Page 13 of Wild Bond

I sighed. She could be irritated with me all she liked; I didn’t care, as long as whatever spell she had been under was broken.

Finally able to lend my attention back to the discussion at hand—a discussion that very much involved me—I was only a little surprised when Varron pointed a finger down at me.

“That girl is a liability and a danger to everyone in this city. She is too old. She is untrained and doesn’t know our ways. Her dragon is wild and fully grown, and she won’t be able to control her. That is, if they are even truly bonded at all,” he sniffed.

I felt myself shrinking under every word he said, though I fought to not let it show. The amount of contempt in his eyes was unsettling.

Commander Rakim, however, didn’t appear even remotely affected by his fellow councilor’s words. In fact, there was a smirk on his face as he countered, “Yes, she is untrained, but she can be taught. Nothing she has done thus far indicates that she will be a danger to anyone. And the age of her dragon—and her own—is irrelevant.” Somehow, as he spoke, he made it feel like he was looking down at Varron even though he currently stood below him.

Something in my chest warmed at his defense of me, and I couldn’t help wondering why he was doing so.

“I’m inclined to agree with Councilor Rakim on this,” Zadeth said after a moment’s silence. “You know as well as I do that we need every rider we have. We lost so many in the war, and fewer and fewer are bonding each year.”

“But she’s a thief!” Varron argued vehemently. “Do we really want a rider with that kind of a history?”

Rakim scoffed. “We’re judging riders based on their pasts now?” He gave a pointed look to Varron and then a few of the other councilors who had the grace to look somewhat chagrined, though I got the feeling many of them didn’t share Varron’s opinion in this. “If we did that, Realms only know how many riders we would have left. You all know as well as I that the dragon chooses the rider, not this council. And we all watched in that square as that dragon,” he pointed to Skye, “chose this woman to be her rider.”

Skye puffed up a little on her shoulder perch.

My eyes met Commander Rakim’s, and the look he gave me had my heart jolting in my chest. I got the impression that, for some unknown reason, helping me was important to him.

He turned back to the council. “Corrine Darrow will become a dragon rider, and nothing this council says here today will change that. You know it as well as I do.” His words rang with authority and a sharp finality that cut through any tension left hanging in the air.

Varron sat back in his seat, adjusting a silver ring on his hand as he did so.

The female councilor, who Councilor Zadeth had called Gemma, concluded, “Rakim is right. I see no reason to treat Trainee Darrow differently than any other. We will assess her skills, and she can join in classes with the other trainees. We train her just like everyone else.”

“I agree,” Councilor Zadeth concurred.

“And who will train her to fly?” Prince Pierce asked. He had been glaring daggers at Rakim since he entered the room, and he wasn’t subtle about it. Rakim coldly returned the look. There was obviously no love lost between them. I wondered what the story was there. “Rider Altham is on an assignment in Halmar for the next two months, and we have no other flying instructors in the city at present. The trainee and her dragon are too inexperienced to be left unsupervised. They need to be taught as soon as possible.”

Skye’s attention perked up at the mention of flying. I couldn’t help but feel a little eager myself at the idea.

“We will just have to assign someone else,” Zadeth returned.

“Who?” the prince demanded. “Most of the riders in the city have their own assignments and couldn’t possibly make the time to—”

“I will,” Rakim’s deep voice interrupted. “I will train her to fly.”

I stared at him in shock. Never in a million years would I have expected that offer to come out of his mouth. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either. Part of me was thrilled at the intriguing prospect of learning from the infamous rider at my side. But a larger, more cautious part, was extremely intimidated at the idea.

No one said anything for several moments.

“What of your own responsibilities, Spymaster?” the prince inquired, barely concealing the ice in his tone. “Is my mother not giving you enough to occupy your time?”

Rakim gave the prince that cold stare. “I will teach her,” was all he said in reply. “Now, are we done? I believe there is a certain event underway at the castle we are all expected to attend.”

Zadeth nodded wearily, and I got the feeling the councilor was often the mediator between these strong-willed men. She then surprised me when she looked at me with a speculative, but not unkind expression on her face, and said, “Welcome to The Tower, my dear.”

Noonewasmoresurprised than I, when a few minutes later, I found myself being escorted to Graystone Keep by Commander Rakim himself. Once again, I was left to wonder why this man was helping me, but I thought it might be because he felt sorry for me. Either that, or he didn’t think I could make it to the castle safely on my own.

We had been walking for several minutes before I got up the courage to venture a question. “Why is there only one flying instructor?” I asked, hurrying to keep up with his much longer strides.

“Most of our current trainees’ dragons are too young or small to carry a rider and those that are, have already mastered the basics of flying with their riders. There hasn’t ever been a need for more than one teacher.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say to that, so I returned to observing my surroundings.

My experience walking through the city was very different than before, when I was chained with the other prisoners and on my way to Petitioner’s Square. People still stopped to stare, but this time it was because of the dragon on my shoulder, or maybe it was because of the trainee leathers I wore, or more likely it was due to the tall, imposing man striding a few paces ahead of me with that scowl on his face and the dragon, still as big as a hound, stalking at his side.

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