Page 12 of Wild Bond

I did as she asked, taking a deep breath as I went, trying not to be intimidated by the fact that I was now alone in a room with eight of the nine most powerful riders in Baldor. I halted just inside the half circle of podium seats.

“Now,” Zadeth continued, “Trainee Darrow, this meeting of the council isn’t traditional for new trainees, but given the circumstances of your bonding, some of our number,” she glanced pointedly at Councilor Varron, “thought it might be prudent to meet you before your presentation to the queen.”

“Circumstances?” I asked with a flare of irritation, knowing what she meant, but wanting to hear one of them say it. Most of them had been present in the square that day and were perfectly aware of thecircumstancesof my bonding.

“Yes,” Councilor Varron stated crisply, barely bothering to conceal his distain as he iterated, “the circumstances being the age of yourself and your dragon, your unnatural bonding, and the fact that you are a criminal who does not deserve to bear the name of dragon rider.”

“Now Varron,” the female councilor who smiled at me earlier spoke up, “no need to be so harsh. You were in the square. You saw it. The bond appears genuine.”

“I still think she should be tested,” Varron argued. “She and her dragon. I have a hard time believing the Jade Dragon would pick someone so unworthy.”

“Gemma has a point, Varron,” Councilor Zadeth argued. She gestured to Skye. “You only have to look at the dragon on her shoulder to see the connection. Not to mention my dragon can sense it. And no doubt so can yours.”

“But can we trust her?” Prince Pierce interjected, speaking up for the first time.

My frustration grew further when they continued to discuss me as if I weren’t there, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the members silently agreed with Varron. Skye was outraged as well, mostly by the fact that they doubted our bond.

I was about to open my mouth and point out that I thought it was the dragon who chose the rider—Nesenya’s advice about keeping my mouth shut be damned—when the doors behind us banged open.

I turned to see Commander Rakim stride in. Like Zadeth, he wore no scale armor but instead was clad in dark clothing similar to the day before.

“I wasn’t aware there was a council meeting tonight,” he said by way of greeting. “Especially with the Exodus Ball happening at the castle as we speak.”

Naasir prowled in after him. The black dragon was somehow able to look menacing even though he was only the size of a large hound. He had the largest minor form of any dragon I had seen yet.

Rakim didn’t even bother to take his council seat. Instead, he stopped beside me, several feet to my right. I peeked over at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring, or ratherglaring, up at the council. “Strange that no one thought to tell me about it,” he mused pointedly.

Councilor Varron made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “I sent a trainee to fetch you. It is not our fault if you were nowhere to be found, gallivanting around the city as you do.”

“Interesting, since I’ve been in my rooms upstairs in this very tower for the last few hours at least. Where did you send this trainee, exactly?”

Zadeth and several of the council members looked at Varron, and the rider’s face reddened. He waved that hand again—a hand that I noticed boasted a jeweled ring on nearly every finger. “No matter, no matter. This is not a formal meeting of the council, anyway.”

“It isn’t?” Rakim raised a dark brow. “Then why is the whole council here? Is this a trial? Has Trainee Darrow done something that would warrant this?”

Before I could hear the blustering councilor’s response, an unexpected and overwhelming desire and an almost avaricious need nearly overpowered me. The need wasn’t sexual in nature, but all-consuming just the same. Confused, I looked at Skye to see that she was leaning forward slightly on my shoulder, and her greedy eyes were fixated on Councilor Varron.

More specifically on his hand.

Her thoughts were dominated by the gleaming jewels she saw there. And I heard one word repeated over and over again in my mind.

Shiny!

One of the other councilors said something, but I barely heard them. My mind was too caught up in what Skye was feeling.

Everyone knew that dragons were obsessed with treasure, and particularly anything gold, or anything that was shiny or sparkly. The few times I’d come in contact with dragon riders before being arrested, I rarely saw them with jewelry of any kind, since it could be a distraction to their dragons.

During the war with Zehvi, large plates of silver or gold were often used on rooftops in key cities or towns in Baldor, or on certain areas of the battlefield to distract enemy dragons from blasting their targets as they flew overhead.

Once during the battle of Dessin, the only time the enemy prince, Prince Malik Kathar, had pushed his armies far enough inland to reach the capital, I had seen two dragons that were part of the Zehvitian army fight one another over a stray sheet of metal. I had been fifteen at the time and watched from under a nearby archway as they landed on the roof and ripped into one another.

Forcing my mind back to the matter at hand, I slipped one arm behind my back and yanked firmly on Skye’s tail that was dangling there.

Her head whipped around to glare at me.

Knock it off!I hissed through the bond.

She harrumphed and sat back, facing forward once more.Shiny, she chirped again, but it held a mournful note this time.

---