House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

She slowly rose to her feet and surveyed her charges.

“Congratulations. You have completed your thirty days of basic training and are moving on to dragon training.”

Gemina soared around overhead once and then landed primly next to Alura, whipping her tail in tight around her.

Hello, littlings, Gemina mind-spoke to them. Today is the first day of real training. You will leave here a different person, a different dragon, a different bonded team.

Kerrigan glanced at Tieran worriedly. A bonded team was anything but what they were.

“The training will progress over the next eleven months with a final test with your dragon next summer. Passing that test means getting official robes and membership into the Society. But first, you have to be able to do everything that I just did and more. Any questions?”

Audria, of course, shot her hand into the air.

Alura glared at her until she pulled it back down. “Good. Then, we’ll begin.”

Begin wasn’t quite the word. Thrown in headfirst without warning was more like it. Alura had a very unique method of teaching. Which basically meant figure it out until you get it.

“Shield up,” Alura shouted from the distance.

Kerrigan lay in the sandy arena, staring up at the clear blue sky, drinking the humid air, and trying desperately to breathe.

Again, Tieran grouched.

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled.

She hoisted herself back to her feet, prepared, and ran at top speed. She completely understood the last thirty days of training because to execute this move, she needed to be in top shape and to land with the shield up, and not floundering would use all of her magic skills. And she was still struggling.

Tieran flew in low, snatching her up in both of his claws. She winced as his nail dug into her shoulder. Then, she was soaring through the air. She flipped backward with her eyes closed, a shriek escaping her mouth. She landed on Tieran’s back.

“Scales,” she yelled as she scrambled for purchase on her dragon.

“Shield up!” Alura barked again.

“Crap.” She reached for her shield, but she was off-balance. She certainly hadn’t landed on her two feet. Her body slid sideways, and then once again, she was falling through the air. She dropped a few feet and landed hard on her back.

The air rushed out of her lungs. Her shoddy shield dropped.

“Oh gods.”

She coughed and coughed, worried that she was going to vomit up breakfast. Her eyes were blurry at the edges. Tieran sank back down onto the ground and huffed in her direction.

“Shove it,” she ground out.

But they were actually the best of the lot. Kerrigan had had a lot of time with dragons in her life. She’d been flying since she’d been left at the House of Dragons. She had a distinct advantage with it as the others had never really been around dragons. Not for an extended period of time at least.

Audria was better at the flipping with her acrobatic training. Noda had perfect balance from sailing. Roake was sturdy and strong in his movements. Fordham executed everything with military precision, and his shields were top-notch. But they all still fell over and over again. Most of them hadn’t even managed to get onto their dragon.

Again, Tieran said.

“I can barely breathe.”

We have to work twice as hard.

Kerrigan waved a hand at him and rolled over to her knees. Her vision dipped. She closed her eyes until it passed and then got back up to her feet.

“Ready,” she told Tieran.

She let loose again, running at top speed. She felt like she was flying before Tieran ever swooped in and picked her up. She forced her eyes open this time as she rotated backward over Tieran’s body. Her eyes focused in on where she wanted to land, and she dropped into place on her knees on Tieran’s back.

She gasped. She’d done it! She certainly hadn’t done it with a sword in her hand or anything, but she’d done it.

“Shield!” Alura cried again.

“Oh, right,” she said sheepishly, pulling a shield around them. Not perfect, but she’d done it.

She whooped loudly and fell backward on Tieran’s back as he soared above the arena. He trailed back down to the arena edge.

Alura nodded her head as Kerrigan slid down Tieran’s leg and dropped into a crouch. “Good. Now, do it again.”

Kerrigan beamed at her. “Yes, sir.”

She couldn’t help it; she threw her arms around her dragon in celebration.

He snorted. You’re embarrassing us.

Kerrigan laughed. “We did it.”

So far.

“See, it wasn’t too bad.”

Tieran shot her an exasperated look. We’ll see.

“That’s enough for today,” Alura called as Roake landed in the sand heavily. “We’re going to be working on these mounting and dismounting maneuvers until you have them down seamlessly and then as a group. So, if you don’t have them today, it’ll take some time to get used to, and that’s normal.”

Kerrigan beamed. She’d spent the rest of the hour trying to get to her feet. She’d managed it once before face-planting into Tieran’s back. But she was so happy to be flying in any way, shape, or form that she could hardly even care. Only Fordham had also been able to land on their dragon by the end of the session.