Page 129 of House of Embers
“My first name day.”Darby tipped her head in confusion, but Amita continued,“My first coming out of hatchling.”
“You are an adult now?”
“Officially.”
“Quite an accomplishment. What are you going to do to celebrate?” Darby asked. “We could go flying? It would be good for me too.”
“Yes, Little Bit. I would like that.”
Amita rose to her full height. She was roughly the same size as Tieran. Small for a dragon. She was probably an excellent flier, nimble and swift. Darby may not have been as interested in being a dragon rider as Kerrigan, but she could never deny the magnificence of a dragon.
Amita’s white scales were smoother than Darby was used to, so her ascent was awkward, but she finally made it up the entire way, settling onto Amita’s back. The dragon rose to her full height again, and Darby leaned forward, clutching the dragon as she adjusted.
“And after our flight, Little Bit,”Amita said as she stepped up to the edge of the cliffside,“we shall be bound.”
Darby choked at the words, but Amita had already thrown herself off the mountain. Darby screamed at the sheer drop before the dragon’s wings shot out. They hit a current in the wind and leveled out, soaring out across the valley.
“Bound?” Darby gasped out, once her stomach was again where it was meant to be. “I’m not a dragon rider. I’m a healer.”
“I am of age, and I have chosen you. That is how it works.”
“Surely you want someone else. A fighter.”
“A dragon is given their choice, and I have made mine.”Amita was silent a moment as they drifted over the small village of Cavour that seemed to be held in time.“I do not want a fighter. There is another way. I sense that you too want to have a purpose other than for death.”
“Yes,” Darby said earnestly.
“Then we will work together, you and I, and we will be magnificent.”
Chapter Forty-Five
The Rook
Wynter
Dyta landed in the aerie, flexing her wings and letting rain droplets scatter.
“Hey, hey!” Wynter said, dropping to her feet and covering her head.
“You are already wet enough.”
“Go find a lake, water snake,” she teased her dragon.
“Go find your fox.”
Wynter glared up at Dyta, who just laughed into her mind and then darted back into the rain. Herfoxindeed.
She’d just finished the final sweep. Everyone else had already returned to the mountain after the hours-long flight back to Ravinia. It had been more grueling to be on Dyta’s back for that long than she’d thought. She’d gotten used to Kerrigan’s powers transporting them. It was a valuable shortcut, but it wasn’t always going to be possible. She and Viviana would need to train the newer riders on these similar conditions.
Viviana, who hadn’t made a single complaint on the flight home. A miracle, even if the reason for it was that the mission had been anutter disaster. Part of that fault lay on Viviana’s shoulders. The woman was taking it better than Wynter would have thought. Ordrax must have been helping.
Wynter needed out of her flying leathers, a hearty meal, and a long, luxurious bath. That was all she needed before she dealt with the war council and her brother and the decisions that had to be made after what had happened. They’d all been silent and somber after Kivrin’s and Gelryn’s deaths. She had no idea what the council was going to make of it.
But first that bath…
And her fox.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked Dozan as she approached the spy entrance.
