Page 20 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
I stiffened and opened my mouth to respond, but a hand on my arm stopped me. Nimue shook her head, her face devoid of any amusement.
Kieran frowned. “Aurelia doesn’t have as much flight experience as I do, let alone with a civilian. As her captain, I should be the one to do the flight.”
Luther’s jaw twitched. “No. Aurelia will do it.” Any other moment, and I would have been pleased to see someone put Kieran in his place. But while I sure as fuck didn’t want to ride with either one of them, Kieran was the lesser of two evils.
“Luther—”
“That’s an order from your king.” Steel backed Luther’s words. He raised his chin.
Kieran’s hands flexed, his pride obviously wounded. “Alright.” He inclined his head. “We shouldn’t waste daylight then. We need to spar first.”
Luther rolled his eyes. “Very well. We’ll save the flight for after.”
Kieran was a petty asshole. He barked out orders for us to run through an obstacle course. Then once we finished that—I came in last place—as punishment for being last, he made me do six sets of repetitive sprints until my lungs burned. Then once I finished, he said I barely jogged the last round and made me do another round of six sprints, barking orders anytime I so much as slowed my pace down by a hair.
What was worse was that I was the only one who had to run the sprints. Everyone else sat on the sidelines. Ben and Gareth grimaced in sympathy and Nimue seethed silently. I wanted to kill Luther, Aurelia, and Kieran. They had no right to look so amused by my suffering.
I struggled to get air into my lungs, and my legs felt like jelly when he finally said I could stop. I kept my hands tucked behind my head and gasped for breath. “Asshole,” I muttered.
Nimue handed me a canteen, and I greedily gulped down the water.
“Pathetic.” The sheer amount of loathing in Kieran’s tone was almost impressive. He looked at me like onemight look at a cockroach. “Go run to the well and fill up our canteens. If you’re not back within thirty minutes, you’ll do sprints until you puke.”
I glowered as I grabbed the canteens and forced my protesting body into a run. The well was a thirty minute walk. Running there… it’d be close. Kieran wasn’t exaggerating. He’d truly make me run until I threw up.
I didn’t know how I did it, but I managed to make it back in time. But there was no hint of approval in Kieran’s eyes, only disdain. I couldn’t even try to look like I wasn’t dead on my feet. My face burned as I struggled to take in oxygen and panted for breath.
“Less than a minute to spare. If you don’t beat your time by two minutes tomorrow, you’ll stay an extra hour for training.” When I didn’t say a word, his jaw clenched. “Respond.”
“Fine,” I bit out.
His lips twitched in amusement. “We can spar—”
“No.” Luther stepped to Kieran’s side. “Time for the flight.”
Kieran clenched his jaw. After a beat, he nodded, and we all walked toward the dragons.
My heart was in my throat as I stared at Aurelia’s silver dragon, Enmei. Aurelia looked tiny in comparison. Smugness radiated off her as I gingerly approached her dragon. Enmei was practically her twin as he stared at me, his eyes daring me to climb.It’s like they both think I’m trash.I fought a snort.No wonder they bonded.
“You’re lucky, commoner,” Aurelia called down at me. “The only reason Enmei doesn’t turn you to ash is because Luther and I will it.”
Enmei huffed smoke in my face. I didn’t flinch, but it was a near thing. Taking a deep breath, I hauled myself up until I sat behind Aurelia. “You don’t will shit,” I whispered in her ear, smiling when she stiffened. “He’s the one with a crown on his head. How many years have you been engaged? Eight years, right? If he truly loved you, he would have married you by now.” Sweet little Gareth had given me that kernel of information, and I’d been frothing at the mouth on when to use it.
Aurelia snarled. That was the only warning I had before Enmeilaunchedus into the sky. I immediately gripped Aurelia’s waist, forgoing any sense of pride I had as an animalistic need to survive took control of my body. Aurelia tried to elbow me off, but I was scrappy as hell and tightened my grip.
“Let. Go.”
“Fuck you!” My stomach dropped to my toes, and I tensed. Unlike Aurelia, I wasn’t strapped in. If Enmei’s prick self decided to go upside down, I’d plummet to my death. Street rat instincts could only go so far, and my thighs weren’t strong enough to withstand that amount of strain.
“Not so mouthy now, are you?” she drawled.
I fought to control my breathing, to not show how freaked out I was, but my death grip around her waist wasn’t fooling anyone.
One by one, the other dragons rose, all except Lutherand his earthy brown dragon, Saanvi. She was the smallest one, and the second fastest.
“We’ll do a quick flight around the castle and then land,” Kieran shouted. “Same formations we’ve always used.” Without a second glance at us, Hesperos took the lead. At first I wondered why Enmei didn’t flank him, but then I realized… the front positions were the riskiest. Of course Enmei and Aurelia didn’t want to risk their asses. Instead, Nimue and Gareth flanked Hesperos.
“Keep it together, commoner,” Aurelia said, and then Enmei flew forward, easily joining the back. I kept a loose grip around Aurelia’s waist. No longer did panic grip me by the throat. If I was accompanying Nimue, I might’ve been able to enjoy the flight—the way that the houses looked so small. Though my eyes burned something fierce from the wind—something that didn’t seem to bother the others at all.Damn fae enhancements.
