49. Aurora
AURORA
L’eesha rode draped around my shoulders like a cat, her warm little body radiating heat against my neck.
Her little belly was full of meat, and I could feel how sleepy she was.
Ryse had told me that for the first few days, all a newly hatched drakeling wanted to do was sleep and eat, and sleep some more.
I hated that this very natural cycle was being interrupted, and I had to defend her very existence instead of cradling her in my arms and letting her rest.
Speaking of Ryse, he was right beside me. He had promised not to leave me, and I appreciated that immensely. Just like a dragon, he was intensely loyal to those he cared about.
But would he be so loyal if he knew your secret? whispered a little voice in my head. You almost told him—Hatching Day saved you, you know.
It was true—lust had made me reckless. I resolved that I would be much more careful from now on. After all, it wasn’t just my own future I was fighting for—I also had to consider L’eesha’s future and wellbeing now.
It was like suddenly having a child, I thought—a baby I had to protect with my life. Now that L’eesha was hatched, I knew I would never do anything so foolhardy as confessing my true identity to anyone—not even Ryse.
But in the meantime, I had to see what the Head Master would say about my little golden drakeling. Would he agree with Master Yarsmouth that she was a genetic anomaly and shouldn’t be allowed to exist?
I felt a surge of protectiveness for the little golden being around my neck. If so, I would fight him to my last breath!
At last we reached the Head Master’s office, and I couldn’t help the feeling of dread that settled like a cold lump in the pit of my stomach. Last time I’d been here, things hadn’t exactly gone well. They could conceivably go even worse this time.
Ryse must have sensed my apprehension because he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.
“It’s all right, Auri—M’alex and I are with you,” he murmured.
“Thank you,” I said and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” a tired, irritated voice said.
I let myself into the office and saw the Head Master sitting behind his desk wearing pajamas and a long maroon robe. Clearly he had been in bed before Hatching Day had woken him.
“So it’s you again,” he said, frowning as I came to stand in front of his desk. “Why are you always causing problems, Cadet Lysandra?”
“I’m not causing problems on purpose, Sir,” I said, lifting my chin. “I was just bonding with my dragon when Master Yarsmouth said there was something wrong with her. Which is clearly not true because she’s perfect,” I added proudly.
The Head Master sighed deeply and rubbed his temples.
“Yes, Cadet—we all feel that way about our dragons,” he said. “Unfortunately, Master Yarsmouth seems to think your dragon isn’t, er, quite right.”
“He’s just angry because she bit him,” I said, frowning. “She doesn’t like him because he wouldn’t believe she was talking to me when I Impressed her egg.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“Cadet, are you telling me that your dragon was forming opinions of humans she didn’t know before she even broke the shell?”
“Yes, Sir, I am,” I said firmly. “She named herself, too,” I added. “She’s been very sure of herself from the moment we first made contact.”
He frowned.
“What you’re describing is impossible, Cadet Lysandra. Even the most intelligent dragons aren’t that self-aware while still inside the egg.”
“Her egg was dormant for over a century,” Ryse pointed out. “Maybe she heard people talking through her shell and learned that way.”
“Regardless of what she knows or doesn’t know, the fact is she’s already showing vicious tendencies and she’s clearly a runt,” the Head Master said, frowning.
“Also, her coloring is all wrong—everyone knows there’s no such thing as a solid gold dragon.
Under such circumstances, I’m not sure we can allow her to live. ”
“What?” I demanded so loudly that I woke up L’eesha, who—up until now—had been sleeping deeply on my shoulder. She raised her head, her rainbow eyes blinking sleepily as she stared at the Head Master.
“You heard me, Cadet,” the Head Master said, frowning. “I know it’s painful, since you just bonded with her, but I think Master Yarsmouth is right—she’s got to go.”
“You can’t take her from me!” I took a step back, my entire body trembling with rage. A fierce, protective, maternal love welled up in me and I knew I would fight to the death to protect my baby!
