Dragon Tamer
Chapter 2

All week, my brothers pulled me aside one by one to give me their sage advice.

Casper woke me up before the dragons and took me up the Mount Caspian trail, the very mountain he was named after. I grumbled at both the obscene hour--the sun was barely peeking through the valley!--and for the hike itself. If I wanted to go anywhere outside the village, Elesor gave me a ride. Where was she today? Sleeping. Like a normal diurnal creature.

Casper laughed on our way up the heavily trodden path. It was one of the trickier trails, winding left to right seemingly endlessly up the mountain; the stones were loose after the heavy rainfall yesterday. I focused more on keeping my hands cozy in my fluffy sheep coat and enjoying seeing some colourful patches of grass along the otherwise rocky path to stay awake rather than how much I preferred to fly to the top. He said it was character building. Well, by the time we got to the top, consider my character built and sweaty.

It was a clear sunny day today, so there was no mist to block the village huddled between mountains down below. The Wala River trickled down the middle, splitting the village in half, though no buildings were near the river’s edge. It was shallow around this time of year, but give it four more months and it would be easily twice as wide and wild.

Sighing in relief, I plopped down on a large boulder other people had also clearly used as a seat with remnants of cloth piled up at my feet, of which I’d dumped because they were gross and soggy from the rain the other night.

Casper stretched his arms over his head lazily like a big jungle cat. He’d shucked out of his jacket like I had and was glistening with sweat. I’m sure a lot of ladies would kill to get the view I had right now.

But, instead of looking at my brother, I turned my attention to the rest of the valley. Mount Caspian was by far not the tallest mountain; we couldn’t see what was on the other side of the valley at the highest point, which we stood on. Mount Ankar was the best one to hike--more like climb--if you wanted to see the rolling plains of Walan.

However, just because we couldn’t see outside the valley, didn’t mean the valley itself wasn’t beautiful. It was lain with colourful bushes, some of which might dare to be called trees, they were so tall, and clumpy grass sprinkled with all kinds of wildflowers. When I was younger, I used to run through the wildflower fields, hopping over the small creek that branched from the Walan River. Now I didn’t visit the fields often, opting to play with the dragons in the more rocky parts of the valley, not wanting their claws and rough play to tear up the beautiful flowers.

Just on the other side of this mountain, nestled between two others, lay the dragons’ den, where our tamed dragon colony nested. We were too high up for me to see any of them, but I could hear the younger ones baying and hissing, trying out the various noises they could make.

“Casper, you know I like to exercise as much as the next girl, but what are we doing up here?”

He grinned broadly, slapping my back. “Dad asked us to advise you for your Right of Passage with Prince Camden. I’m sure you’ll hear all about how our brothers did it, so I brought you here to talk about something else.” He took on a more serious poise, crossing his arms and giving me that “I’m your big brother so you listen to me” look that only he could pull off. The others tried it, but Casper had the most practice in it, only Kaden came close to achieving the gravity of his words with his eyes.

“This is your first time leaving the valley by yourself, first time going to the capital. Don’t give me that look, I’m not giving you directions, I know you know how to get there. You’ll be staying at the castle for the night and will have dinner with the Acker family. Now, you’re no lady of the court, they know that, but they are the royal family, you’ll have to show some decorum, and I feel like we’ve failed you there.” He bit his lip and sat down beside me. “Without Mom, you haven’t had a woman’s influence, someone to teach you to be more. . .”

“Feminine,” I finished for him because he knew--my family knew--better than to bring up my lack of ladylike qualities. The village respected my family for our skills as dragon tamers, but there was a reason my best friend was a dragon. The other girls my age and I didn’t see eye to eye, never have. While they helped breed and care for dragons, I tamed them and played in the mud with them.

I sighed heavily, dumping my chin on a propped up hand. “I’m gonna have to wear a dress, aren’t I?”

My aunts told me all about the beautiful, extravagant gowns that came with the court life and how they wished their husbands were lords instead of dragon farmers. They told me to replace a wealthy man who would shower me with fine fabrics and jewelry. Needless to say, I tried not to spend much time with my aunts.

Casper chuckled, slapping my back. “I don’t think so. Maybe a skirt, though. You have to be at least a little formal, Kal, and use your manners. Use ‘sire’ and ‘your majesty’ and whatnot. Do you remember about place settings? Good, I don’t want to go over that with you, that’s so boring.”

