Page 22 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury (House of Embers #1)

When we headed down to the dragon caves the next day, Gareth pulled me back while the others went ahead. “What do you want?” I asked with a sigh. That look meant nothing good.

Gareth frowned. “Today’s exercises will be about acting as a unit, both with your dragon and with the dragonsguard. I know that you haven’t gotten along with everyone—”

“So I’m the problem?”

Gareth barreled over me. “But we need to set that aside now that you’ve been chosen. I know it’s not easy—”

“People repeatedly trying to kill me, yes.”

“Would you stop interrupting?” he snapped, finally losing his patience.

I smiled and raised my hands in submission.

“What I mean is, our lives depend on each other in the field. We need to trust each other—at least out in the field. I know you’re skeptical, but you haven’t seen what the dragonsguard does.

The gryphon stories aren’t exaggerated—they’re a real threat. ”

It was hard to deny his earnestness. “I’m not the hostile one. Talk to Aurelia and Kieran. But… I’ll try.” He was like a disapproving mother, and I’d always been weak to a nice attitude. Plus, his words rang truer than ever after last night. Awesome. Both Andova and the nobles want me killed.

He clasped a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you.”

It felt weird to be led through the secret passageway, this time with total permission.

My stomach churned as we got closer to the dragon caves.

I’d be flying Umara again. The first flight felt like a piece of myself was given back to me.

A piece I never knew I was missing. But now that enough time passed, my more logical side had taken over.

A huge fucking dragon. That’s what Umara was.

And I was crazy enough to ride her again.

The dragon caves were just as massive as I remembered. Vast and seemingly endless at first glance. The others had already arrived. Aurelia sat atop her dragon, her nose raised in that haughty way I hated. “I was beginning to think Selena changed her mind. It’s so lovely to see you again.”

Don’t hit her. You don’t want to get thrown in jail again. “It’s never lovely to see you.” I bared my teeth in a smile. Her response was cut off when a gust of wind whipped through the caves. There was a huge thud , and Umara landed right in front of me.

“Why haven’t you mounted your dragon?” Aurelia called. “Perhaps you might want to ride a horse today instead.”

“What about the saddle?” I ignored Aurelia’s mocking words and focused on Gareth. I studied Umara and the proud way she stood. Warmth flooded the bond as our eyes met, but also… a flicker of irritation.

“Here.” I nearly buckled under the weight of the saddle Gareth handled me.

“For obvious reasons, we can’t put a saddle on someone else’s dragon.

It’s a surefire way to get torched. Some dragons take to the saddle easier than others.

But it’s necessary, especially for long flights and spinning maneuvers. ”

I sure as fuck didn’t want to experience the ‘spinning maneuvers.’ I looked into Umara’s golden eyes. Her intelligent eyes danced with amusement. Clearly, she had plans on doing some spinning maneuvers. When I approached her with the saddle, she growled.

For a second, fear struck me to the bone.

Bonded or not, this was a fucking dragon.

If Umara didn’t like something, it wasn’t going to happen.

“Please, Umara. Don’t you want me to be safer?

” She huffed, blowing smoke at me, this time thick enough to make me choke on my breath.

But I stood my ground and raised the saddle up at her.

“I proved myself during the flight. I stayed on. Do you really want me to have to fight for my life every flight instead of just enjoying it? Or to have chafed thighs because your scales are not gentle on my skin, let me tell you that.”

Umara growled, but I ignored her and climbed up on her back. It was harder to do when my hands were actively busy, but under her annoyance, there was a glitter of amusement at my struggle. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got on her back. She growled again and turned back to look at me .

Her eyes stayed on me as I set the saddle in place and then slid down her back to clip it under her belly.

Umara roared as it latched into place, and for a moment I was sure she was going to plop down and crush me.

I couldn’t tell you what came over me—I poked her almost soft underbelly.

Umara roared again, fire spitting out of her mouth.

She dipped her head down to meet my gaze, and her furious golden eyes pinned me in place. My hand froze midair.

“If I’m your rider, you have to compromise. I get it. You don’t want to be saddled. But humans need one.” I stepped out from under her and leveled her with a glare. “It’s what I need. I won’t shackle you in any other way.”

