Before I can stop myself, I knock lightly on his door. Gareth opens it a minute later, a drink in his hand, a puzzled look on his face as he stares at me. Suddenly, I feel like a fool. Like this is the last place that I should be right now when I’m frustrated, horny, confused, and angry, but it’s too late. I have to say something.
“Got another drink handy?”
He blinks slowly, but then steps back, giving me room to enter his room. To my surprise, Alaric is already there, sitting in a leather chair by the fire. His short, brown hair is wet, likely from a recent bath, and there’s food set out in trays on the table between the chairs.
I snag one of the chairs, and Gareth wordlessly brings me a drink. We eat and drink in silence for a while, staring into the crackling flames of the fire. After a time, my gaze begins to wander around his room, and I note that he, like me, has very little in his room. No pictures. No personal items. Just official books, weapons, and lots of leather clothes. I’m fairly certain that any one of the three of us could walk away from the academy empty-handed and not miss a single thing.
“Are you here for the same reason I am?” Alaric finally asks, glancing at me.
I have a suspicion of what he’s talking about, but I still ask, “And what’s that?”
“Harper,” he says simply, and I’m surprised by how much her name means to all of us. She’s a problem, that woman, a problem none of us know how to solve.
Running my hands through my hair, I resist the urge to tug at the strands. “What are we going to do about her?”
Alaric gets that familiar tone to his voice, the one that says he wants to solve a problem with logic alone. “We all know Harper shouldn’t be a dragon rider. The first time she experiences areal battle, not that kissing shit with the Hollowborn, but arealbattle, she’s either going to realize that we were right in saying she wasn’t cut out for this, or she’s not going to survive the battle. Simply put, she shouldn’t be a rider. And if she explained this properly to Ebron, I’m sure he’d be open to the idea of one of us riding him.”
“Would he be?” Gareth asks, giving me a look.
Alaric answers. “The truth is that we’ve had so few male dragon/female dragon rider combinations that we have to imagine anything is truly possible. With so few data points to analyze, the fact that females have ridden male dragons could simply be a coincidence.”
“He’s got a point,” I say, glad he managed to put into words what I’ve been thinking all along. “Logic says all dragons should have male riders, and that all riders should be nobility.”
“She goes against everything we know to be important about being a dragon rider,” Gareth says softly, thoughtfully. “But,” and hisbutlingers between us, “she has proven to be a satisfactory rider thus far.”
“Against no real dangers,” I say, “just training.”
“And the Hollowborn,” Gareth adds, making us all quiet for a moment.
“Do you think her pretty face alone did something to the Hollowborn? I mean, according to her, he spoke to her, he kissed her.” Alaric is notably troubled, and I can’t help but feel the same way. It doesn’t help that a small part of me is also remembering what it was like whenIkissed her and wondering if her kiss with the Hollowborn was anything like what we shared.
Did she think about him? Did she compare us?No, I can’t imagine anyone haseverhad a kiss that compares with what we shared. I mean, I’ve been with a whole city of women, and Harper knocked me off my feet.
Gareth gives a dry laugh. “She’s beautiful, but that alone didn’t sway the Hollowborn. He must have heard the rumors about a female dragon rider, and sought her out, thinking that she might be the only dragon rider who would hear his message, and deliver it, without trying to kill him.”
“Well, he chose right there,” I say, but there’s no humor in my voice. “She actually thinks peace is a good idea. Can you believe that?”
Alaric shrugs as he takes a sip of his drink. “Peace is always a good idea. If it’s sincere. She’s not wrong to be excited about the possibility, she’s just naive to think a Hollowborn ever wants anything but death and destruction. I mean, didn’t one of the peace agreements with the Hollowborns only lastonemonth? Didn’t that month end in bloodshed?”
“It did. It’s just her inexperience saying this is a good idea. I know the history books offered to the dragon riders often gloss over the times of peace, since that information isn’t useful to us, but I know enough about the times of war to be confident with what I think,” I say, completely agreeing with my brother.
We’re quiet again for a long moment before Gareth asks, “What have your dragons been like since Ebron arrived?”
Ugh, my dragon, Verdraxa.“She doesn’t communicate with me much, as always, the damn secretive dragons, but when she does, it’s all about Ebron. She wants me to be working hard to build a relationship with Harper, because she says that Ebronwillbe her mate.”
“Sylvara has been equally stubborn,” Gareth admits. “She’s basically told me that I am not to screw this up for her. That Ebron will not choose her as his mate if Harper hates me, so Iwillmake Harper like me. It’s the most personal she’s ever spoken to me. ”
We glance at Alaric. He sighs. “Nythera is the same. Initially, she was pressing me to do better with Harper, because shewanted to beat out your dragons for Ebron’s affection, but now she seems to have accepted that she’ll be sharing him with your dragons.”
“This is crazy, right?” I ask. “We can’t choose our wife based on our dragons.”
“It’s what will happen, according to father,” Alaric says quietly, then drinks far more of his drink.
Ah, father! The man of the year himself.He was never once there when his sons scraped a knee or broke a bone, but he seems overly involved in making certain we have no say over who we marry. In his eyes, the three of us are as good as wed to Harper. He’s practically giggling like a schoolgirl as he reads various historical accounts from ancient books about how this will change our nation for the better.
“No offense,” Gareth says slowly. “But even though I always knew it might be possible that I’d have to share my bride with other men, since that’s the way it’s always been done, I never planned on it being with you two. I can’t even imagine the life we’d lead if we have to be that close to each other.”
“Agreed. I can barely stand the two of you,” I say, getting up and refilling my glass from the canter on his table.
