“Dora, think what life would be like for Fin if we ran away.”
Horrible, she admitted.Poor lamb. But you’re not having to nest next to the most arrogant, pompous white in the world.
“I’m sure he’s not, Dora. All whites are regimented in their approach to humans.”
This one’s just as bad with other dragons. The others stationed here all bow and scrape to him. I won’t.
“Lord Aurexian—”I couldn’t remember the rest of the title,“—is bonded to the Flight Captain, my superior officer. And apparently, the highest-ranking officer permanently based here. If you could find a way to get along with Lord Aurexian, I would greatly appreciate it.”
She huffed.I will try.
“Thank you.”
But give no guarantee.
I sighed.“Please, Dora.”
Well, I don’t see why we have to be punished for not doing anything wrong.
Neither did I. No, that wasn’t true. I did. What I had said was technically blasphemy, but it was also the truth, and I couldn’t see how lying would help anything when I’d beenbrought up on the clear instruction that honesty was the only option. Yet, if I had lied and denied the evidence of my own eyes, then we wouldn’t be stuck out here on the very edge of civilisation.
Once Dora settled down that first evening, I sat by the fire and contemplated the future. Dora wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy. At least Fin was making the most of it.
Unkea was grey. Like the granite blocks it was built from, it was cold, carved, and colourless. Perhaps that was why Flight Captain Ang Shi was just as cold. Sometimes today he had stood so still he looked like a statue, carved in stone and just as hard. The one thing he wasn’t, though, was colourless. He was interesting, but what about his magic? Had electricity flashed in his hand earlier, or had I just imagined it? If he could control such power, how much control did it take to give such a small demonstration? The man would warrant further study.
Chapter Two
My fist collided with Stable Master Eustace’s jaw so hard I heard the tooth crack. I didn’t care about the shouts of the people behind me. I grabbed Eustace back to me, deflected his wild swing, punched him again. His nose sprouted with blood and swear words. My vision was already red when he came back, swinging wildly, this time with the length of a dragon whip. Only a fool used one of those on a dragon. He wouldn’t get away with trying to use the metal chain and spiked ball on me.
The chain screamed through the air. I reared back. The spikes missed my face by a hair. I caught the links and yanked the weapon towards me using my full weight. Eustace was spitting blood and curses as I pulled him off his feet and kicked up, my heavy boot connecting with his bollocks, dragging another scream from him as he lunged for me, the movement truncated by the three men pulling him back.
Roaring my own fury, I shifted to swing my legs and lever myself back to my own feet, but strong, heavy hands landed on my shoulders, pulling me away from the bastard who had definitely come out worst for the encounter.
“What is going on?” Flight Captain Shi roared.
The pulse in my ears nearly drowned the words out. My vision was all on Eustace and the desire to kill. I knew my knuckles were damaged from the punches, but I didn’t care, didn’t feel them yet. The only thing that mattered was making Eustace pay.
“Ask that mad bastard!” Eustace shouted. “He just walked in and punched me.”
“Should have done worse!” I screamed at him. I could feel my lips peeled back as I spat the words and pulled againstthe restraints of my colleagues. “You rodding bastard, you near killed my boy!”
At that, the whole room froze. No one moved but Eustace.
“I’ve told you to keep that little shit out of my stables.” Eustace pulled against his own captors. Blood poured from his face, coloured his teeth, and spat with his words. “He deserved what he got.”
“No kid deserves that!” I spat back, ignoring the copper I tasted.
“Enough!” No one was listening to Shi.
“These are my stables and I won’t have him here!”
“Why? Because at five years old he’s better than you’ll ever be with dragons?” I demanded.
“He’s in the way!”
“He tried to stop you whipping Salvadora, so you whipped him instead!”
“Enough!” This time Shi’s roar reached me.