Her eyes never left me—an unspoken challenge to see if I dared get on her or not.

She kept up a low growl that I pointedly ignored as I straightened my shoulders and walked to her leg.

I gripped her scales, never once losing eye contact.

It was a little hard to climb that way, and I stumbled more than once, but I managed it.

The saddle fit perfectly, and I couldn’t deny the wave of relief I felt at being able to strap myself in.

“On my life, I will never shackle you, Umara. You will always fly free.”

The growling stopped. Warmth flooded the bond once more, and she purred in the back of my mind. “So difficult,” I teased. “I get it. I like being free too.” I didn’t blame her for wanting to ensure I wouldn’t be another asshole, entitled rider.

“Congrats on not getting torched,” Ben said, and I looked up to see the rest of the dragonsguard waiting impatiently for me .

I controlled the muscles on my face. I’d forgotten I had an audience.

“We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go.” Kieran took off without another word.

Asshole. My stomach rolled as we launched into the air.

That’d take some time to get used to. Once they flew out of the caves, Umara made sure to fly close to Thaleia.

I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at the capital below.

When I’d been on Aurelia’s dragon, I was terrified, but here…

I was free. Umara and I were one. She wouldn’t hurt me.

Warmth coursed down the bond, and my smile widened. But that smile fell when we flew past the training grounds. “Where are we going?” I asked Nimue.

“Kieran owns some land,” she called back.

“We’re going to a place called Petralis, one of his properties.

It’s our preferred training spot. Lots of mountains and open space.

” She rubbed her temple. The sheer misery radiating off her usually would’ve made me feel concerned, but I knew for a fact it was because she had too much ale.

“Rough night?” I snickered.

She groaned. “Asshole.” Nimue closed her eyes, tilting her head back and letting the wind blow in her face.

Thaleia purposely slowed her pace for an easier flight, but we still kept pace with everyone else.

“I wish Kieran let us take a break. This is hell. But more importantly, do you think Brynn likes me?”

“What are we, little kids? She stuck her tongue down your throat. I’d say she likes you. ”

Nimue batted her arm in my direction. “You know what I mean.”

“She clearly enjoyed your company. And she’s a romantic. Cautious, but a romantic. Why? Would you really pursue it?”

Nimue pressed her head against Thaleia’s neck. “I don’t know. I don’t have time for anything serious, but I miss sex. And I like her, Selena. Ughh. I hate being this busy sometimes.”

“And yet you said you were happy to do it.”

“Maybe not happy, but what we do is important. You’ve seen the others get called away on missions. It used to be once every couple of months, then it became monthly and now it’s every two weeks. The gryphon population’s growing, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

I fell silent. When would Luther send me out on my first mission? Everyone kept talking about gryphons, but it was hard to comprehend it. I’d seen portraits, but the real thing? How could something be so destructive? And how have we not killed them all yet?

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally landed.

It’d been close to what felt like an hour, and my thighs cramped something fierce.

Riding for longer stretches would take some getting used to.

Gareth had said that Caddel Province was known for its picturesque countryside and for being, well, big and not well populated.

Lusadia had six major Noble Houses and an unofficial seventh one whenever the royal family expanded.

Because of that, the land was divided into seven provinces.

Before the civil war, it used to be ten .

I could easily see why Caddel Province was known for its beauty.

Most of the land was thick forestry with not a village in sight.

There were also huge mountain cliffs that made setting up a town almost impossible.

The spot we landed at was a big space between a circle of steep mountains.

Tucked by one of the mountains was a relatively small castle.

Nowhere near as extravagant as the royal castle, but I could easily see a lord’s third son residing in it.

How the hell did someone manage to build a castle in this hellish terrain? But the answer was obvious. Dragons.

“We had that built because sometimes we need longer training sessions or a rest spot,” Nimue said.

I stumbled when I slid down Umara, and Ben snickered. I almost faceplanted, would have, if it not for Kieran appearing from the shadows to wrap his arms around my waist and steady me. I shoved him away. “Not a word.” My cheeks heated, and I ignored Kieran’s chuckle. My waist tingled from his touch.