Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.
He climbs, then dives until my face is green and I regret every single choice I made at breakfast, but I hold my seat. I earn my black leathers. When I look up, the flight field is in the distance, the floor of the box canyon speckled with every color of dragon that has gathered to watch and those who have already landed with their cadets. I can only hope that my squadmates—that Ennis—can be counted among those riders.
“There is only us,” Marbh tells me again as we fly for home. “Marbh and Brennan.”
I’m no longer just a Sorrengail.
I am Marbh’s rider.
627 AU
Teine—Green Clubtail
(Male) Descended from the Cruaidhuaine Line
Estimated Age: 41
Recorded Riders: 0
—The Compendium of Dragonkind,
last updated by Colonel Valin Kaori
Mira
I’ve been training for this day for years. It’s finally here, but as Zihnal would have it, the Green Clubtail I spotted at Presentation is nowhere to be found.
Teine. That’s what the Threshing cards show as his name. I think. It’s not like staring during Presentation is a good idea, but I took one look at him and simply knew.
The forest is a sea of color as I drag my hand across my sweaty forehead, shoving back the strands of my short brown hair and staring out from the highest branch of the tallest tree I could find. Wandering for the last hour has gotten me nowhere, and since Brennan bonded in a tree, I figured it couldn’t hurt to climb one. The visibility would be incredible if not for the fact that the dragons fit under the smaller trees, their branches blocking the view, but I’ve caught sight of a few browns, a couple of oranges, and even glimpsed the one blue willing to bond this year, but not a single green.
“Where are you?” I mutter into the wind, refusing to give in to the frustration festering in my stomach.
Brennan made this part sound simple in the book he left me, but my perfect older brother and I have different definitions of “easy.” If I didn’t love him so much, the effortless grace with which he excels at everything would annoy the shit out of me. My heart clenches and my fingers flex on the coarse bark of the tree as I glance southward, toward Tyrrendor and the front lines of that province’s rebellion.
Dunne, watch over my brother.
There’s no price I wouldn’t pay to protect his back, but I have to trust that the goddess of war has him covered.
I hope Fen Riorson burns for attempting to fracture our kingdom. The duke’s frustration over mining mandates for Talladium—one of the minerals we need to power our wards—is understandable, but that resource is only found in Tyrrendor. I even sympathize with his anger over his province’s disproportionate conscription rates. But to risk the safety of all Navarrian citizens by seceding is unforgivable. Without the province of Tyrrendor, our enemies in Poromiel will overrun our borders and we’ll lose the war we’ve been fighting for centuries. Countless civilians will die if we don’t quell the rebellion.
Don’t think about it. That’s pretty much my mantra when it comes to the overwhelming fear that claws at my throat when I remember that Brennan is at the front, even though he only graduated a few months ago. He should be at a safer mid-guard post, but menders—especially ones as powerful as Brennan—are rare. Our wounded need all the help they can get. At least he’s under Mom’s command in Luceras. Violet and I might be dispensable to her, but she’d move the world to protect Brennan. No doubt Dad is keeping Violet safe with the scribes at the outpost, which would explain why I didn’t get a pre-Threshing visit like Brennan did.
It definitely puts my place in the family into perspective.
“See anything?” Cowan Zana calls up from the base of the tree, jarring me from my thoughts.
I cringe and glance toward the treetops. His voice is too loud for comfort.
“Not since the blue,” I answer back to my favorite squadmate in a much lower, dragon-friendly tone. We’re already risking their anger by staying together for the past hour, but I wasn’t going to force Cowan out on his own when he’d asked me to stay by his side. We’ve already lost four first-years out of our squad, and I refuse to let Cowan be the fifth.
“No reds?” he asks, quieter this time.
“I promise I’ll tell you.” I hold on to the trunk with one hand and unbutton my collar with the other. October is usually pretty mild at Basgiath, but today is hot enough to make me wonder if Mom might be visiting from her post in Luceras and using her weather-wielding signet to fuck with me. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s made things harder to test me, as if wearing her last name on my uniform wasn’t a heavy enough challenge to carry.