Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Valeraine nudged her knees, and Lelantos took to the sky.
The pampering and break since the derby had done him good, and he darted into the air, chipper and enthusiastic.
There were no other dragons in the sky, not as far as the eye could see.
It was just Valeraine and Lelantos. Clouds scattered shade on the ground, and the rushing air was perfectly warm.
Lelantos started climbing higher, and Valeraine let him. She enjoyed the panoramic views from high-altitude flights.
Then, with a mischievous twitch of his ears, he dived.
Valeraine’s heart rabbited at the drop, and her first frantic thought was to check if Lelantos was conscious. It would be just her luck to fall out of the sky on a routine, short flight after surviving a derby.
When she reached for his mind it was there. He was not only awake — he was focused and in precise control. Lelantos tucked his wings in, streamlining and accelerating as they plummeted.
Valeraine let out a whoop. This was their sky, and they would do exactly as they liked with it: flying daring and fast.
Lelantos roared, triumphant. He loosed a fireball in the air, burning itself out before it reached anything.
A feeling entered Valeraine’s heart, sent by her dragon; he was incandescently happy.
The wind whipped past his scales, chilling and massaging them.
Lelantos pulled out of the dive with a dozen feet to spare, skimming above a field and tilting back up to climb again.
He wanted to fly high, after so many years of drudgery and farming.
The exercise stretched his wings, powerful and alive.
Valeraine had finally given him racing back, and he loved it.
“Yes! Go, fly,” she cheered him on. She let him determine their height and speed, trusting him to save them before they hit the ground.
Her dragon wanted to play. He wanted to race.
The connection they had forged during the derby wasn’t a fluke, or a one-time magic.
He wanted to share his feelings with her even now.
He had chosen her. Had he extended this bond to someone before?
Was there some Longbourn dragoneer from centuries past who had felt this?
Or was Valeraine the first? There were no tales of Lelantos forming bonds, but the history of Longbourn was so poorly preserved she wouldn’t be surprised if something even as extraordinary as this had slipped away.
He had chosen her. She was his dragoneer.
Would she really give up the derbies, after her dragon had made it so clear he wanted more?
One derby had injured Lelantos and had lowered Longbourn house (in the eyes of some, like Lady Scaleheart). There were dozens of good, sensible, practical reasons to not race again. It could ruin her dragon. It could ruin her house. It could ruin her.
Why had Lelantos chosen her? What did he want from her? It was obvious Lelantos loved the daring parts of her. He had chosen the woman who had flown him in a derby. He wanted to stretch his gargantuan wings and see what they could do, together.
She would be his dragoneer. They would fly in a derby again.
They would race at the Rosings derby.
It was reckless, and dangerous, and absolutely what needed doing.
There were sensible reasons to race, as well.
If they could win a derby, they would prove Lelantos was still a powerful dragon — one that could father profitable nestlings.
Prove it to Mr. Rosings, certainly, if they did well at his race.
That was what Longbourn desperately needed: someone willing to take the chance and produce eggs with them.
He was worth that, they just needed to show the world.
They would try their hand at the Rosings derby, 2 days’ flight away to the south.
Lelantos might get a little nest-tetchy, but it was difficult to imagine the restful giant causing any true trouble.
Then, they would keep racing until people were vying for the privilege of breeding Lelantos, reliable in his later years, into their nests.
Valeraine and her dragon would race. They would train, and in three weeks they would be ready to show the world that Longbourn house was one of consequence.