Page 14 of Court of Rivals (Their Dragon Rider #1)

H arper

My whole world is black but the sounds around me are loud, roaring in my ears.

I can’t make out any particular thing, just that it’s so loud it’s deafening.

I’m blinking rapidly, trying to make my world come back into focus.

And it does, slowly, but so does the pain. My face throbs. My eye feels swollen.

Then, the world around me comes sharply back into focus. The men are everywhere. They’re cheering, laughing, shoving each other around, and I feel small and helpless around them. Small and helpless in a way I’ve never felt before.

Tears sting my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I just want to escape. I just want to get out of here.

“She’s not so tough now!” Someone shouts.

“Did you see the look on her face?” Another man says, followed by loud laughter.

“She wants to be a Dragon Queen? More like a Peasant Queen?” Another one adds.

My stomach twists. These men hate me. Really hate me. I’ve never faced people like this before, and I feel so scared and so small. A part of me is even afraid to get up. What will they do to me if I try to run out of here? Will they hurt me again?

Suddenly, the earth shakes, and I sense him without seeing him.

A roar shatters through all the cheering and laughter, seeming to go on forever, killing all other sounds.

It shakes the ground. It shakes the building around us.

Birds launch into the air. Dust stirs above the ground, making me cough.

But still, it doesn’t end for a painfully long time.

Then, there’s silence. The men aren’t cheering now. They’re not laughing and joking. They look… scared. Exactly the way I’d felt just a minute before.

Ebron roars again, and the earth shakes, as if fearing the sound. The men around me scatter, and then there he is, looking down on me. Smoke curls from his nose, and fire burns in his eyes. He wants to kill these men. Every last one of them.

He lowers his nose to me and presses it into my body, and I wrap around him, shaking. Are you okay?

“I’m okay,” I whisper.

Why did they hurt you?

“To prove a point. To show me that I don’t deserve to ride you.”

His head swivels out of my arms and around to the men, smoke rising from his nostrils. They back up against the stone of the building, trapped in our little training area. Ebron opens his mouth, and a lick of fire explodes. I get to my feet as the men flinch back from the flames.

When Ebron speaks next, I can feel that he’s speaking to everyone. That his voice ripples through them like a wave. I will have no other rider. And I will kill for her. His threat isn’t quiet. Isn’t subtle. He’s sending them a message he wants them to hear and hear well.

“Can we go for a flight?” I ask Ebron.

Yes. Before I cook the lot of them.

He uses his wing to help me get onto his back, and then he starts flapping. We launch into the sky, and just the feel of the wind around me eases something inside of me. Perhaps I should’ve been born a dragon, because being in the sky just feels so good.

“I’m more embarrassed than hurt,” I say into the wind, rubbing my swollen face with one hand.

“I guess I knew they were mad at me for being your rider, mad that I’m not a noble, mad that I’m not a man, but I didn’t think they truly hated me until right then.

But today they made that painfully clear. ”

They don’t hate you. They fear you. For what you mean to them.

“How so?”

If a woman and a commoner can be a dragon rider, then they are not as special as they think.

They have to acknowledge within themselves that there’s nothing truly special about them.

They’re simply people who train, people who try to connect with dragons, but anyone can do that.

It shakes the fragile foundation of their egos, leaving them wondering if they’re really as important as they’ve convinced themselves they are all along.

“Wow,” I say, my thoughts everywhere and nowhere all at once. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Humans always fear change. Always fear a loss of power. It is in their nature.

“Thanks,” I say, “that strangely enough makes me feel better.”

Touching my face again, I wince. “This is embarrassing to admit, but I’ve never really been hurt before. As a healer, I’ve seen a lot of pain. I’ve helped a lot of people, but I haven’t really experienced pain like that before. Especially not someone hurting me.”

As a warrior, you will get better with pain. Unfortunately, it’s a part of battle. Even though I’ve never had a dragon rider before, never lived this life before, I have fought many bone wyrm in my life. The first battle is always the hardest.

“Right.” I close my eyes. “So, it’ll get better. I’ll get used to this, and next time I’ll be stronger.”

Still, tears roll down my cheeks. I let the wind take them away, trying to hide my sniffles. I want Ebron to see me as a warrior worthy of him. Not a frightened, inexperienced child.

“I’ll do better. You’ll see,” I tell him, taking a deep breath.

Of course you will. I chose you because you are a great warrior already, training will only make you better.

I don’t say anything, but I hope he’s right. I have to be cut out for this. I just have to be.