Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
“But that can’t be true!” I protested. “I’ve heard all my life that dragons won’t bond with women—that they hate women, even.”
He frowned.
“Who told you they hate women?”
“My father…and every one of the books I read about dragons growing up,” I said. “Also, women aren’t allowed to bond with dragons.”
“Yes, well, that’s just a stupid Academy tradition,” he said dismissively. “Women could be riders as well as men if they wanted to—the dragons wouldn’t care.”
“It’s not that they don’t want to—it’s that they’re not allowed to,” I said, with more heat than I’d intended. It made me mad to think that all my life I’d been denied an opportunity I would have loved just because I was a woman.
Ryse frowned.
“Why are you getting upset about this? Do you want to ride or not? Humbolt isn’t going to wait forever, you know.”
“Of course I want to ride.” I took a deep breath to steady my nerves as I looked up at the mountain that was M’alex. “Er…how do I get into the saddle?”
“Easy. M’alex?” He nodded at the dragon, who offered me a foreleg. Ryse looked at me. “Need a boost?”
“No, I can manage,” I said with as much dignity as I could muster. I hadn’t realized before I came to the Academy how much my short stature would impact my life here. But I refused to give in and act helpless.
I stepped up on the offered foreleg and from there to the dragon’s immense shoulder. Then I was high enough to put my foot into one of the dangling stirrups and swing myself into the saddle.
Ryse was right behind me, and I was sure he would sit in front—that was how I’d ridden on Jorn’s dragon when the courier had brought me to the Academy in the first place.
Instead, he settled behind me in the saddle, so close I could feel his breath stirring my hair.
“Hey, I can sit behind, you know,” I said, feeling immediately uneasy at the close proximity.
“No you can’t—don’t want to risk you falling off when we’re a hundred feet up. This way I can be sure you stay on.”
He put his arms on either side of me and kicked his feet into the stirrups. My own legs, of course, were dangling on either side of the broad dragon neck. I was completely surrounded by the Wing Leader’s big, muscular body behind me, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
It wasn’t that I felt unsafe or taken advantage of—Ryse wasn’t doing anything inappropriate. But he was so close I could feel his muscular chest against my back. I’d never been so close to a male before—other than Auren and he didn’t count because he was my brother and my twin.
Also, this close I could smell him—he had a clean scent like leather and warm skin that was indefinably but undeniably masculine. I liked it—liked it more than I wanted to admit, if I was honest.
Ryse didn’t seem to notice how stiff and uncomfortable I was.
“You got your flags?” he asked me as he reached around me for the leather reigns, which were attached to the tall dorsal spine in front of us rather than to any kind of harness or bridle.
“Right here,” I said, nodding down at my lap. I’d been clutching the long wooden sticks with their bright scraps of fabric all this time.
“Mine are tucked in the pocket at the back of my saddle,” Ryse said. “You can signal for both of us. I’ll explain to Humbolt.”
“Oh…all right.” My voice was tight and still a little hoarse from my run-in with Larson the night before. I hoped I would get this right. “Er…how are you going to steer?” I asked, nodding at the reigns. “Can M’alex feel you tugging when they’re just tied to his dorsal spine?”
Ryse rumbled laughter in my ear that vibrated my whole body.
“Those are just for the rider to hold on to. You don’t steer a dragon with your reigns—you steer him with your mind. M’alex—up!” he shouted, raising his voice and making me jump.
The huge dragon crouched low and then pushed up and off the ledge. His massive wings beat the air once…twice…three times and then we were ascending, flying upward into the clear blue sky.
I felt M’alex’s joy coursing through him and felt it echoed by Ryse. I caught it too and whooped with excitement and the pure elation of flight as we beat upward, ever upward.
No wonder all the cadets were so eager to get to their dragons, I thought, watching as other dragons and their riders dipped and soared around us. This feeling of being one with another being—this euphoria of soaring through the air—was the purest form of joy I’d ever known.
I couldn’t help contrasting this flight to the only other flight I’d had with Jorn, the courier on the back of his little Brown. That had been pleasant enough, but there was none of the elation I felt now. I wondered why.