Though this officer considers himself to be an expert on all matters dragonkind, there is a great deal we don't know about the way dragons govern themselves. There is a clear hierarchy among the most powerful, and deference is paid to elders, but I have not been able to discern how it is they make laws for themselves or at what point a dragon decided to bond only one rider, rather than go for better odds with two.
—Colonel Kaori's Field Guide to Dragonkind
"Absolutely not!" One general shouted loud enough that I could hear her all the way from the little medical station that had been set up at the end of the bleachers for riders. It was nothing but a row of a dozen tables and some flown-in supplies to tide us over until we could get to the Healer Quadrant, but at least the pain medication was taking effect.
Two dragons. I had two dragons.
The generals had been screaming at each other for the last half hour, long enough for a chill to settle in the night air and for an instructor I had never met to sew up both sides of my arm.
Lucky for me, Tynan mostly sliced through muscle but didn't sever it.
Unlucky for me, Jack was getting his shoulder examined about a dozen feet away. He strutted over from the back of an Orange Scorpiontail to record his bond with the roll-keeper, who'd kept doing her job regardless of the generals arguing on the dais behind her.
Jack hadn't quit staring at Camha across the field.
"How is that?" Professor Kaori asked quietly, tightening the straps around my splinted ankle. There were about a million other questions in his slashing, dark eyes, but he kept them to himself.
"Hurts like hell." The swelling made it nearly impossible to get my boot back on without loosening every single lace to its widest position, but at least I didn't have to crawl across the field like a girl from Second Wing who had broken her leg during dismount. She was seven tables back, crying softly as the rider field medics tried to set her leg. Violet was on another table, getting splints for her knee.
"You'll be focused on strengthening your bonds and riding in the next couple of months, so as long as you don't have trouble mounting or dismounting-" His head tilted as he tied off the straps of my splint "-which, after what I saw, I don't think you will - this sprain should heal before your next round of challenges."
"Do you know who made it out of my squad?" I asked, fear knotting my throat.
"I haven't seen Trina or Tynan," Professor Kaori answered slowly, like he was trying to soften a blow. It didn't work.
"Tynan won't be coming," I whispered. Strangely, I didn't feel guilty at all.
"That is not your kill to take credit for," Camha growled.
"I see," Professor Kaori murmured.
"What the hell do you mean you think it needs surgery?" Jack bellowed from my left.
"I mean, it looks like the weapon severed a couple of ligaments, but we'll have to get you to the healers to be sure," the other instructor said, his voice infinitely patient as he secured Jack's sling.
I looked Jack straight in his eyes and smiled. I was done entertaining his taunts. He ran back in that meadow.
Rage mottled his cheeks in the mage light, and he swung his feet over the end of his table and charged toward me. "You!"
"I what?" I slipped off the end of my table and left my hands loose by the sheaths at my thighs.
Professor Kaori's eyebrows jumped as he glanced between us. "You?" he murmured.
"Me," I answered, keeping my focus on Jack.
But Professor Kaori moved between us, throwing his palm out at Jack. "I wouldn't get any closer to her."
"Hiding behind our instructors now, Melgren?" Jack's uninjured fist curled.
"I didn't hide out there, and I'm not hiding here." I raised my chin. "I'm not the one who ran."
"She doesn't need to hide behind me when she's bonded to the most powerful dragon of your year," Professor Kaori warned Jack, whose eyes narrowed on me. "Your orange is a good choice, Barlowe. Baide, right? He's had four other riders before you."
Jack nodded.
Professor Kaori looked back over his shoulder at the line of dragons. "As aggressive as Baide might be, from the way Camha's looking at you, he'll have no problem scorching your bones into the earth if you take another step toward his rider."
Jack stared at me in disbelief. "You?"
"Me." The throbbing in my ankle was down to a manageable, dull ache, even while standing on it.
He shook his head, and the look in his eyes transformed from shock, to envy, to fear as he pivoted toward the professor. "I don't know what she told you about what happened out there-"
"Nothing." The instructor folded his arms across his chest. "Is there something I need to know?"
Jack paled, going white as a sheet in the mage light as another injured first-year hobbled over, blood streaming from his thigh and torso.
I lock eyes with Jack. I was going to deal with him myself.
