Page 36 of Court of Rivals
“And how many of you have fought a bone wyrm alone?”
We’re silent, because none of us has. Fighting a bone wyrm alone should be a quick way to die. I’ve never heard of anyonedoing it. At least, until her, but I don’t know that any of us quite believe her story.
“That would be suicide,” I tell her when my brothers don’t answer.
“Interesting,” she says, but her word holds so much more than that. It’s interesting that we can’t do it but she could. It’s interesting that she survived it when we all don’t think she’s worthy of being a rider.
Gareth lets his fork drop noisily onto his plate. “Never forget, girl, that we’re princes, and you’re nothing but a queen of the peasants, Peasant Queen.”
She grins. “Queen sounds a hell of a lot better ranking than prince.”
I grit my teeth together so hard they hurt. Why isn’t this working? Why doesn’t anything we say bother her? We’re being cruel. We’re being assholes. Thisshouldbother her.
She puts her fork down. “Well, boys, thanks for the lovely chat.”
As she goes to stand, Gareth pushes her plate into her lap, sending the food sliding down her top and into her lap. She stares at the mess in shock. We all stare in shock.
Gareth recovers the quickest. “Thought that’s where the trash goes.”
The guys at the table seem to have noticed. They’re trying to look like they haven’t, but their gazes keep snapping to her, and they’re eating their food a little too slowly, the hum of conversation dying.
She picks the plate off her lap, stands, letting the food fall. “It seems I need to clean up before the next task. I’ll see youboyslater.”
And the way she saysboysmakes me think she’s implying we’re not men. How the hell is she there covered in food, and we’re still the ones looking like fools?
I’m pretty sure I hate this woman.
She strides away confident as ever, and I can’t help but think that getting her to leave the academy is going to be harder than we thought. And that we might not like who we become before this is all done.
15
Harper
It’s been a long ass day, and yet, I’m restless. Frustrated. Agitated. I don’t know why. It’s like I have bugs crawling under my skin, and I just want to yank them all out.
There’s a knock at my bedroom door.
I toss the book about dragon riding and the war between the Hollowborn and us. The chapter was about how the Hollowbone kill dragons and raise them as bone wyrms, because they’re incapable of bonding with living beings, which was fascinating, but reading wasn’t what I wanted to be doing in this mood. I want to… I don’t know. Scream, maybe? Not that I’ll give the princes the satisfaction of hearing me doing such a thing, knowing that two of them are right next door to me.
Still, I have no idea why anyone would be knocking at my door after dinner time.
Tossing open the door, I find Roland standing there nervously. “Hey, what’s up?”
He shifts from one foot to the other. “I was wondering if you might want to join me in town tonight. Not me, I mean, all the dragon riders.”
“Why are they going into town?” I ask, confused.
His cheeks heat. “You know how all the female dragons are… typically without a male. Their, uh, needs aren’t typically being met. And since we’re all connected to our dragons, it leaves all the men feeling, well, a little lonely. Which means the dragon riders go into town every few days to find themselves some company for the night.”
“Company for the night?” I say, thinking about my restlessness. “That could be exactly what I need. You know, as long as this isn’t some plot to humiliate me in a new way.”
Roland looks shocked. “N-no.”
“Because you don’t typically want to be seen in public with me…”
He winces. “Well, I didn’t plan on ushanging outat the tavern together.”
Of course.“Regardless, a change of scenery sounds nice.”
