Page 7 of Dragon Chosen (The Dragon Lady #1)

Lance

Lance.

My dragon touched my mind, his tone insistent.

Coming, lad , I said, grabbing a mug of coffee off my kitchen table and then my riding gloves. I slapped them against my thigh as I walked outside to find Viridian, my dragon, standing there. Anxious to patrol today?

No, I ? —

“I’m taking the forest this time.”

Across the path, I saw my wingmate, Billy, emerge out of his cottage.

In theory, I was the wing commander, and I decided where he and his dragon, Happy, would go, but we didn’t really run things like that in Dragon Rest. We’d taken a leaf out of our brand new prime minister’s book and tried to run the place like a democracy. That wasn’t always easy.

“You want to take the shortest loop.” Harley, another of the town’s dragon riders, said with a growl. “So you can get back to Florrie.”

The woman herself came out of Billy’s cottage just in a dressing gown.

We all looked away as the two of them locked lips.

He’d need to make an honest woman of her soon, because the way the two of them were at it, it was only a matter of time before he became a father.

His dad never gave him his name, and I was pretty sure Billy didn’t want to make the same mistake.

“Billy, you take Happy off to the east.” He grinned at Harley, who let out an almost inaudible growl. “And Harley, you head down to the coast.”

He frowned at me.

“We don’t usually do a sweep that close to the city. That’s for the toffs at the keep to worry about.”

I put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.

“Yes, but that girl you were making eyes at last time we were down that way?” Harley’s lips thinned, but I saw hope flare to life in his eyes. “She’ll be down on the beach today, harvesting cockles. Just bring some back for us…”

Before I could finish giving orders, Harley was off, striding over to Zephyr. He hauled himself up into his dragon’s saddle, then the two of them launched themselves into the air.

“Be back soon, my love.”

Billy performed a deep bow, staring into Florrie’s eyes, which just had her giggling.

“Try and pay attention in the air,” I told him as he walked over to Happy. His dragon’s wings ruffled, making clear he was anxious to get going. “We do need to keep Dragon Rest safe.”

“Protecting Florrie?” Billy nodded to me from the saddle. “Don’t have to ask me twice. C’mon, lad.”

I watched him take flight, then turned, ready to rouse the last of our wing. Jenkins would still be in bed and was always a hard one to wake. It wasn’t that he slept heavily, but that ghosts from the past haunted him. I was making for his cottage when Viridian stopped me.

Jenkins is already out with Blade , he told me. They have flown down to the ruins again.

I told him to tell me before he goes anywhere.

I marched over to my dragon, ready to take off after Jenkins and make sure he was all right when Viridian stopped me. Those massive green eyes stared into mine.

Blade says Jenkins is well. He is currently sleeping, he said.

Then we’ll need to do the longer sweep , I said. Over the fields and ? —

No.

I blinked, staring at my dragon. He was a fine beast, his scales a bright grass green that shone in the early morning sunlight, and from the moment we had bonded, he was fairly agreeable.

Sometimes it felt like the bond was a little more intense than what keep dragon riders described.

That came from him being linked to me when I was taken into custody by the former queen.

I shook my head, not wanting to go back to that dark place.

Lad—

Go into the house and bring out the cache.

I stared at the dragon, looking for clues, but all I got was his intent stare. Viridian had an affinity for finding precious stones and metals in the soil, and I kept his collection in a lockbox inside my cottage.

Of course, I will, but do you want to tell me why?

He looked up at the sky and my eyes followed his, and that’s when I saw her.

At first I thought it was a keep dragon, bringing one of their riders, all dressed up in black leather and officiousness.

Sometimes they came down, looked around to ‘keep an eye’ on us.

We were the first riders to live outside the barracks walls, so they were naturally suspicious of us.

When I caught the glint of gold scales, I grinned.

Pippin’s come to visit? I asked Viridian.

She was one of the few queen dragon riders left in the country.

She’d taken Glimmer, her dragon, and the rest of her wing and retired to the country.

You should’ve said. We could have put on a spread for her and Glimmer.

Not sure why you want your treasures though.

She’s got mates of her own to provide for her.

Not Glimmer , he agreed. Her.

When the prime minister brought Pippin to our village, I’d tried to convince her to stay.

In my head, it was all so easy. She had a queen dragon; we had four males.

Together, we could create a power base that would rival the capital.

It had all made sense in my mind, but Viridian was utterly unmoved by the idea.

He liked Glimmer just fine, but as a sister, not as a bond mate.

This reaction was something else entirely.

I moved towards the field, craning my neck to get a closer look, but my dragon wasn’t having any of that.

The cache, now.

We bonded with our dragons differently in our village.

Viridian was my friend, half of my soul, not my subordinate, and up until now, I thought he felt the same way.

His tone now was sharp as a whip crack and forced my feet to move.

I slammed open the door of the cottage, dragged the lockbox out from under my bed, and then pulled the key out from where it hung around my neck.

I had it unlocked and then hauled it outside, just in time to see them land.

I would never mistake this dragon for Glimmer.