"Guess we're done for the night," Professor Kaori said as a line of dragons flew in, only visible by their silhouettes in the darkness. "The senior riders are back. You two should return to your dragons."
Jack huffed and marched off across the field.
I glanced at the generals still gathered in heated discussion on the dais. "Professor Kaori, has anyone ever bonded two dragons? And have you ever heard of a white dragon?" If anyone knew, it was the professor of Dragonkind.
He turned with me to face the arguing leadership. "You would be the first with two dragons. Not sure why they're fighting about it, though. The decision won't be up to them."
"It won't?" Wind gusted as dozens of dragons landed on the opposite side of the first-years, rows of mage lights hanging between them.
"Nothing about who dragons choose is up to humans," Kaori assured me. "We only like to maintain the illusion that we're in control. Something tells me they've just been waiting for the others to make it back before they meet."
"The leadership?" My brow furrowed.
Kaori shook his head. "The dragons." The dragons are going to meet? "And about Camha. There are a few folklore about white dragons being the rulers of all dragons, but as of right now, I can't recall much. I will have to do some reading and then get back to you."
"Thank you for tending to my ankle. I'd better get back over there." I offered him a tentative smile and headed across the dimly lit field to Camha and Andarna, feeling the weight of every stare in the valley as I stopped and stood between the two dragons.
"You two are causing quite a ruckus, you know."
"I like the attention," Camha quipped.
I looked at Andarna, then glanced up at Camha before turning around to face the field like the other first-years.
"They're not going to let us do this." Oh shit, what if they made me choose? My stomach plummeted.
"It's up to the Empyrean to decide," Camha said, but there's an edge of tension in his tone. "Don't leave the field. This might take a while."
"What might-" My question died on my tongue as Codagh stalked toward us from the opening to the valley. Each dragon he passed, walked into the center of the field and followed after, gathering dozens as hee walked.
Camha still towered over him.
I can't breathe.
Camha growled low in his throat, stepping forward so I was between his massive claws. Codagh rumbled his own growl, turning those sinister growls on me.
Fuck fuck fuck.
My back felt like it was on fire.
I can't do this.
Camha seemed to realize this. "Stay close to the wingleader until we return."
Did he mean Dain?
"You heard what I said."
Or not.
I glanced around and spotted Xaden standing across the field, his arms crossed and legs spread as he stared at Camha.
The riders were eerily silent as the dragons emptied the meadow, taking flight in a steady stream near the end and landing halfway up the southernmost peak in a shadowy grouping I could barely define in the moonlight.
The second the last of the dragons flew off, chaos erupted. First-years swarmed the center of the field, where I happened to be standing, shouting in exuberance and searching for their friends. My eyes scanned the crowd, hoping for some glimpse of-
"Violet!" I shouted, spotting her in the mob with the others and limping her way. "You got a black fucking dragon! You got Tairn!"
She turned and grinned at me, "And you got two fucking dragons!" She paused, "Although I'm not really sure how one's white."
Same here.
"Isla! Violet!" Rhiannon crushed me into a hug, pulling away when I winced at the fresh pain in my arm.
"What happened?"
"Tynan's sword." I barely got the answer out of my mouth before I was snatched off my feet by Ridoc, who spun me around, my feet flying out in front of me.
"Look who rode in on the baddest motherfucker around!"
"Put her down!" Rhiannon chided. "She's bleeding!"
"Oh shit, sorry," Ridoc said, and my feet found the ground.
"It's fine." There was fresh blood on the bandage, but I didn't think I'd torn my stitches. And painkillers were awesome. "Are you all right? Who did you guys bond?"
"The Green Daggertail!" Rhiannon grinned. "Feirge. And it was just easy." She sighed. "I saw her and just knew."
"Aotrom," Ridoc said with pride. "Brown Swordtail."
"Sliseag!" Sawyer threw his arms around Rhiannon's and Ridoc's shoulders as he stood behind Violet, his chin resting on the top of her head. "Red Swordtail!"
We all cheered, and I was swept into his hug next. After Violet, I was happiest for him, for all he had had to endure to get here.
