Dragonrider Academy: Episode 1

by A. J. Flowers

  That was exactly what the energy inside of me wanted and a small surge of warm approval spread throughout my body.

  The world went still for a moment as a gentle hum filtered through my ears and the mark on my shoulder grew hot. I’d traveled worlds, and perhaps that was a trigger for the goddess lineage in my blood to come out.

  Whatever the cause, I was able to work my fingers into a solid fist and I crouched, putting all my weight into my legs as I launched my punch upward, catching her chin while she kept her focus on my blade.

  She grunted as her head snapped back and she fell to the ground in an undignified heap as time resumed its regular pace. Her dragon shot up and flared its wings, but Killian hissed at it, making the creature shrink back.

  Huh, so Killian had some authority over another rider’s dragon; that was good to know.

  Both of our daggers had fallen to the ground and Killian bent down to pick them up. “Well, I think that was the shortest duel I’ve ever seen in my life.” He grinned at me, the wicked gleam in his eyes irritating me, because I had pleased him—and I liked that I had pleased him. A part of me already sought his approval as my mentor and my partner at Dragonrider Academy. Something unspoken sealed between us in that moment as he gathered both daggers into one hand so that his fingers could brush mine, leaving an unspoken message that this was the first of many moments to come where I would be tested and he would be by my side to witness my victory.

  “You lose, Jas,” he said smugly, “which means you owe Vivienne here servitude for the rest of the day.” He put away his dagger and then handed Jasmine hers. “I’m going to guide her to the dorm and you can wait outside like a good little girl and show her around while I attend to my errands, sound good?”

  She groaned as she adjusted her jaw, a click sounding as if she had to snap it back in place.

  How hard had I hit her?

  She stumbled to her feet and brushed the sand off of her uniform. “Yes, fine,” she growled, not looking me in the eye this time as she turned and mounted her dragon again. “Meet you there.”

  Her dragon spread its wings and she sailed off into the distance like a flying emerald gem that glittered with retribution. She glanced back just once. She should have been too far away for me to read her expression, but something in my eyes burned for just a moment as my vision shifted and brought her face into focus. I spotted a glimmer of a smile that said I’d impressed her before she turned around and crouched into her dragon as they flew higher.

  I had a feeling that I’d made my first enemy—and maybe my first friend.

  Topaz—Killian’s dragon—swept off his neck the moment we entered the dorm room. He flapped his thin, translucent wings that were still developing until he reached a rounded nest next to Killian’s bed. He squawked at me, then snapped his jaw at Killian.

  “Yeah, yeah,” my mentor said as he popped open a fridge and brought out some chilled slices of raw meat. He tossed one at the wyvern who caught it in midair, throwing it back to gulp it down his gullet like I’d seen birds do. “There’s your snack,” Killian said, his tone stern, “now take a nap before you get cranky on me and chew up my pillow again.”

  The wyvern chirped at him before turning in a circle and wrapping his long tail over his nose to cover his eyes. Soon the creature drew in deep, steady breaths and Killian draped a blanket over him.

  He winked at me when he caught me staring, making me blush. “They’re kind of like birds. They like to be covered up when they sleep.”

  “Mmhmm,” I said, trying to keep the human part of me from totally freaking out right now. It was odd, as if I had two versions of myself that took all of this in with completely different reactions. One side of me felt like I had come home, that this was an inevitable conclusion to my life that I was meant to endure all along.

  I guessed that was the goddess part of me, and that blew my mind.

  I have goddess blood… what does that even mean?

  “Are you feeling okay?” Killian asked, his touch gentle as he reached out and ran his fingers up my arm. He roamed the birthmark on my shoulder, sending tingling jolts of electricity to surge through my body. “Your mark is reacting pretty strongly. It could be disorienting.”

  He was right. I wavered on my feet and clutched my arms around my chest, feeling suddenly cold. Killian reacted instantly, taking off his uniform blazer to wrap around my body.

