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 after three or four pieces, Ryse stopped me.
“No more—she needs to come out of the shell. Keep the meat for a reward.”
“more! more!” L’eesha demanded imperiously.
I was glad to hear her bossy tone returning.
“Not until you break through and come out to me, sweetheart,” I told her. “Come on—you’ve got more strength now. Break through to me!”
The meat had given her strength because a few moments later, more pieces of shell fell off. They were coated with a thick white membrane that must be the egg sack. It was slick with moisture and almost impossible to tear—my poor drakeling, no wonder she was having such a hard time! Between the sac and the double thick shell, she was really having to struggle to be born.
I ached to rip the shell apart myself, but I knew I couldn’t. Instead I kept encouraging her, sending her love and strength and support and letting her know she could have as much meat as she wanted as soon as she came out.
I still wasn’t sure if she was going to make it. All around me drakelings were breaking free and falling into their rider’s laps. All around me, bonds were forming. But I couldn’t pay attention to any of that—I was completely focused on my own drakeling.
L’eesha, meanwhile, was getting irritated.
“bad shell!” I heard her say, as she fought to get out of it. “keeping me in. let me go! no more use for you!”
And then the egg in my lap started practically vibrating. I heard her thrashing wildly inside, hissing with anger.
“let me go! LET ME GO!” I heard her shout.
Outside the dragons’ song had grown so loud it was nearly deafening, as though it was rising to some kind of crescendo, yet I barely heard it.
“Watch out!” Ryse exclaimed. “It’s going to blow!”
Just as he spoke, the rest of the shell practically exploded with chunks of it going everywhere!
And there, sitting in my lap, was a perfect miniature Pure Gold dragon no bigger than a large puppy.
47
AURORA
“God and Goddess—she’s as golden as her egg!” Ryse exclaimed in my ear.
“Yes, she is. She’s perfect,” I breathed.
And then L’eesha blinked and looked up at me and I was lost in her rainbow eyes.
Because her eyes were the one thing about her that wasn’t gold—they were swirling bands of pale, shiny color—the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.
As I looked into my drakeling’s eyes and she looked into mine, I felt her love for me filling me up like a cup as the soul-bond formed between us and I knew neither of us would ever be alone again.
I was everything to her—her mother and father, her best friend, her sister, the one person she wanted to be with forever and always. She would be with me until the day I died and on that day, she would die too. We would never be parted, and she would be a part of my heart forever.
“my Auri,” I heard her whisper in my mind. And then I felt a rush of starving hunger—she needed more meat! She needed it now!
“Here you go,” I said, laughing with joy as I pushed another bloody chunk of goat meat into her mouth.
She nearly swallowed it whole in her eagerness and then begged for another.
“Take it easy—don’t let her overeat,” Ryse said in my ear. “It’s not good for them.”
But he was grinning proudly at me as I cradled L’eesha in my lap.
“She’s beautiful,” he said. “I’ve never seen a Pure Gold dragon before, though the old texts I’ve been reading talk about them.”
“I haven’t either,” I said, as I fed her more meat. “She’s the most wonderful dragon in the world!”
“All riders feel that way about their dragons,” he said, grinning. “By the way, M’alex said congratulations. Actually, he said, ‘Congratulations on your Golden Queen.’ Whatever that means.”
“Tell him I said thank you,” I said distractedly. I could barely pay attention to anyone or anything else—I was lost in my little golden drakeling’s rainbow eyes as she gulped down chunk after chunk of meat.
Her little wings were already spreading, her baby-soft scales hardening as they came in contact with the air. It was proof that cracking the shell for her hadn’t hurt her—she’d still struggled enough getting out, that blood had circulated to her wings, which were good and strong.
Already she looked bigger, I thought proudly. Though she was still less than half the size of the other drakelings, she was utterly perfect.
But not everyone thought so.
Master Yarsmouth appeared abruptly, standing over me with a frown on his face.
“What’s this?” he demanded, frowning down at L’eesha. “Cadet Lysandra—what have you done?”
48
AURORA
“What do you mean, what has he done?” Ryse demanded, rising to stand protectively over me and L’eesha. “Auri hasn’t done anything—he’s bonding with his dragon!”
“Cadet, you have allowed an unfit drakeling to hatch!” Yarsmouth said, ignoring him and glaring at me. “That is strictly against the rules of the Academy.”