"Trina?" I asked as he let me go. One by one, they shook their heads, looking to the others for answers. An impossible heaviness settled in my heart, and I searched for any other reason. "I mean, there's a possibility she's just unbonded, right?"
Sawyer shook his head, sorrow slackening his shoulders. "I saw her fall from the back of an Orange Clubtail."
My heart sank.
"Tynan?" Ridoc asked, his gaze jumping between us.
"Camha killed him," I said softly. "In his defense, Tynan had already run me through once." I gestured to the wound on my arm. "And he destroyed Violet's-"
"He tried what?" Violet was spun around by the shoulders and yanked against Dain. "Damn it. Both of you. Just damn." He reached over and squeezed my good arm, pushing Violet to arm's length, so we were standing in a little triangle, ignoring the others entirely. "You're both hurt."
"I'm fine." I forced myself not to look at Codagh, not to show any weaknesses. He wouldn't do anything in front of everyone. I didn't think he would. "But we're all that's left of our squad's first years."
Dain's gaze rose to look at the others, and he nodded. "Four out of nine. That's-" his jaw ticked once "-to be expected. The dragons are currently holding a meeting of the Empyrean - their leadership. Stay here until they return," he said to the others before looking down at Violet and I. "You two come with me."
It was probably our parents, beckoning us through him. Surely the General would want to yell at me - or worse - with everything that's going on. I glanced across the field, but it was not the General I found watching me but Xaden, his expression unreadable.
When Dain took my hand and tugged, I turned away from Xaden, following Dain to the opposite edge of the field, where we were hidden in shadow.
"What the actual fuck happened out there? Because I've got Cath telling me that not only did Tairn choose you, but Isla's got the small one - Adarn - and a white one?"
"Andarna," I corrected him, a smile playing on my lips at the thought of the small golden dragon. "The white one's Camha."
"They're going to make you choose." His expression hardened, and I flinched at the thought.
"I'm not choosing." I shook my head, my eyes darting to Violet. "No human has ever chosen, and I'm not about to be the first."
"You are." He ripped his hand over his hair and his composure slipped. "You have to trust me. You do trust me, right?"
"Of course, I do-"
"Then you have to choose Andarna. Camha's an unknown - too dangerous and volatile. The gold one is the safest choice of the two. And Violet, ask for a do-over. Tairn will make too much of a target out of you" He nodded as if his decree equaled a decision made.
My mouth opened, then shut like a fish out of water as I searched for any reply that wasn't fuck off. There was no way in hell I was rejecting either of them.
"Are they going to make me choose?" I thought in their direction. There was no response, and where I had felt an extension in my mind, of who I was, stretching my mental boundaries since Camha first spoke to me in that field, there was nothing now. I was cut off. Don't panic.
"I'm not choosing," I repeated, my voice firmer this time. What if I couldn't have either of them? What if they had broken some sacred rule and now we would all be punished?
"You are. And it has to be Andarna." He gripped my shoulders and leaned in, an edge of urgency in his tone.
I shrugged his hands off me. "I'm not choosing and Violet's not giving up Tairn. I don't care who you are, Dain. You have no right to tell us to give up our dragons."
"Violet?"
She shook her head, her voice as firm and possessive as I'd ever heard it. "Tairn is mine."
He turned to me, desperate. "I know Andarna's too small to bear a rider-"
"That hasn't been tested," I said defensively even though I know it's true. The physics just didn't match up.
"And it doesn't matter. It will mean that you won't be able to ride with a wing, but they'll probably make you a permanent instructor here like Kaori."
"That's because his signet power makes him indispensable as a teacher, not because his dragon can't fly," I argued. "And even he had the requisite four years with a combat wing before he was put behind a desk."
Dain looked away, "Even if you take Andarna into combat, there's only a chance you'll be killed. You take Camha, and Xaden will get you killed. You think your dad is terrifying? I've been here for a year longer than you have, Is. At least you know what you're getting when it comes to him. Xaden isn't only twice as ruthless, but he's dangerously unpredictable."
I blinked. "Wait. What are you saying?"
"They're a mated pair, Camha, and Sgaeyl. The strongest bonded pair in centuries."
Violet laughed and tried to disguise it as a cough but failed.
My mind whirred. Mated pairs couldn't be separated for long or their health diminished, so they were always stationed together. Always. Which means - oh gods.