  His warmth and scent overwhelmed me, making me feel even dizzier than a moment before and I backed up to the secondary bed to sit down. I pulled the fabric around me anyway, feeling desperate for something to hold onto.

  “It’s the rider bond sealing into place,” he explained as he sat next to me and draped his arm protectively around my shoulders. He leaned in and rested his forehead against me, closing his eyes as he drew in a long breath through his nose. “I feel it too,” he said, his voice lowering as if we shared a deep secret.

  “What does that mean?” I asked, the human part of me feeling terrified, overwhelmed, and panicked. This was all too much, too fast, and the rational part of me said that all of this was impossible.

  But when Killian drew away from me and tucked my hair behind my ear, I knew this was real. I felt something that tugged me toward him, that made me want to get to know him, to trust him, and to listen to him.

  The human part of me? Yeah, she wasn’t having it.

  He leaned in and brushed his lips across my cheek, making the battle surging in my chest explode.

  I shoved him, my mind reeling back to the memory of Max forcing himself on me. “Get off me!” I screamed.

  The wyvern under his nest flinched, poking his tail out to pull up the blanket a moment to look at me. Killian waved him away, so the beast snorted and draped the cloth over himself again, falling quickly back to sleep.

  “Sorry,” Killian said, giving me space as he leaned away. “I thought you felt it too. The rider bond is a romantic one and you called me to you, but I forget your situation is unique.” He stood up and turned from me, the muscles along his back shimmering with the blueish-white tattoo that I’d seen before on his arms. Without his coat, he just wore a simple white t-shirt—which he pulled off as he walked away and my jaw dropped open.

  Scars lined his back where the tattoos disappeared, making me wonder who exactly it was I was dealing with.

  “What do you mean… romantic?” I asked, stunned by that revelation. “Is this some kind of arranged marriage thing or something?” Everything about this place was a bit medieval, so maybe I had inadvertently found myself betrothed to this guy.

  I mean, he wasn’t hard on the eyes, that was for sure, but if he thought I would be his dragonrider bride when we barely knew each other, he didn’t know me very well—which was exactly my point. How could a relationship work on a foundation like this?

  He opened up his closet and rummaged through his clothes, pulling out a chainmail shirt. He glanced back at me and I blushed, realizing I’d been staring at him this entire time. He smirked. “You need me to define what romance is to you?” he asked, his smirk growing. “It would be much easier to demonstrate.”

  My face enflamed until I was sure that I’d turned beet red. “No. No demonstration is needed,” I insisted as I tugged his coat around me, making sure none of my skin between my knees and my neck would be on display. “I just mean… why did you try to kiss me?”

  “Because we’re bound together,” he said matter-of-factly as he approached me again. I tried not to stare at the incredible hard lines of his body and I desperately wished he’d put his shirt on so my brain would unscramble, but I had a feeling he was doing this on purpose. He knelt and offered me his hand. He waited until I took it before he spoke again, all the while brushing his fingers over mine to give me the warmth my cold body craved. “Dragons require parents—two of them, to be exact. Male and female. Both offer different benefits to the dragon and I’ve been raising Topaz on my own for nearly a year. He’s been getting sick.” He glanced back
at the nest before looking back to me. “I’ve been waiting for you, but I couldn’t risk it any longer. I received help from the Lady of the Lake and put events into motion to bring you here—a place you belonged already.”

  “It’s your fault I’m here?” I said, my voice rising in pitch as I yanked my fingers away from his. That irritating cold seeped into my body without his contact, but his coat seemed to provide enough warmth to keep me from shivering. It was an odd feeling, because I’d never gotten cold before, not even on a snow day.

  “Yes,” he admitted, his eyes almost as translucent as his wyvern’s wings keeping his gaze locked on me. “And if you wish to break the bond, my wyvern will die and yours will never hatch, but I will never force you to do something you do not want to do.” He leaned back and twisted his shirt over his head, giving me some reprieve from his otherworldly beauty. “Our relationship doesn’t have to be physical to be close. We’ll get to know each other, for now, and we can exchange energies that our wyverns need by simply holding hands.”

