Kierion rubbed his arm where she’d just touched him. Someone else she cared about? A glow warmed his chest as he prepared to take a bath.
“She likes you,” Riona melded. “I told her you were all right, but she was very worried.”
“It must be hard, having her brother captured.”
“Harder than you’ll ever know. Have you forgotten that I can meld with other dragons? I’ve seen Erob’s memories. I know what her and Roberto have been through, and it’s far from pretty.”
§
When Kierion woke, he sprang out of bed. Shards, he’d been dreaming of holding Adelina and slept in. He yanked on his clothes and flung his cloak around him. His stomach rumbled, but he didn’t dare go past the mess cavern or the kitchens. Striding out to the snowy ledge, he melded with Riona. “Did you hunt last night?”
“Yes, but Septimor might be suspicious because he was at the hunting grounds too.”
Not good news. “Oh well, nothing we can do now. Except get going, so no one sees us.”
Once again, Kierion hid under his invisibility cloak, and they took to the sky, winging out toward Dragon’s Teeth.
“Bad news, again.”
“What?” It was hard to see with his hood pulled so low.
“Antonika is on the far ridge behind us. I’m sure she’s spotted me.”
Just his luck to be noticed by the spymaster’s dragon. “Well, she can’t see me,” said Kierion. “So we should be fine.”
A chill wind gusted from the north. His cape billowed, rising up to his knees. Shards, shards and double shards. He’d spoken too soon. “My cloak. Do you think Antonika saw me?”
“Hard to say, but Master Giddi is right, we’d better think of some mighty fine excuses before we get back, or you’ll be banned from riding me.”
“Banned?”
“The punishment for fraternizing with wizards.”
Kierion swallowed. It had only been four days since he’d imprinted with Riona, but the thought of being without her left a gaping cold hole in his stomach.
“Don’t worry, I feel the same.”
“Then why are we doing this?”
“Because we’re riders of fire. It’s our job to wipe out those infernal tharuks and send Commander Zens back to where he came from. We can’t do that without wizards.”
Riona’s words sent fire burning through his belly and limbs, blasting away the cold ache he’d felt. Kierion’s veins thrummed as if they were molten. Riona sped over the peaks of Dragon’s Teeth in a blur, leaving the hold-bound prejudice of the Council of the Twelve Dragon Masters behind.
“This is incredible. What’s happening?”
“That’s what it means to be a rider of fire. When a bond between dragon and rider is strong, the rider can harness the dragon’s energy.”
It was incredible. Kierion felt as if he could let go and soar through the sky on his own.
Riona chuckled. “Don’t get too carried away. I still want a rider tomorrow.” She popped an image into Kierion’s mind.
Flinging back his hood, he sucked his breath in. “Can we?”
“I don’t see why not,” Riona replied, “as long as we’re careful. The queen and the Queen’s Rider do this all the time.”
Kierion undid his harness and pulled his legs up, standing on the saddle. Far below, the treacherous slopes of Dragon’s Teeth descended into the Great Spanglewood Forest. Shards, imagine being impaled on one of those pine tips below. Kierion pushed the thought away. Every new adventure had risks. “Ready?” he asked. Of course she was.
He jumped.
Kierion plunged through the air, his stomach rushing up into his throat and nearly strangling him. The wind ripped tears from his eyes. His cloak flapped around him as he plummeted toward the trees.
“You’re a rider of fire,” Riona said. “Let go of your fear, and relax.”
Relax? Was she mad?
But then Kierion felt it—that fire burning through his muscles and surging through his heart. He let his body go floppy. Riona dived past him, her purple scales flashing as the sun peeked over the distant peaks to the West. Gods, she was glorious. His heart expanded until it was big enough to swallow the entire Spanglewood Forest.
She swooped beneath him and flicked her tail against his rump, slowing his descent. Again she swatted him with her tail, bouncing him in the air. He landed in her saddle with an “Ooff!”
Kierion couldn’t help it—he whooped, his voice ringing off the mountains and echoing over the forest.
Riona joined him, roaring in triumph. His blood sang. This was what it meant to be a dragon rider.
§
Tonio raised his far-seers—two joined tubes containing magic glass that enabled him to see things at a distance. Years ago, Zens had brought a few through the world gate as gifts—before they’d known he was evil. Tonio and Marlies had often used them while spying. What had Zens called them? Binolars?
“Yes, that’s Kierion all right.” He patted Antonika’s back. “Thank you for waking me.” The fool’s jubilant cry bounced off the mountainside below. What was the point in having a mage cloak if you made enough noise to wake the dragon gods? And why had he been sneaking out in the first place?
Tonio shook his head. Kierion was up to something.
“I recognize their mood,” said Antonika, landing in a depression between two boulders, high on Dragon’s Teeth—one of Tonio’s favorite places to lurk on the edge of Spanglewood Forest. “He’s just felt the fire burning in his veins for the first real time.”
That made Tonio chuckle. “Remember, that very first time?”
“I do.”
Warmth flooded Tonio as Antonika’s memory cascaded through him. Gods, those had been sweet times—full of hope and anticipation. He’d been in love, too, and the whole world had been bright and rosy.
Before Amato.
That was how
