Chapter 45 Alar
ALAR
"Opportunities forfeited for noble reasons often are reclaimed for even greater purpose."
—Ancient Elurian Text
The obsidian dragon launched into the night sky, taking Kailin with it.
With him.
The dark-haired rider who'd stolen her attention so completely that she'd barely spared me a glance before leaving.
My chest felt hollow, like something vital had been carved out of it.
She'd looked at me once, just before they'd taken off—a token smile on her lips that somehow made everything worse because it was more of an apology than a promise.
I didn't want her apology. I wanted...
What? To be the one sitting behind her?
To be the one whose arms she trusted to keep her safe in the air?
To never have seen the way her entire being seemed to electrify when that rider approached her?
"Stop glaring at the sky," Codric said beside me.
I forced my gaze down, though every instinct screamed to keep watching that dark shape disappearing into the aurora-lit night. "I'm not glaring."
He snorted. "Okay. Then you must be planning an assassination."
I was. For one violent moment, I'd imagined all the ways a rider could fall from their dragon. But I wasn't that guy.
I had a mission, a purpose, and jealousy was beneath me. If Kailin wanted to be with that guy because he was her brother's commander or for any other reason, it was her choice.
I had no claim on her.
Perhaps I should confess who I was to her. I was a damn prince. He had nothing on me.
"Let him have her," I muttered, but the words tasted like ash in my mouth. "She's just a distraction anyway. We're here for more important things. We need to graduate and become riders."
Codric's expression shifted to something that looked dangerously close to pity. "We are. But now that Kailin is also a cadet, there is no more reason for you to deny your feelings for her. Don't just give up on her without a fight."
For a moment, my competitiveness reared its head, and my entire body coiled in preparation for a ferocious fight. That rider might have seemed all that to her, but he wasn't a prince.
I was.
Yeah, and he also wasn't on a secret mission.
But wait, Saphir knew who I was...
He'd called me 'prince' and winked, but he hadn't exposed me. He hadn't prevented me from being chosen. Maybe I didn't have to choose between my mission and Kailin.
"She was just overwhelmed," I said slowly, working it out as I spoke. "Seeing her brother again, all these dragons, her brother's commander. She probably was afraid to say no to him because of the repercussions it could have for her brother. It's not like she could have refused."
"Reality check." Codric put his hand on my shoulder. "Kailin seemed infatuated, not overwhelmed. You can still fight for her, but don't lie to yourself. She looked at him as if she recognized him."
The hollow feeling in my chest turned sharp, like broken glass under my ribs. "What do you mean? She knew him?"
"That's what it looked like to me, but you can ask her yourself when we get there. Then again, maybe you should accept that some things are beyond your control, your high—"
"Don't." I cut him off sharply.
He raised his hands in surrender, but his eyes taunted me with things I wasn't ready to acknowledge.
I turned away, focusing on the sky and waiting for the dragons to return. This time, I wasn't letting anyone go ahead of me. I needed to get to the Citadel and guard Kailin from that conceited commander.
I knew the type. He was the kind of man who thought of himself as a cut above the rest, deserving the attention of every female he encountered.
I didn't have to wait long, and as a group of dragons circled above, readying for landing, I realized that they were not the ones who had taken the first group of new cadets.
They were all a sight to behold. Beautiful, but none as striking as that obsidian beast that had carried my Kailin away.
A rider approached our remaining group, her dragon a magnificent creature whose scales shifted between blue and silver depending on how the light hit them. She moved with the easy confidence of someone who spent more time in the air than on the ground.
"Who's ready to fly?"
"I am." I stepped forward.
I needed to catch up to Kailin before that guy charmed her into submission.
"I'm Avida," she said as she motioned for me to follow, "and this is Barobian." She looked over her shoulder at Codric. "Come on. More riders are waiting to take you up."
I was surprised by the warmth of the dragon's scales as I pulled myself up, settling into position with more grace than I felt.
Everything about this moment should have been triumphant. I'd been chosen, and I was about to take my first flight. I was one step closer to achieving my goals. So why did it feel like something essential had been stolen from me?
"Secured?" Avida asked as she mounted in front of me, checking the straps that would keep us connected to the saddle.
"Yes." I looked back at the Circle of Fate and the mass of pilgrims still waiting to hear their fates.
"Put these on." She handed me a pair of goggles.
When Barobian's muscles bunched beneath me, the dragon preparing for takeoff, I heard Codric let out a whoop of excitement somewhere behind me.
We launched into the night sky with a power that drove the breath from my lungs.
The ground fell away with dizzying speed, the Circle of Fate shrinking below us until the standing stones looked like children's toys.
The air grew colder, clearer, filled with the sound of wings beating the air and wind.
Despite the gaping hole in my chest, I couldn't help but smile. This feeling of freedom, of power, of possibility was what I'd come all this way for. Not just for my mission, not just to prevent the looming catastrophe, but for this moment of pure transcendence.
I was born to be a rider.
I had always known that deep in my soul, and now I was proven right.
The aurora lights danced around us as Barobian banked into a turn, following the path the other dragons had taken. Ahead was the Citadel, and with it the beginning of everything I'd dreamt about and worked for.
Kailin would be there too.
Whatever was happening between her and that rider couldn't erase what she and I had shared during the pilgrimage. The way we'd supported each other on the trek, the understanding that had grown between us, the friendship, that kiss. It had all been real.
We could still have it.
"The Citadel lies beyond that ridge," Avida called back to me, her voice carrying clearly despite the wind. "You can just see its lights."
I looked in the direction she pointed and saw pinpricks of light against the night sky. My future awaited me there—the chance to become what my people needed me to be, and maybe even the opportunity to win back the girl who seemed to have slipped away because I hadn't given her what she'd needed.
Barobian's wings caught an updraft, carrying us higher into the sky. Below us, the Circle of Fate was only a dim ring of stones, ancient and knowing.
Ahead lay new challenges, new opportunities, and a chance to shape a better, brighter future.