  “What kind of energies?” I asked, even though my body already recognized what he was talking about. A strange force surged through me every time we touched and I craved to put my hand in his again. I curled my fingers into fists, digging my nails into my palm to resist the urge. “Never mind that,” I whispered, realizing he’d referred to us both having wyverns. “I get a dragon, too?”

  He grinned, that familiar mischievous glee in his eyes making my stomach do backflips. “Yes, if you seal the rider bond with me, I will take you to orientation where you will meet your dragon.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. The human part of my mind tried to rationalize what was going on—and the choice I had to make. If this was a dream, what was the harm in playing along?

  And if this was real… hadn’t I always imagined riding a dragon of my own? Hadn’t I wished that my fantasy novels were real and I could live a life of adventure and magic? I wouldn’t have to live as the invisible wallflower at my school anymore. I could discover the truth about my father. Whatever evil had done this was still out there… and a sinking sense of dread in my gut said it was going to hurt a whole lot more people if I turned away and did nothing.

  There was really no choice at all. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t give this up.

  “What do I have to do?” I asked, my voice trembling.

  His smirk turned into an all-out grin. “You have to kiss me.”

  “You’re making that up!” I shrieked.

  He laughed and threw up his hands. “I’m not, Viv, I’m really not. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall with an expectant look on his face. “You’re going to have to come to me.” He flashed his teeth with a wicked grin. “I promise I don’t bite.” He gave me a wink. “At least not this time.”

  I rolled my eyes and shot to my feet, determined to make this as chaste as possible. “Fine, I can do that.” I marched over to him and looked up, realizing that this would prove difficult with my arms wrapped around myself with his blazer. I frowned.

  He chuckled. “Giving up? I can take you home, if that’s what you really want.” He joked when he said that, but I caught the flash of desperation in his voice and the panic that crossed his beautiful eyes. He wasn’t lying. I had to do this of my own free will or else his wyvern would die.

  I opened my fingers before I had a chance to think twice about my decision. His coat fell from my shoulders in a puddle around my feet and his eyebrows shot up. I was still only wearing my bathing suit and my dried hair curled around my face. I ran my fingers up his arms and he uncrossed them for me as I moved in closer. I had to lean against him and stand on my tiptoes to reach him. I had intended the kiss to be quick, but the second my lips met his, everything changed.

  Heat and fire shot through me and I found my arms wrapping around his neck as I sucked in a breath through my nose. Embers and an ocean breeze invaded my senses as I leaned against him, the chainmail cold against my skin but his breath scalding on my face. He deepened the kiss and I reveled in it, feeling a connection between us surging to new heights as the room boiled and threatened to catch fire.

  When I finally managed to pull away to catch my breath, he smiled, his eyes now filled with golden energy that I had exchanged with him.

  “Welcome to Dragonrider Academy,” he said before he pulled me into a kiss again.

  The kiss told me more about Killian than a lifetime of experience ever could.

  In that instant, I knew that this was real, that I belonged here, and that Killian was my mate.

  It felt as if I grew wings and I soared to new heights with Killian at my side. He’d lived a hard life, but he wasn’t much older than me at just eighteen. He grew up knowing what he was, that he would one day attend Dragonrider Academy and would be tied to the rider bond with a female he barely knew. His race was the most common one from which knights and dragonriders were chosen. They were called Nephilim, a hybrid between human and angel which made them the perfect protectors. They were strong, nearly immortal, and had enough humanity to be compatible with the rider bond.

  Being what he was, though, he didn’t have a lifetime among the humans he was meant to protect. He envied that of me, that I had gotten to feel normal, but just like I explored his mind he explored mine. He understood that “normal” wasn’t how my life had been at all. I’d in fact been lonely, confused, and distant and it would have been better if I could have grown up with my own kind.

