Page 69 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
“Edward told me you were coming,” Mireya said to Aiden, though her gaze never left Saphira. “But he had not mentioned you would be bringing a companion.”
Saphira laughed nervously, and she felt Sparky take a step in front of her. The baby dragon hardly came up to her knees, but she appreciated him being protective of her all the same.
Aiden opened his mouth to respond, but Mireya’s gaze shifted to Sparky, noticing his behavior. Her eyes went then to Saphira’s hand, to the gold ring. She smiled, surprised.
“Congratulations are in order, Aiden,” she said. “Nobody informed me you were wed.”
“Yes,” Aiden said, clearing his throat. “It is my immense pleasure to introduce you to my beautiful wife, Saphira.”
She felt a zing go through her at hearing him say the wordwifein relation to her.
“I am honored to meet you,” Saphira said. Mireya made a thoughtful sound.
“Saphira,” she repeated. “I do not know you. You are not from amongst the riders.”
It was an old term for Drakkon families—from when the only riders had been from Drakkon families. Saphira bristled. Mireya turned to Aiden again, this time confused.
“I am surprised your parents allowed such a match,” Mireya said, furrowing her brows.
“On the contrary, Sister, there is nothing surprising about it,” Aiden replied easily. He turned to Saphira, eyes warm. “And if there is anything shocking about our match, it would be that Saphira has accepted me, for my wife is far superior to me.”
Again those words:my wife. God, but she was already getting used to it. (Which was possibly unhinged of her, but she was an unhinged girl, and it was okay to accept that.)
The discomfort and insecurity Saphira felt vanished quickly. Aiden was confident about her, and she almost believed it—until she reminded herself that this was pretend.
Even so, her heart felt gooey.
“Hm,” Mireya said. She did not look wholly convinced, but for the moment she said nothing more.
Another caretaker in long black robes arrived to tend to Torch, a third arriving to take Aiden and Saphira’s bags.
“This way,” Mireya said, leading them toward the stone cottage. It was smaller than Saphira had expected; the way Aiden had described it, she imagined the great Mount Echo to be something vast, but this was a little one-story building.
They followed Mireya inside, where it was considerably warmer than the cold weather outside. Fires blazed in the hearths on either side of the house, which was really just one big room with a set of stairs at the end.
“Come,” Mireya said, heading toward the stairs. Maybe there was another room down in the cellar, Saphira thought, as she reached the top of the stone steps.
Until she looked down and realized there was much, much more than just one room.
There was an entire compound built into the mountain, expanding over multiple floors.
“Wow,” Saphira whispered, as they descended the stairs. There was no electricity, so everything was lit by candlelight, and there were dozens of figures in similar attire to Mireya’s.
“The novices here study the ancient texts,” Mireya explained to Saphira. She continued to describe different matters that were studied from those texts, such as the rider–dragon bond, and the medicinal properties of various dragon parts, like saliva or scales.
The compound also housed a few dragons of each breed in order to both study the dragons and also to protect the continuity of the species. The research conducted here was then taught in classes like those that Genevieve was taking at university, where she was earning her degree in Dragon History.
While it was all fascinating, the influx of knowledge made her feel a little overwhelmed, as if she was in an entirely different world. Even though she interacted with dragons daily, it was easy to imagine that she lived in an ordinary world, but here, it was evident that there was much she did not know.
It was all brand-new information for Saphira, but Aiden,of course, already knew all of this, which made him feel far away. Sparky didn’t really understand what was going on, but he happily trotted alongside them, looking around.
Mireya even took them to the caves where the dragons were preserved. There was a separate cave for each of the four breeds, and the eggs shone like the gemstones they were named after. The entire cave was also made of those stones, glittering and glimmering in the low candlelight Mireya brought with them. It was incredibly beautiful and truly did feel sacred.
For someone like Saphira, who had always wanted to learn more dragon lore but never had the chance, it was a very cool experience.
Then, it was time for the ritual to begin.
Mireya led them outside of one of the lower levels. Wind whipped against Saphira’s skin, the air freezing. The space was empty, covered in ice. As Saphira looked closer, she saw it was a frozen lake.
