Epilogue
AURORA
“And now, I would like to proceed with the sentencing,” the Head Master said, lifting his chin and staring ominously around the auditorium where all the cadets and the faculty of the Academy were once more assembled.
I couldn’t believe I was back here again, still on trial after everything that had happened. Surely the bond that I had formed with Ryse and that L’eesha had formed with M’alex should have changed something—right?
But after Ryse and I finally got dressed and left the small exercise room, we were caught almost at once by the guards who were looking for us. Well, mostly for me—I was the one the Head Master wanted to get rid of.
The Mating Flight had been intense but this time, thanks to the forethought of the Head Healer, Professor Zephyr, most of the cadets who didn’t want to participate had been spared.
They had taken the calming tincture she’d handed out to anyone who asked for it at once.
So the cadets and Professors who stared back at me from the audience, didn’t look nearly as bad off as everyone had been after the previous Mating Flight.
And now, here we all were again, and I was about to be banished for the second time. And this time, there was no Mating Flight to save me.
“As I was saying before we were all interrupted during Aurora Lysandra’s trial,” the Head Master continued, “the accused has been found guilty of acts of High Treason, and she will be banished from the Academy and separated from her dragon forever as punishment.”
“what? what’s that? did he say he would separate us?” I heard L’eesha demand in my head. She had been watching the proceedings through my eyes, since she was far too large by now to get into the lower halls of the Academy.
“Yes, that’s what he said,” I sent back, with a heavy heart. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
“but he cannot separate us! HE CANNOT MAKE US PART!”
I felt a wash of agony sweep over me as L’eesha sent me her pain and terror at the idea of losing me.
“He’s the Head Master,” I sent back. “I’m afraid he can do whatever he wants.”
“NO HE CANNOT! I WILL NOT LET HIM!”
Suddenly the air outside the Academy was filled with the roaring of dragons. Enraged and filled with grief, it echoed through the stone halls and bounced off the walls and ceilings—a deafening wave of sound that made many of the cadets and professors clamp their hands over their ears.
“You can’t separate them!” someone shouted from the crowd. “My dragon says if you try to send Lysandra away, that the Queen will leave too!”
“Mine says the same!” another cadet yelled and a chorus of agreement followed.
“Order, order!” The Head Master banged on the podium angrily. “I have already said that they are to be separated, and Lysandra’s dragon will remain here at the Academy for breeding purposes.”
But more and more cadets were standing to shout their anger. Even some of the professors were protesting.
“You can’t keep L’eesha here if she doesn’t want to stay!” I shouted, raising my voice too. “You can’t separate us—it’s cruel!”
The Head Master gave me a dark look.
“If I say that she stays, she stays. I’ll chain her in the Caverns if I have to!”
But at this he had apparently gone too far.
The entire auditorium erupted as everyone rose to their feet.
The roaring of the dragons had become deafening, but I could still hear some of what the cadets were shouting.
“You can’t cage the Queen!”
“My dragon says we’ll defend the Queen if you try to chain her!”
“How dare you speak of chaining the Queen!”
“Enough! Enough!”
To my surprise, the person shouting this time wasn’t the Head Master—it was the Head Healer.
Professor Zephyr rose and came up onto the stage.
She waved her hands for quiet and finally, the shouting began to die down.
But outside the dragons were still roaring and I could feel L’eesha’s rage at the idea that we should be separated.
“Listen to me,” Professor Zephyr said to the crowd. “No one is going to separate the Golden Queen from her rider.”
“What?” the Head Master demanded. “I have already pronounced the sentence!”
“Then you’ll just have to take it back,” the Head Healer said, frowning sternly. “Can’t you tell what the Golden Queen means to the dragons of this Academy? She saved all their lives! You can’t punish her just because her rider is a woman!”
“But…it was her rider I meant to punish!” The Head Master pointed at me. “Aurora Lysandra is guilty of—”
“The only thing she’s guilty of is being a woman,” Professor Zephyr snapped, apparently losing her temper at last. “Rather than throwing her out, you ought to be recruiting more like her!”