“Cadet, I don’t think—” the Head Master began.
“Wait!” Ryse cocked his head, as though he was listening. “Can’t you hear that?” he asked us both.
I paused for a moment, my heart pounding, and heard what he was talking about.
It was the dragons—they were roaring.
“M’alex is in a rage!” Ryse reported, his eyes wide. “He says how dare you think of killing the Queen?”
“What? I don’t…” the Head Master began, but then his eyes went wide as well.
“Well…it seems that my own dragon, B’eshba, is upset by the idea as well,” he admitted reluctantly.
“No, no—it’s all right,” he muttered, and I realized he was talking to his dragon, not to us.
“I won’t…I won’t. I’m sorry—I didn’t know. ”
At last, he looked back at me and L’eesha, who was staring at him from my shoulder with her rainbow eyes whirling.
“Er, forgive me, Cadet Lysandra,” he said at last. “It appears that the dragons are all insisting that your drakeling be allowed to live.”
I felt a rush of relief as I reached up to stroke her tiny head.
“Thank you, Head Master,” I said sweetly. I had the strong urge to say, “I told you she was perfect!” But I held myself back. I was too flooded with relief to want to take him down a peg. I just wanted to cuddle my baby drakeling and let the rest of the world take care of itself for a while.
“is this a bad man, too?” L’eesha wanted to know, as she stared at him.
“No, no,” I assured her mentally. “He’s not bad—he’s the Head Master.”
“maybe I should bite him just in case,” she suggested.
I told her sternly that she must not bite him and hastily asked the Head Master if I could be excused.
“L’eesha is hungry again,” I told him, as an excuse.
“Er, of course, Cadet. You’d better go feed her.”
There was a perplexed frown on his face, as though he wasn’t exactly happy about the situation but clearly, he wasn’t willing to go against every dragon at the Academy—including his own—to do anything about it.
“Thank you.” I made a brief bow, which made L’eesha hiss as she dug her tiny claws into my shoulder, and Ryse and I left at once.
“Well, crisis averted,” he remarked, as we left the Head Master’s office. “For now, anyway.”
“What do you mean, for now?” I asked, frowning up at him. “Please don’t tell me you think there’s going to be more trouble over L’eesha!”
“I think she’s causing quite a stir—challenging the established order of things—and the Academy doesn’t like that.” Ryse sounded troubled. “But I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” he added. “Since every dragon in the Old Drake just stood up for ‘the Golden Queen.’”
“Is that what they’re calling her?” I asked with wide eyes.
He nodded.
“That’s what M’alex tells me. He’s calming down now that they’re no longer threatening her,” he added.
“Tell him I said thank you for his support,” I said gratefully. “I was really worried, there for a moment.”
“You had a right to be,” he said gravely. “I’ve never seen them talk about destroying a drakeling that’s already bonded with a rider, before.”
“I didn’t even know it was a possibility,” I said, shivering. “I never thought—”
“i really am hungry, though,” L’eesha broke in, interrupting me. “you told that man I was hungry and I AM.”
The last thought was delivered with a huge feeling of ravenous hunger that affected me, too. Suddenly I felt I hadn’t eaten in a hundred years, even though dinner had been just a few hours before.
Beside me, Ryse put a hand to his flat belly.
“I’m so hungry, suddenly!” he exclaimed.
I shot him a sidelong glance. Could L’eesha be projecting her needs and emotions onto him as well?
But that was impossible, wasn’t it? A dragon’s emotions could only loop with its rider’s—they only projected emotions onto other people they didn’t know during a Mating Flight, and that was just because their emotions were so strong at that time and there were so many of them.
Whatever the case, I suddenly understood that I was going to have to keep a close eye on my new drakeling. There was something different about L’eesha and it wasn’t just her size or her coloring or even her beautiful rainbow eyes.
“of course i’m different—i am the Queen,” I heard her say. “now hurry up and feed me—I AM HUNGRY!”