The little queen was quite small as dragons go, having been forced to stay in the egg for too long.

This dragon was everything Glimmer might’ve become if allowed to grow naturally.

Glittering bright as a newly minted coin, the dragon shone in the sunlight as she surveyed the village.

I require assistance.

Her voice was distinctly feminine inside my head, while also containing a note of absolute command.

My queen.

Viridian grabbed the lockbox from me, carrying it forward, leaving me to scurry along behind him like some kind of lapdog.

And that’s when I saw her.

Women liked me. They saw a bloke who was tall, strong, and a dragon rider and that was more than enough to keep their attention.

I smiled at plenty, but never had my mouth gone slack, gaping at a girl.

I was staring and I couldn’t seem to stop, taking her in.

That messy tangle of light brown hair? I wanted to comb it smooth, then run my fingers through it.

Those bright blue eyes? They needed to turn my way.

Those pretty pink lips… I swallowed hard and then strode over.

Curves, that’s what I saw. I wanted to learn every single one of them after a very long and thorough inspection.

“Good morning, milady,” I said, stepping closer and offering my hand. “I am Lance and this is Viridian. And you are…?”

“Oh!” She slipped from her dragon’s back and then took a step towards me, stopping for a second, then craning her neck to look up at me.

That had something flaring hotly in my chest. “I’m Lady…

” She shook her head and smiled. Oh yes, I wanted to see her do that again and again.

Her whole face lit up as her cheeks flushed pink. “Just Fern.”

Please accept this meagre gift , Viridian said, laying the lockbox at the queen dragon’s feet. Meagre? There was a bloody fortune in that box. One the village relied upon when the harvest failed. I collected them in anticipation of this day.

The queen dragon stepped forward, a claw rising and hovering in the air, before she flipped the lid and then stared at the contents. A blue topaz the size of my head was plucked out, and the dragon held it up to the light, watching the way the rays shifted within it.

I am Viridian, my queen, and you are?

The topaz fell back into the lockbox and suddenly a crushing wave of fear crashed into me, though it was not my own. My dragon was distraught at the idea of displeasing this queen.

I am Auren , she replied, standing up tall and reminding me of a fine lady sticking her nose in the air.

Which reminded me, I had a fine lady standing before me right now.

“A pleasure to meet you, Just Fern,” I said.

I took her hand in mine, treasuring the way it felt so small, warm, soft.

My brain scrambled to remember what to do with it.

It’d been a long time since I bowed over a woman’s hand, but when I did, this felt perfectly right.

My lips tingled as I brushed them across her knuckles.

I wanted to kiss each one, then turn her hand over and plant more on her palm, and where the hell had that thought come from?

I’d barely said two words to the woman. “What brings you to Dragon Rest?”

“That’s what this place is called?” She looked around in wonder, and my chest puffed out with pride.

We’d built this place from nothing. It was still a small village, but it was all ours.

The two of us looked down and saw we were still holding hands, forcing me to let go.

“Is it very close to the royal keep? We’re trying to find our way there, but I think we’ve gotten lost.”

I didn’t want to tell her. Some breathtakingly selfish need to keep Fern right here came from nowhere, but I shook my head and smiled.

“Almost.” I pointed off to the northeast. “The keep is a ways in that direction.”

“Oh, well, thank you.”

She turned then to discuss this with her dragon, but I stepped forward.

“But if you’d like an escort, Viridian and I…

” I’d watched male birds bob and weave, performing intricate dances to impress the females and persuade them to mate.

In some ways, that’s what it felt like the dragons were doing right now.

Their heads wove back and forth just slightly, moving in and out of each other’s space.

Gods, he was completely gone on the queen.

I gave Lady Fern my best smile. “We’d be honoured to escort you there. ”

“Really?” Gods, if she looked like that every time I pleased her, I’d be her willing slave. “That would be most helpful.”

A little later, I was in the saddle, smoothing my hand down Viridian’s neck.

That’s why you didn’t want to go patrolling , I said. Why you wanted the others nowhere near the village. This queen… I watched Fern climb onto Auren’s back, trying not to focus on her very shapely arse, as she sat on her dragon without even the aid of a saddle. She’s something special, right?

She has my heart.

Viridian wasn’t a dragon for great declarations, so I went perfectly still at that. He strode forward, wings flapping out, ready to take the lead. Auren kept pace with us, their claws raking the earth as they got faster and faster, then we were up in the air.

That lurch, then the exhilaration of weightlessness, it never seemed to get old for me, but this time it was different.

I glanced over at Fern, catching her look of surprise, then her wild grin.

We’d flown over half of Nevermere, but as we winged our way towards the capital, it felt like we were rushing towards something far greater than just a visit to the keep.

Destiny , Viridian informed me.

Yes, perhaps he was right.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO AUREN, FERN, LANCE AND VIRIDIAN WHEN THEY REACH THE KEEP? WILL LANCE AND VIRIDIAN BE THE ONLY MALES VYING FOR THEIR ATTENTION?

THE STORY WILL CONTINUE IN DRAGON DISCOVERED.