“What?” The Head Master looked truly outraged now. “Are you suggesting we should let more female riders enter the Academy?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Professor Zephyr said, frowning. “I have been studying the ancient manuscripts that Cadet Skoren found in the library, and it is my belief that the Madling attack we suffered was not an isolated incident.”
Her words quieted everyone. Outside, even the dragons stopped roaring, and I realized they were listening to what she had to say through their riders.
“What do you mean?” The Head Master narrowed his eyes at her.
“I have found records of the previous Madling attacks,” she told him.
“They come in cycles—cycles we forgot because it’s been so long since they multiplied and came out of hiding.
But once a cycle starts, it doesn’t end for years.
We need more dragons like Cadet Lysandra’s Golden Queen to lead the Wings into battle.
And in order to have more Golden Queens, we need more female riders because they won’t bond with males. ”
“This is all ridiculous!” The Head Master blustered.
“Is it?” Professor Zephyr asked quietly. “Have you spoken to your own dragon lately, Head Master? Ask any of the riders what their dragons are saying—they understand the Madlings in a way we don’t—they were literally bred to fight them. Go on—ask your own dragon what she thinks.”
From the twisted, unhappy expression on the Head Master’s face, his dragon—a Turquoise Gold-wing, was agreeing with the Head Healer.
“But we can’t let in more female riders!” he argued and I had a feeling he was arguing with his own dragon as much as with Professor Zephyr. “It’s Academy tradition—we never allow female riders!”
“Are traditions more important than the continuation of the Academy?” Professor Zephyr demanded.
“Wouldn’t you rather open our doors to new riders and dragons than see everything you’ve worked for your entire life turned to ash the next time the Madlings come calling?
Because mark my words, Head Master, they will come again and next time there will be more of them. ”
The Head Master looked like a man beset on every side. His jaw was clenched so hard a muscle was jumping in his temple, and his hands were fists at his sides.
“You can’t live in the past, Henry,” Professor Zephyr said softly, and I saw she was appealing to him personally.
“You don’t want what happened to Chud to happen to other cadets too—or to the innocent villagers we’re charged with protecting.
In order to fight the coming menace, the Academy must change and grow and adapt. ”
“But everyone knows females can’t be dragon riders,” he muttered, but I could see the doubt on his face.
“That’s a lie that was spread by the Head Master from over a hundred years ago.
” It was Ryse. He had come to the edge of the stage and was looking up at the Head Master and the Head Healer.
“He wanted to get rid of the Golden Queens because he didn’t like the power they had over the other dragons.
Before he drove the Queens and their riders away, there were plenty of female riders. ”
The muscle in the side of the Head Master’s jaw clenched tight again and then he glared first at Ryse, then and Professor Zephyr, and finally at me.
“Fine,” he said at last. “Lysandra will be allowed to remain.”
Then he turned and left the stage with his brows pulled low and his hands fisted at his sides.
I blew out a breath of pure relief and Professor Zephyr turned to me.
“Well, my dear—it seems you’ve won a victory—albeit a grudging one,” she said to me.
“Thank you for speaking on my behalf,” I said gratefully.
“What about me? I spoke for you.”
Suddenly Ryse was beside me, sweeping me into his arms.
“Ryse!” I threw my arms around his neck, and he kissed me in front of everyone, not caring who was watching.
“I never would have let him make you leave,” he murmured in my ear when the kiss broke at last. “Or if he tried, M’alex and I would have come with you and L’eesha.”
I smiled at him gratefully.
“I know—because they can’t be separated now that they’re a bonded pair.”
“So are we,” he growled, looking into my eyes. “And I meant what I said during the Mating Flight, little one—you’re mine now and I’m never letting you go!”
He wrapped me in his arms and tucked my head under his chin, and I felt his possessiveness and love through L’eesha who was picking it up from M’alex and broadcasting it to anyone and everyone.
But even as Ryse held me and vowed never to let me go, I worried for the future. Was Professor Zephyr right? Were there more Madlings coming?
If so, we really would need to recruit more women riders.
There were still a small pile of golden eggs lying like forgotten treasure on the far end of the Hatching Grounds.
Maybe the drakelings inside were waiting, dreaming of the right rider to come and wake them and Impress their egg, just as L’eesha had been waiting for me.
I just hoped we could find them in time.