"How do you know?"
"Cath told me. Apparently white dragons are basically the royalty of all dragons and Camha is the last one. It was one of their best guarded secrets - no humans knew he existed - until he threw it all away and bonded you."
The reprimand was clear in his voice which just served to further irk me. I had no say in who Camha bonded. Hell, like everyone else, I didn't even know he existed.
"Just tell me how it happened." His voice softened as he turned to Violet.
She was much better at explaining things than me, so she did. She told him about Jack and his band of murderous friends hunting Andarna. She told him about the field, and Xaden watching, Xaden shockingly protecting me with his warning when Oren was at my back. He had the perfect opportunity to end me without it tipping his scales, and he chose to help.
What the hell was I supposed to do with that?
"Xaden was there," Dain said quietly, but the gentleness leached from his voice.
"Yes." I nodded. "But he left after Tairn and Camha showed up."
"Xaden was there when you defended Andarna, and then your dragons just showed up?" He repeated slowly.
"Yes. That's what I just said." Was the timeline confusing him? "What are you getting at?"
"Don't you see what happened? What Xaden's done?"
"Please, do tell me what it is you think I've done." A shape emerged from the shadows, and my pulse quickened as Xaden stepped into the moonlight, darkness falling off him like a discarded veil.
Heat rushed through every vein, waking every nerve ending. I hated the reaction of my body to the sight of him, but I couldn't deny it. His appeal was so fucking inconvenient.
"You manipulated Threshing."
Dain turned to face our wingleader, the set of his shoulders rigid as he put himself between us. Oh shit, that was a huge allegation to hurl.
"Dain, that's-" Paranoid. Absurd. I sidestepped Dain's back.
If Xaden was going to kill me, he wouldn't have waited this long to do it. He had had every possible opportunity, and yet I was still standing here. Bonded. To his dragon's mate.
Xaden was not going to kill me. The realization made my chest tighten, made me reexamine everything that happened in that field, made my sense of gravity shift beneath my feet.
"Is that an official accusation?" Xaden looked at Dain like a hindrance, an annoyance.
"No, it's not." Violet glared at Dain but he ignored her.
"Did you step in?" Dain demanded.
"Did I what?" Xaden arched a dark brow and leveled a look on Dain that would make a lesser person wither. "Did I see both of them outnumbered and already wounded? Did I think her bravery was as admirable as it was fucking reckless?" He turned that stare on me, and I felt the impact all the way to my toes.
"And I would do it again." I raised my chin.
"Well the-fuck aware," Xaden's voice was raised, losing his temper for the first time since I met him on Parapet.
I pulled in a quick breath, and Xaden did the same, as if he was just as shocked by his outburst as I was.
"Did I see them fight off three bigger cadets?" His glare pivots to Dain. "Because the answer to all of those is yes. But you're asking the wrong question, Aetos. What you should be asking is if Sgaeyl saw it, too."
Dain swallowed and looked away, obviously rethinking his position.
"His mate told them," I whispered. Sgaeyl called for Camha and Tairn.
"She's never been a fan of bullies," Xaden said to me. "But don't mistake it as an act of kindness toward you. She's fond of the little dragon. Unfortunately, Camha and Tairn chose you both on their own."
"Fuck," Dain muttered.
"My thought exactly." Xaden shook his head at Dain. "Melgren is the last person on the Continent I'd ever want to be chained to me. I didn't do this."
Ouch. That hurt which makes absolutely zero sense, since I felt the same way about him. He was the son of the Great Betrayer. His father was directly responsible for Brennan's death.
"And even if I had." Xaden moved toward Dain, towering over him. "Would you really level that accusation knowing it would have been what saved the women you call your best friends?"
I knew his answer.
"There are rules." Dain tilted his chin to look Xaden in the eyes.
"And out of curiosity, would you have, let's say, bent those rules to save your precious Isla and Violet in that field?" His voice iced over as he studied Dain's expression with rapt fascination.
Xaden had taken a step. Right before Camha landed, he'd moved toward us - toward me.
Dain's jaw flexed, and I could see the war in his eyes.
"That's unfair to ask him." Violet moved to his side as the sound of whipping wings interrupted the night. The dragons were flying back. They made their decision.