  My race was all but dying out, however, the women of Avalon being all but extinct. I saw the mystical city through his memories of the stories of what it had once been. Avalon was an island covered in fog filled with beautiful women who wore crystalline headdresses and spoke prophecies given by the goddess. Knights protected Avalon—but they had failed a hundred years ago. Wild dragons had destroyed it and the image in my mind changed as the beautiful city grew dark and flooded with water, sending all the light and fires snuffing out when the crashing waves overtook the city that soon filled with screams. It kept going, the dragons swarming in the distance until there was only muted silence underwater.

  Those who escaped fled to other realms, and my ancestor was the only one who went to Earth.

  A tear sizzled down my cheek as the thoughts and memories flashed through my mind, all the while I was still locked in a debilitating kiss with the beautiful Nephilim and dragonrider named Killian.

  Still, I sensed something he tried to hide from me. Instinct made me seek it out as I searched through his mind. We were bonded, now, and there would be no secrets between us.

  I found it and a cold jolt swept through me. What surprised me was that this was my own secret. I had indeed called Killian to be my mate, although I hadn’t been aware of it. He’d been approached by a golden finch throughout his life, a spirit of wellbeing that he thought had been from Heaven. It had guided him to the Academy and promised him the perfect mate, one who would make him stronger and wiser and help his dragon thrive.

  That had all been a lie. I had too much humanity in me to do anything for his dragon, much less the rest of the realms. I needed him and his angelic strength to help me bring my father’s murderer to justice, but that’s all I had ever cared about. I couldn’t keep his wyvern alive. I probably couldn’t even bring mine into the world. But if I bonded to Killian, I would inherit his power as a Nephilim and it would be enough for me to discover who had killed my father and to do something about it. Even as a child, my instinct had driven me to seek out justice. That was the power of the goddess blood in me that obeyed my deepest desires and made fate twist for my own purposes.

  I’d never cared about saving the world. I’d never thought what it would do to Killian or his wyvern to use him like that, even if it had all been subliminal instinct. I’d only been a distraught girl who’d lost everything and wanted to make it right.

  When I had created the golden finch I’d named Solstice, it had taken all my memories of that intent with it. Any innate knowledge that I�
�d had about my destiny had vanished because it took all of my strength to create that spirit that would fool Killian into doing exactly what I wanted.

  I’d won.

  And now he knew.

  Now we both knew.

  Killian jerked away from the kiss, shocking me when rage crossed his features. He grabbed my shoulders hard and pushed me out of his way, making me stumble back to the bed as he shook his head, seemingly trying to clear it of some vile thought I’d put in there.

  He snapped his fingers and ordered his wyvern to stay as he hurried to the doorway and didn’t look back.

  “Killian,” I said, my voice trembling from the shock of losing his warmth. “You know I was just a child when I did that…”

  He thrust up one hand to silence me and I bit my lip. His body stiffened as if he was restraining himself from turning and strangling me. Finally, he relaxed his hand to his side.

  “I have to go,” he said as his once velvety sensual voice turned hard as stone. “Jasmine will be here to collect you soon. Don’t go anywhere and don’t touch anything.” He shoved through the exit and slammed the door behind him.

  I rushed to the door to follow him, but heard a latch click into place and then his heavy footsteps marched away. “Killian?” I shouted as I hit the door. It didn’t budge against my efforts. I fiddled with the door handle, but it had been locked into place. “Killian!”

  I looked back to the nest as my chest heaved and my lungs sucked in air like I was drowning. My skin burned from the energies we’d exchanged and I ran my fingers over my birthmark, finding it scalding hot as it sent enough waves of power through my body to make me dizzy.

  What had I done?

  The wyvern was still sleeping through all of the excitement and I lifted the blanket to check on it.

  Its once translucent wings were now a brilliant gold. It opened one eye to regard me, chirped in welcome, but seemed too weak to stay awake as it closed its eyes again. Perhaps I hadn’t hurt it, but I hadn’t helped it, either.