Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Now they’re looking at me with pity.
“I’m going to live for a really long time,” I say.
“Enough chitchat. You are here to learn to fly, not to talk about little sisters and dead humans. My name is Instructor Wraith. You may call me Instructor, Sir, or whatever garbled series of pained sounds emerges for failing to call me Instructor or Sir.”
That’s a hell of an introduction, designed to intimidate. It works. Everybody falls silent as our new instructor walks along the length of us as we all stand in a row.
Instructor Wraith is a tall, lean dragonkin with the sort of demeanor that strongly suggests he should not be fucked with. It’s giving ‘high school principal who everybody likes, but nobody wants to cross’ vibes. He shimmers blue and green, cold colors that no doubt match his soul.
“Flying takes, strength, skill, and subtlety,” he says. “At full speed, the merest flick of a wingtip can send you into a barrel roll. You have all seen trick fliers. You know what we are capable of. But we are not capable of any of it if we are not willing to master ourselves. Our impulses. Our feelings. An uncontrolled emotion can cause terrible turbulence and rip an airborne dragon apart.”
He looks at us all severely, as if we’ve disappointed him before we’ve even started. This is really activating all my authority issues all at once. Never thought I’d have to go back to school after leaving college. Never thought I’d do it in bondage.
“You will each step forward, extend your wings, and move them very slightly. You will not flap. You will not, under any circumstances, take off from the ground. Anybody who flies without permission will be grounded for the next lesson.”
I put up my hand, something I haven’t done in years. He looks at me, instantly irritated. I’d think his annoyance was because I am human and therefore an annoyance to most of the dragons, but I think he’s genuinely mad at everybody here already.
“Yes, human?”
I wonder when I’m going to get some respect. Not today, obviously. Dragon society doesn’t bestow honor on mates the way humans do. There is no first lady here. Everybody stands or falls on their own merits. So when Wraith looks at me, there’s no extra anything. No deference.
“I don’t know how to move my wings without taking off.”
He looks at me with an expression that is halfway between patient and annoyed.
“Flapping without taking off is kind of my whole problem,” I tell him. “I broke my leg, and one time I broke my wings.”
The others laugh. I already stood out by being human—and I’m not sure they really know what a human is. They know the word, but it doesn’t resonate. To them, I’m just a weird creature.
“Step forward, extend your wings, and put just enough power into their movement to move them without moving your body. It is a simple enough instruction, your highness.”
He says your highness as if I am a spoiled royal brat. I’ve heard people use that tone with Tempest before, when they really wanted to do something terrible to her, or say something mean, but they knew they couldn’t because of who she was—or more accurately, who her father was. I’ve become the spoiled little brat she always wanted me to be. She’d be proud. Or horrified. I miss her.
I try to do exactly what he says. I get the sense of it. I’m supposed to put just a little bit of energy into the matter, but the truth of it is I can’t do that. Every time I extend my wings, I get swept upward almost immediately.
“No!” The instructor’s voice is sharp as he follows me up on my accidental flight, reaches for me, grabs me by the chain and drags me back down to the ground. “I said no taking off.”
“Sorry!”
Everyone laughs.
“You may be the king’s mate, but I expect you to behave and follow the same rules as everyone else. Follow instructions. To the letter. Or you will end up in detention.”
“Ohhhhhhhhhh uhmumumumumum…” The class makes a chorusing sound at his declaration.
“I really don’t know how not to take off.”
“If only we had a class before the absolute beginner’s class,” he says. “But we do not. So you will have to attempt to follow directions.”
Ornix
I have been resting on the bed, not napping, but recalibrating. I am sending my energies out in the effort to sense the seal. Its disappearance really does not make any sense. It is too powerful of an artifact to hide itself from me. I felt it in the kobold den, and I think I will feel it again. I just need enough peace and quiet to…
“Argh!”
My mate slams the door, which takes all her effort and even then only manages to be a slightly deeper thud than usual. It’s the thought that counts, though, and I feel her energy from across the room. She comes storming in, stamping her small human feet with as much fury as she can muster.