"I'm ordering you to answer, squad leader." Xaden didn't even spare her a glance.
Dain swallowed, his eyes slamming shut. "No. I wouldn't have."
Fucking coward.
Xaden scoffed and I did so too, albeit internally.
Dain immediately jerked his head toward mine. "It would have killed me to watch something happen to either of you, but the rules-"
"It's all right," Violet forced out, touching his shoulder, but it wasn't. She looked absolutely destroyed. I stayed silent.
"The dragons are returning," Xaden said as the first of them landed on the illuminated field. "Get back to formation, squad leader."
Dain ripped his gaze from mine and walked away, blending into the crowd of hurried riders and their dragons.
"Why would you do that to him?" She hurled at Xaden.
"Forget it, Vi," I muttered, then marched off, heading back toward the spot where Camha told me to wait.
"Because you put too much faith in him," Xaden answered anyway, catching up to me without even lengthening his stride. "And knowing who to trust is the only thing that will keep you alive - keep us alive - not only in the quadrant but after graduation."
"There is no us," I said, dodging a rider as she raced past. Dragons landed left and right, the ground trembling with the force of the riot's movement. I had never seen so many dragons at flight in the same moment.
"Oh, I think you'll find that's no longer the case," Xaden murmured next to me, gripping my elbow and yanking me out of the path of another rider running from the other direction.
Yesterday, he would have let me run headfirst into him.
Hell, he might have even pushed me.
"Camha has never bonded before. He was never supposed to bond to you. White dragon bonds are so strong, both to mate and rider, because they're so powerful. That's why they aren't allowed to bond. They're too powerful and it's a tragedy to lose one due to a small human life. You dying would kill him, which, in turn, would kill Sgaeyl. Mated pairs' lives are-"
"Interdependent, I know that." We moved forward until we were dead center in the line of riders. If I wasn't so aggravated with everything that's happened I would take the time to admire just how spectacular it was to see hundreds of dragons land all around us. Or maybe I'd question how the man next to me managed to consume all the air in the massive field.
"If you die, Firebird, it sets off a chain of events that ends with me dying, too." His expression was immovable marble, but the anger in his eyes left me breathless. It was pure rage. "So yeah, unfortunately for everyone involved, there's now an us if the Empyrean lets Camha's choice stand."
Oh. Gods. I was tethered to Xaden Riorson.
"And now that Camha is in play, that other cadets know he's willing to bond..." He sighed, annoyance rippling over his features, his strong jaw working as he looked away.
"That's why Camha told me to stay with you," I whispered as the consequences of today's actions settled in my churning stomach. "Because of the unbonded."
There were at least three dozen of them standing on the opposite side of the field, watching us with avarice in their eyes - including Oren Seifert.
"The unbonded are going to try to kill you in hopes they'll get Camha to bond them." Xaden shook his head at Garrick as he approached, and the section leader glanced between us, his mouth set in a firm line before retreating across the field. "Camha is quite possibly the strongest dragon on the Continent, and the vast power he channels is about to be yours. The next few months, the unbonded will try to kill a newly paired rider while the bond is weak, while they still have a chance of that dragon changing its mind and picking them so they're not set back a full year. And for Camha? They'll do just about anything." He sighs again like it's his new full-time job. "There are forty-one unbonded riders for which you are now target number one." He holds up a single finger.
"What about Violet?"
"What about her?"
"She's bonded to Tairn. And after Camha, he's the strongest available dragon." I paused, thinking. "I'm reckless and tend to put myself in danger a lot. If you extend whatever protections I know you've started planning for me to her, I'll refrain from doing so."
He raised an eyebrow and looked at me incredulously. "Are you threatening to kill yourself if I don't help your friend?"
I shrugged. "Deal?"
"Alright. But if I tell you to do anything relating to your safety, you do it. Immediately. I tell you to stand, you stand. I tell you to sit, you sit. I tell you to do a backflip, you do a fucking backflip."
"Wait. You also have to get Imogen to teach her how to fight. It only makes your job easier."
He thought it over. "Imogen will teach you too. And if it's between you and Violet, I will save you. You're my priority."
