CHAPTER SEVENTEEN #3
I nodded. No wonder Quinn consistently finished in the top half of the pack – he was working year round.
It wasn’t the same, but I felt a kinship over the way I’d trained for the past five years too.
Racing was much more than the hours spent on dragonback, it was the preparation beforehand too, both mentally and physically.
‘So they let you? You can train with the dragons even over winter?’
He perked up further. ‘Yeah. I’ve been working with the breeders actually, training the fledglings and working out which ones will be good for racing.’
I slapped his arm in excitement. ‘That’s what I’ve been doing!’
He grinned down at me. ‘At Kiestral?’
‘Yeah. I started out with the breeders a few years ago before moving to be a keeper for Gottyk. I kept up my licence so I could fly them too. I like to think my race experience helped, as most of the breeders hadn’t even flown before.
’ I thought back to Gottyk as a hatchling, making his tiny cooing noises as he stumbled around.
‘They’re such a mess when they’re young.
It’s adorable – all legs and no coordination. ’
‘Right? I love the way they look up at you with those massive eyes, too big for their own heads.’
The fledglings had Quinn wrapped around their talons too, then. Gottyk had done the same to me, back when the deep orange colour of his scales hadn’t matured yet making him look like a wobbly peach skeleton with two eyes and two horns.
‘I still have a few scars from back then, before Gottyk learned that humans and fire don’t go well together.’
Quinn chuckled. ‘Yeah they can be a handful. It’s great you get to work with him still, after raising him.’
‘Yeah for sure, when we fly—’
I choked on my words, trying desperately to play it off as a coughing fit. A shot of adrenaline went up my spine. I’d come so close to blurting out the truth. Chatting with Quinn had felt too easy, too comfortable.
He placed a hand on my back, stooping to check on me.
‘Hey, you okay?’ The question came from further away.
It wasn’t Quinn who’d spoken, it was Theo.
We looked up. He stood on the walkway, lit by the overhead lamps. His hands were stuffed lazily into his pockets as usual, but there was an odd squareness to his shoulders. He strode over as I straightened up. Quinn took a step away, whether it was intentional or not I wasn’t sure.
‘No need to pretend to care, Vaspre.’ I was still on edge from nearly outing my secret to Quinn. I didn’t need Theo making it worse.
Theo pulled a hand out of his jacket. It twitched before going up into his hair, pushing the curls out of his face. ‘If you die I’ll have no one to torture for fun.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘You clearly have Colly. Where is he anyway?’
‘We caught up with the others and he started flirting with Josie. It was too painful to watch.’
My heart skipped a beat on Josie’s behalf. Part of me wanted to go and find her and save her from being awkwardly pursued.
‘Must be something in the air tonight, hey?’ Theo looked directly at me, then flicked his gaze to Quinn.
‘Oh. No …’ Quinn’s face flushed, easy to see even in the dim light. His hazel eyes lacked the earlier spark too. I hadn’t had any expectation of him liking me that way, but it was hard to not take the instant denial personally.
Feeling awkward I shifted my weight and backed up to give Quinn some more space. The small of my back knocked against the balustrade just as my foot skidded on the frost that had formed on the wooden walkway.
My arms wheeled in the air. My stomach dropped as I locked my eyes on the dark abyss over the edge.
A strong arm looped around my waist and pulled me into an equally sturdy body. Relief sank into me, slowly replacing the panic. My boots found grip again and I clung on to the shoulders that I was now pressed up against. A familiar citrus smell enveloped me.
The soft layers of his clothes did little to disguise Theo’s muscles.
As if seeing them in the spa hadn’t been more than enough.
His face tilted down towards mine. The deep brown of his eyes framed by his thick lashes.
I was too close to see his mouth, but I could almost feel his lips brushing against my nose.
‘You’re falling all over the place tonight, Paldon.’ His words and tone were both intended to tease me, but in very different ways.
Heat rushed to my cheeks and I couldn’t convince myself that it was only embarrassment. This was a problem.
I broke away, desperate for the cold night air to take away the blush that was no doubt filling my face. Quinn had opted for finding the nearby lamp post incredibly interesting. I didn’t blame him, Theo was embarrassing us both.
‘I’m going to go check on Josie. Poor Colly might have trapped them in an infinite loop of conversation.’
I rushed away, staying close to the mountain wall rather than going anywhere near the open chasm. I’d had enough bad luck for one night. Looking back over my shoulder was incredibly tempting, which was horrifying. Why did I want to look back at Theo? What did I want to see when I did?
I didn’t want to be asking myself those questions, let alone answering them. So instead I hurried to the safety of the aviary and team dorms, desperate to put the night behind me.