Page 6 of Monsters of Air

“Yes,” Da nodded, giving me one side glance before he led our horses to the left, down the wider fork of the dirt road that we had been following through the forest. “Xrotte is at the foot of the Crotlyn mountains. It’s a huge range, it’s what protects our capital and our dragons from the Fae. If we make it through that, you will be safe.”

I didn’t miss that he hadn’t said that he would be safe.

I swallowed, not sure what to say to that anyway, there had been too much bad news already.

“I know this wasn’t what you wanted, but we have to do what we can to make sure you and everyone else is safe,” Da said, slowing his horse until I was walking side by side with him. He stared at me for a moment before looking ahead. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do a proper send off for you with all your friends.”

I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure who we would have invited. I had been dreaming of becoming a rider for so long that I was known as the dragon lover. Not many people wanted to be seen with the dragon girl.

“Right now, we need to get you to Fyre with the minimum amount of people knowing. We need to be brave and face what the Goddess has given us.” He had said that so many times I was starting to think he was trying to convince himself of it.

I sure wasn’t convinced.

“What about Ma and Ellie? Won’t they be in danger now because they’re my family? Won’t the Fae smell me on them?” The thought had my hands clenching my reins until my knuckles were white. I was one breath away from just turning around.

All I wanted was to protect them and I couldn’t help but feel that I put them in more danger.

“They’ll be safe.” Da’s voice came out in a scary calm. “Let anyone try to hurt them. I’ll destroy them.”

Da had always been a fierce protector, but I had never seen him as this fierce of a protector. If I didn’t know him I would guess that he was about to rip some Fae apart with his bare hands.

I didn’t dare remind him that he was here with me, and that Ma and Elodie were a full day’s ride behind us.

I stared down at my horse, letting the feel of her black mane keep me distracted for a moment.

“Once you return,” Da continued after a minute. “As a true rider, with your dragon, everyone will be proud. I’ll be able to yell from the highest mountain top. You’ll be alright, Rayna. I’ll get you to the capital, and you’ll learn to fight alongside your dragon. You’re strong.”

That time I could tell he believed it. That he believed in me.

Finally the feeling I had been expecting burst through the panic that had taken its place. Pride swelled into excitement. I gripped my reins tighter, my skin prickling.

I still didn’t feel quite prepared, not now that I knew the truth about the Fae. But, I wasn’t stuck anymore. I didn’t have to work the land, marry the milk licker and suck his cock in the barn whenever he wanted me to.

I was a rider.

I was a fucking rider!

“Fuck yeah!” I hissed, pumping my fist in the air. Da gave me a look, but thankfully said nothing before he moved his horse into a trot, mine reluctantly following behind.

At least Da was used to my oddities by now to not even ask.

We just rode, all of my daydreams seeping back in as I started to question what the school would be like. What Dragons would be like. I had heard the stories, and been daydreaming about them for so long that I was sure I knew what they looked like, but truthfully I had never seen one. I didn’t know what to expect.

How big would their wings be? How tall were they? Were their dick–

“Rayna,” Da’s soft voice popped through my imagination just as my skin was beginning to heat. I shook my head, banishing the image that had just come to mind as I looked at what he was gesturing to.

Our horses stood at the top of a hill, the gentle slope before us leading down to a village. No, not a village. The small one street, five building center of Lixny was a village. This was a town.

It was the biggest place I had ever seen, with homes and businesses scattered over streets that crisscrossed themselves, all of it hidden behind a tall wooden fence topped with spikes.

The entire thing twinkled with lights as the sun began to set, dusk casting it all in purples and blues that made it even more mesmerizing.

“Whoa,” I commanded my horse as I stared down at it all in awe. The town, the lights, the twinkling river that ran behind it, and the mountains that towered over it in sharp pointed peaks of snowy white that cut through the twilight sky like dark knives. The mountains surrounded it like they were ready to eat up the town at their feet. Everything about them was massive and intense.

The base of the mountains were swathed in greens so deep it looked like a blanket. A blanket of trees that stood tall enough that I had to wonder how big they were.

Something about the mountains made me shudder, awareness prickling down my spine.

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