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)
“I’m afraid she is,” I admitted. “But she was only angry with him because I got angry. She felt like he was threatening me, I think.”
Ryse sobered abruptly.
“You have to really keep a check on your emotions when your dragon is growing, Lysandra,” he lectured me. “Dragon’s amplify human emotions and broadcast them back to you, making you feel them even more strongly.” He frowned. “It’s probably going to be worse for you, with your gift. The same way it’s bad for me because of my dragon blood.”
I looked at his golden eyes and the glimmering scales that flashed gold and purple around his temples and his high cheekbones.
“Do you mean…you have feelings like a dragon does?” I asked hesitantly.
He nodded shortly.
“I was what my parents called ‘a strong-willed child.’ I felt everything so deeply—every mild rebuke was an attack, every denial was a crisis, every time my parents left for a party I was utterly fucking abandoned and sure they were never coming back.” He shook his head ruefully. “I wasn’t exactly an easy kid.”
“And…do you still feel that way?” I asked, remembering how enraged he’d gotten when he’d seen the bruises Chud Larson left on my neck.
“I do.” He nodded. “I can’t help it—I feel everything.” He looked at me intently. “I won’t lie to you, Auri—when I hate someone, I want to kill them. And when I love someone, I never want to let them go. I’m possessive—just like a dragon.”
His gaze was so intense, I had to drop my eyes. For some reason, I felt my cheeks heating with a blush. Why did he make me feel hot and cold all over when he looked at me like that? And how much more difficult must it be for him to keep a rein on his emotions when he had the deep, all-encompassing feelings of a dragon inside, rather than the more shallow and fleeting feelings of a human?
“How do you do it?” I asked softly, daring to look up at him again. “How do you keep all your feelings in check when you feel so deeply?”
“It’s not easy,” he said grimly. “But my father taught me some meditation techniques when I was old enough. They help me keep myself—and M’alex—in check. I’ll teach them to you, if you want.”
“Would you?” I asked gratefully. I had a feeling I would need them. L’eesha was going to be a handful when she hatched, and I could already feel her emotions affecting mine whenever I touched the shell of her egg.
“I’ll be happy to. Come on—sit here beside me with your legs crossed.”
He settled on a mat on the floor and patted the mat beside him.
I went and sat by him and crossed my legs.
“Good. Now take a deep breath and blow it out through your nose,” Ryse instructed. “Most of this is breathing and doing your best to clear your mind…”
He led me through what he called a “guided meditation” and when we were done, I really did feel calmer and more in control of myself.
“Remember,” Ryse said to me, as he rose from the floor and offered me a hand up. “You’re responsible for your own emotions and—until they mature—your dragon’s emotions too. It’s up to you to be steady and calm for both of you.”
“I’ll practice what you taught me,” I promised.
“Good. I do it before bed every night. Helps you fall asleep, too.” He nodded. “Okay, almost time for First Bell—we’d better get going.”
He was packing up to leave but I couldn’t let him go—not yet.
“Ryse…” I touched his arm, and he turned towards me immediately.
“Yes?”
“Why do you believe me?” I blurted out, unable to think of a better way to put it. “About my egg, I mean. About L’eesha. No one else does.”
“I believe you because you’re a trustworthy person, Auri.” He looked into my eyes. “You’ve never lied to me—not once.”
And then, as my stomach twisted into knots of shame, he turned and left the gym, leaving me to wonder if I would ever be able to tell him the truth.
38
AURORA
With all the excitement of Imprinting an egg and all the hurt and betrayal I felt when my closest friends didn’t believe me, I somehow managed to forget about Chud Larson and his threat entirely.
He was out of my life now, it seemed, completely. Thanks to Ryse he had been moved out of my dorm and I no longer had to take the Flight Simulator class with him either. Someone—perhaps the Head Master himself—had moved me to Advanced Cartography instead and I was learning to draw maps, which was something scouts did when they flew their dragons over new territory.
The teacher of the class, Professor Tucker, was a kind old soul who was a retired scout himself. He rode a restful, easy-going brown dragon so small it could fit through the hallways meant for the human students easily. It often came to class with him and rested its head on his shoulder as he taught.