead of arguing, he flops back on his dragon, and we fly that way for a while, side-by-side, not saying a word, and I feel like I’ve won some kind of battle as Prince Lucien and Prince Alaric surround us, all looking content on their dragons.
I don’t expect this to be some big change between all of us.
Their mindless devotion to being dragon riders, to being soldiers, runs deeper than something that can be fixed with one afternoon, but I hope today makes them think.
Makes them wonder. If living their lives in a constant state of misery is really the way it has to be.
“We should probably get back,” Prince Alaric says near me.
“Agreed,” the other two brothers say after a long minute.
I can almost feel the disappointment that sweeps through them, but I swear I’ll find another way to take them out and show them some happiness.
They might be complete and utter assholes on the surface, but deep down I know there’s more to them than that.
A chewy center surrounded by a hard, jerky outside.
Climbing up higher onto Ebron, I get back in my saddle, and we head towards the academy.
Beneath me, I can tell Ebron is content.
Relaxed. He liked spending the day with just me, but I think he liked spending the day with his mates even more.
I feel a pang of guilt that I’m the only thing keeping him and them from being together.
It seems needlessly cruel, but the idea of just accepting a marriage with the three princes is inconceivable.
If I didn’t want to marry Tesson, and I’d been ready to fight not to be with him, why would I just accept being with the princes now?
They’re just as cruel, except in different ways.
We reach the academy, and land almost in perfect unison.
Dragon riders are scattered around the training grounds lifting weights, fighting using hand-to-hand combat, and studying books around the outside of the grounds.
They’re probably sticking to their training on the ground, knowing they’ll have to be getting ready for the ball soon.
Ebron uses his wing to help me get down, but then there’s Prince Alaric, catching my hand and helping me onto the ground.
We stare at each other for a moment in shock, as a current of something unknown passes between us.
“Today was… fun,” he tells me, a note of disbelief in his voice.
“You flatter me, sir,” I tease.
His cheeks turn red. “You don’t understand. We never do things like that.”
“There’s no time,” Prince Gareth says, coming around Ebron.
“Our time is better spent preparing for war.” Prince Lucien has an edge of something in his voice that says he might not completely agree with that idea.
I shrug. “You only get one life. It’s your choice how you want to spend it.”
Prince Alaric draws his shoulders back. “Our life is dedicated to protecting our people.”
I hesitate, then decide the hell with it. “Your father is king. He was also a dragon rider. It seems to me that he hasn’t spent every minute of his life in complete dedication to battle and war.”
The expression on their faces is almost comical.
It’s like this is the first time they’ve thought about their father, a man known for his parties and his many women, and considered that he was a prince to the throne once upon a time.
I don’t know the king’s history, but I do know that his military conquests aren’t discussed nearly as much as his romantic ones.
Prince Alaric takes a step closer to me. “You know, you have the strangest way of making me look at the same thing I’ve seen a thousand times, but seeing it… differently.”
I flash a smile. “It’s a skill.”
A strange energy flows between the four of us, and I can’t help but wonder if we’re finally going to find some kind of peace between us. If the tension and the fighting will stop. If they’ll just let me be a dragon rider and succeed or fail on my own.
Ebron and the female dragons take off into the sky. The rush of air from their wings swirls around all of us as we stare up at the sky, watching their retreating forms. Seeing them… it never gets old. It always feels so magical.
“Whoa, dragons!” someone says. A familiar someone.
My head jerks to where I spot two figures.
Arthur and Tesson. Tesson stands tall and muscular.
His dark eyes are locked on me. His dark hair is combed into perfection, even though his clothes are dusty.
There’s anger and possessiveness in his eyes, neither of which I like, so I look at Arthur, and my heart melts.
My best friend’s dirty blond hair is more brown than gold, stained with dirt.
He’s wearing his leather traveling clothes, which look as dirty and worn as his hair.
But beneath all of that, his look of wonder as he stares at the dragons changes to a grin as his dark eyes fall on me.
“Arthur!” I shout.
Racing away from the princes, I run to my best friend and jump on him.
He shouts my name as he spins me around, then pulls into a bone-crushing hug.
Tears sting my eyes, and I clench him just as hard.
It all kind of hits me at once. How much I’ve missed him.
How much I’ve missed my family. I’ve spent my whole life surrounded by love, and I’ve been without it for what feels like forever.
We pull back from each other, and Arthur cups my face, grinning.
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, and how very annoying you’ve been, even from far away.
Everyone is constantly asking me questions about the Great Female Dragon Rider, and I’ve been making up weird shit to get them to leave me alone. ”
I laugh. “I missed you too.”
“What about me?” Tesson asks, angrily.
I don’t even look at him. “What are you doing here?”
“A better question is, who the fuck are you?” Prince Gareth asks, his voice low, even, and dangerous.
I tuck myself under Arthur’s arm, holding onto him. I never want to let him go. “This is Arthur.”
“Arthur.” Prince Gareth says his name like he’s memorizing it.
Prince Alaric looks between Arthur and I, something guarded in his eyes. “You know each other?”
“Yes,” I tell him simply, then grin at Arthur. “I have so much to tell you. So much to show you.”
He pulls me back into his arms for a hug. “Gods, I’ve missed you, Buttercup.”