"Sounds fair." I nodded. I didn't think I would be able to get anything more from him.
We shook hands.
"Did you know about Camha?" I couldn't imagine keeping a secret of this magnitude from everyone.
"No." His jaw ticked. "I knew she had a mate but I never met him - until now. I just thought she was strangely protective of him whenever she shut down any questions I had about him and I never pried further."
He was hurt that Sgaeyl would hide something this huge from him.
A breeze hit my back as Andarna landed behind me, followed by a gust of wind and shuddering ground when it was Camha.
Without another word, Xaden ripped his gaze from mine and walked away, cutting a slightly diagonal path across the field to where Sgaeyl overshadowed the other wingleaders' dragons.
"Tell me it's going to be all right," I murmured toward Andarna and Camha.
"It is how it should be," He answered, his voice gruff and bored at the same time.
"You didn't answer before." My voice sounded a little accusatory.
"Humans can't know what's said within the Empyrean," Andarna answered. "It's a rule."
So every rider was blocked, not just me. The thought was oddly comforting. Also, the whole Empyrean was a new term for me today. Kaori must be in heaven tonight with all the dragon politics coming to light. What did they decide?
I glanced at the General but he was looking everywhere but my direction. He moved toward the front of the dais, his uniform dripping in medals.
Codagh took up the entire space beside the dais, and I stiffened as he looked at me. I swear he smirked.
A hush fell over the crowd as the General angled his hands in front of his face. "Codagh has relayed that the dragons have spoken regarding the Melgren girl." Lesser magic allowed his voice to magically amplify over the field for all to hear.
Woman, I mentally corrected him, my stomach knotting.
"While tradition has shown us that there is one rider for every dragon, there has never been a case of two dragons selecting the same rider, and therefore there is no dragon law against it," He declared. "While we riders may not feel as though this is equitable-" his tone didn't reveal anything about his thoughts and whether or not he was one of them "-dragons make their own laws. Both Camha and-" He looked over his shoulder and his aide rushed forward to whisper in his ear. "-Andarna have chosen Isla Melgren, and so their choice stands."
The crowd murmured, but my shoulders sagged in acute relief. I didn't have to make an impossible choice.
"As it should be," Camha grumbled. "Humans have no say in the laws of dragons."
General Sorrengail stepped forward and made the same gesture with her hands to project her voice, but I couldn't concentrate on what she was saying as she closed out the formal portion of the Threshing ceremony, promising the unbonded riders another chance next year. If they don't manage to kill one of us while our bonds are weak in the next few months and try to bond our dragons themselves.
I belonged to Camha and Andarna. And, in some really fucked-up way, Xaden. I guessed he sort of belonged to me too.
My scalp prickled and I glanced across the field at him. As if sensing my gaze, he looked over and held up a single finger. Target number one.
"Welcome to a family that knows no boundaries, no limits, and no end," General Sorrengail ended, and a cheer resounded around the field. "Riders, step forward." I looked left and right in confusion, but so did every other rider.
"Five steps or so," Camha said. I took them.
"Dragons, it is our honor as always," Violet's mother called out. "Now we celebrate!"
Heat blasted my back, just a puff, and then it stopped.
"Where do you want your relic?" Camha's voice, for the first time, was unsure. He was about to start it on my back but probably could sense the burns there.
I pulled up my sleeve and hissed in pain as riders on both sides of me cried out. My bicep felt like it was on fucking fire, and yet everyone across the field was cheering raucously, some of them racing our way. Other riders were caught up in embraces.
"You'll like it," Camha promised. "It's unique."
The pain faded to a dull ache, and I glanced at my arm. There was a pure white... something peeking out from the sleeve.
"I'll like what?"
I tried to look at my shoulder, but my arm was shot and the angle was too awkward.
Suddenly, my vision wasn't mine. I was looking at my own arm, through Andarna's eyes. An arm that had a glistening silvery-white relic of a dragon mid-flight stretching across my bicep, and, in the center, the silhouette of a shimmering golden one.
"It's beautiful," I whispered. I was marked by their magic as a rider now, as their rider.
"We know," Andarna answered. I blinked, and my vision was mine again.
My scalp prickled and I looked up to see Xaden staring at me, an undiscernible expression on his face.