Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Scales.
“Well, with that rousing excitement,” Hayes said, barely containing his eye roll, “we’ll call it for the day. You have your assignments. I expect better work from you. Just because you’re full members doesn’t mean you don’t have to pass your exam with me.”
They all nodded, dumping parchment into bags, and hastened out of the room.
Audria shot her a look. “Battlefield again?”
Kerrigan just nodded. Easier than explaining about March. “It’s keeping me up at night.”
Roake yawned. “Same.”
The dragon tournament occurred every five years in the city of Kinkadia and last year, they had been three of the five winners. Kerrigan hadn’t officially entered the tournament, as she was underage, without a tribe sponsor, and most importantly, half-Fae. But she had shocked everyone by winning and surviving the last year of dragon training. Noda had left halfway through, and Fordham … well, Ford was a different story entirely. Now, the three of them were all that was left.
“Maybe you should see the healing counselor,” Audria said.
“When would I have time for that?”
Audria sighed. “I don’t know.”
Roake rubbed his eyes. “Maybe after we pass all our exams.”
Audria looked dubious. “I doubt things will slow down after that. They keep piling on more. It’s not like our apprenticeships are going to get easier.”
They’d gotten their assignments a few days after they came back from the Battle of Lethbridge. Audria was apprenticed to a Bryonican healer despite her lack of affinity for healing properties. Roake’s mentor was an Elsiande magical regulator. He was excited about the opportunity to grow even though he’d always seemed more inclined to physical endeavors.
Kerrigan had thought that they’d snub her again. After all, they hadn’t wanted her to win the tournament or finish dragon training or join the Society. Why would they start by giving her a reasonable apprenticeship now? Except they had.
A throat cleared at the end of the hallway. “Mistress Kerrigan.”
They all stilled at the sound of her mentor’s strong voice, and Master Bastian, a full member of the Society council, came into view.
“Master Bastian,” Kerrigan said with a smile. “I don’t believe I am to report to you until the afternoon.”
“Indeed,” he said, clasping his hands behind his black Society robes. The dragon-in-flight coat of arms embroidered delicately onto the chest. “But I come for a different reason.”
“Oh?”
“The council wishes to have a word.”
Fear crept through her. Not again. They couldn’t kick her out now. Not when she was a full member.
He must have seen that fear on her face because his own softened. “As your mentor, I am to inform you that you have been nominated for a seat on the council.”
2
THE NOMINATION
Audria’s jaw dropped. “But she’s a first-year member.”
“I am aware of that, Mistress Audria,” Bastian said with a rueful smile on his lips.
“Of … of course,” she said softly.
Master Bastian had been in the Society a long time. When he had been young, his house had caught on fire. His tribe, Elsiande, was against using magic, and the nearest healer was hours away. By the time they reached him, he was disfigured with burn scars on his face and body. He’d refused treatment for removal of the scars and dedicated his life to helping those in need.
“But first years are never nominated to the council,” Roake said, speaking what they were already thinking.
“Indeed,” Bastian said. “But times are changing. Are they not?”
Kerrigan nodded. Times were definitely changing. “I’ll go with you.”
“Excellent,” Bastian said.
She said her good-byes to her friends before stepping up to her mentor’s side. She still found it hard to believe that she’d been assigned to Master Bastian. He was one of her closest allies in the mountain. Not to mention, a council member himself. It felt like a step in the right direction finally. The Society had never wanted a half-Fae who hadn’t yet reached her eighteenth name day into their midst. But she had succeeded at every turn, and she intended to continue to do so.
She and Bastian navigated the winding corridors inside Draco Mountain, the seat of the Society in all of Alandria. The Society was the ruling body over the capital city of Kinkadia and the twelve—now thirteen—tribes of the land. The dragon riders brought peace to the large island, and though Kerrigan bucked at their outdated ideas, she still believed they were doing more good than harm.
“What am I walking into?” Kerrigan asked.
Bastian smiled warmly down at her. “It’s not always an investigation. You can relax.”
She frowned. “That’s not been my experience. For all I know, I’m going to walk in there, and someone is going to try to arrest me for the audacity of being nominated. As if I nominated myself. As if I’d even want to be on the council.”
“Don’t you?” he asked evenly.
“I don’t know.”
She adjusted her own black Society robes. They were so new that she still wasn’t used to them on her figure. For twelve years in the House of Dragons she’d admired Society members in these robes, and now that they belonged to her, she felt like a kid playing dress-up.