Page 97 of House of Embers
“Oh gods,” she said, a hand to her mouth.
He laughed. “What? You think I’m too old to bond a dragon? If it wasn’t for Lorian, I would have had one years ago.”
“No, of course. I just can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”
“You can’t have all the good ideas,” Fordham said as he held his hand out to her father.
Kivrin shook. “Think I can join your army if a dragon selects me?”
“It’d be an honor,” Fordham said.
“Well, take care of my daughter then. I have a dragon to claim.”
Then Kivrin wandered into the midst of the potential riders, his head held high, his steps even. For the first time in many years, he was so much more than just the playboy prince of the House of Cruse. He was a leader in his own right.
Fordham drew her back into the mountain. “Let’s leave them to it. We’ll know what happened by nightfall.”
Kerrigan shot one more look at the group of riders and the incoming dragons and then left them to it.
***
Riders filtered in throughout the day. Their names were registered with their dragons, and they were sent to new quarters that Fordham had instructed Adelaide to clean out for the trainees. The bond would strengthen if they were in danger or went to war, but until then, it took a year for the bond to not be fragile, and they needed training.
Kerrigan had sat in a meeting with Lowan, going over the few books he’d had on his person about dragon training. Kerrigan added in the firsthand experience she had from her training and created a program—not that they had a year to train the recruits. Luckily almost everyone who had arrived so far was already a soldier who had seen combat.
“One of us will have to train them,” Kerrigan said.
Only she, Fordham, and Audria had done dragon training before. It was how it had always been done. The previous winner would train the next batch.
“We don’t have time for that,” Fordham argued.
“The easiest solution is to let the dragons and their riders handle training,” Lowan said. “Ordrax and Dyta are a formidable pair. Whoever bonds them will also have to be formidable. Ordrax has already gone through training, and Dyta was his second at the Holy Mountain. We should put them and their riders in charge once they return.”
“That would be me,” Wynter said as she strode into the war room they’d taken up outside the aerie.
Fordham jumped up. “You bonded?”
She nodded with a smirk. “Dyta. She agrees that she and Ordrax should take over. Ordrax should be here any moment. He just finished.”
“Who bonded him?” Kerrigan asked, adding names the list.
Wynter bit her lip. “Give him a minute, and you’ll find out.”
Kerrigan and Fordham exchanged a look. That couldn’t be good.
“Hello.”
Fordham’s jaw dropped. Kerrigan’s hand stilled over the list of names. Even Lowan looked surprised, and he didn’t normally notice anything other than his books.
“Viviana?” Fordham asked. “You bonded Ordrax?”
“I didn’t even know you were interested in a dragon.”
Viviana lifted her chin. Out of her fancy dresses and heavy makeup and jewelry, she was almost unrecognizable. “I have the requisite magic. I want to do my name proud.”
“And in pants,” Kerrigan noted.
Viviana bristled. “I will wear them for Ordrax, but I will be proper otherwise.”