He went on some more on the dos and don’ts in the Acker Castle. When he noticed it was getting overwhelming for me, he reminded me that the Acker family were kind people and that if anyone in the castle treated me any differently to tell Prince Eli because apparently they had some big brother code to look after each other’s siblings. And then he continued to brag about how easy training Prince Eli went and that he was a natural Dragon Prince, so I shouldn’t get my hopes too high with my prince’s progress. To be fair, Prince Eli found his Bonded within two weeks, a record in the family Casper had every right to brag about. No one in the history of our families had found a dragon partner so quickly. I didn’t have any expectations for my prince. It would take him however long it took for him to replace a partner.

After our talk, we headed home and helped Kaden prepare dinner. The next day Kaden had taken it upon himself to show me how he helped Prince Liam replace a partner. I followed him along the long, weaving trail leading to the dragon nests. Thankfully, we didn’t set off as early as I’d gone with Casper yesterday, but it took us as long as it did to hike the mountain to replace the nests. The path broke off once the incline got too steep and we had to climb over a rocky ridge the dragons had built to ward off predators from entering the narrow canyon. Once we reached the top of the ridge, I slid down to the base. The ground leveled out in between the mountains, the only bumps were the rocky nests scattered throughout the canyon. It wasn’t breeding season so there were no eggs in the nests, but that didn’t stop the female dragons from curling up into tight, scaly balls within their rocky circles. The males preferred to perch on the cliff sides and watch over their females from above. There were only a few dragons in here for now; later they would return from the skies or training when the sun started to set.

At our entrance, the dragons perked up. Two came over to us and nuzzled our chests in greeting. I rubbed the female’s nose and pressed my forehead between her nostrils. She began to purr, a songful hum vibrating through her body.

Dragons were very social creatures and they mostly bonded through touch. I was the only one in my village who knew the exact locations where dragons liked to be touched and how, after years of observing them and joining them in the wild. My brothers didn’t see the need to use body language to tame dragons, they had their tools and that was all that was needed. That was why I was the better tamer--in my opinion.

The female pulled away, puffing smoke over my head. I used to think it was a sign of aggression, but I’ve seen females puff smoke around their young. Maybe it was to spread their scent, I hadn’t figured that out yet. I blew at her face, doing my best to mimic her. Her eyes flashed amber like a fire then she turned back to her nest, purring away like a kitten.

Kaden shook his head at me. “You’re ridiculous.”

“They love it. What do you want to show me if you’re not here to socialise with the dragons?”

“I brought Prince Liam here to replace his dragon,” he said, gesturing widely to the nests and sleeping dragons. “We spent hours, sitting with one dragon then the next until he felt a connection with one. I had to help him get comfortable being so close to a creature so large first and then we had to figure out which dragon he felt the strongest connection with. I tell you, being one who will never be Bound to a dragon, it’s hard to describe what being Bonded feels like. We thought he was Bonded at least thirty times before we found Balthazar. It was actually quite funny. I hope you have as much fun.”

“How does the prince know he’s been chosen?” Despite how my brothers talked, the dragon chose their Bonded, not the other way around. “What does a dragon look for?”

“It depends on the dragon,” he replied simply, walking deeper into the canyon. I hurried to keep up with his long gait. “Some prefer an honest man, others a kind man, a few even like a brutal warrior. Whatever the dragon deems good qualities. A Bonded pair generally have similar traits, like Prince Liam and his dragon Balthazar: Liam is all rugged and stoic, and Balthazar is a strong believer that a male should be able to do things on his own or he isn’t worthy of being a male.” Kaden brushed the hair out of his face with an eye roll. “I like the guy and respect him, but he sure is all about that alone and brooding life. The ladies looove it.”

“Why?” I asked truly befuddled why a woman would be into a man who thought he had to do everything.

He shrugged. “I’m not a woman, how should I know? It also helps being a prince and good looking. I only have one of those things going for me.”

"Tch. Yeah, too bad you forgot your crown at home. It would have looked so shiny in the sun today.”

He shoved me for a pile of dung. In the nick of time, I caught my footing and twisted away, stumbling into an empty nest. Laughing, he pulled me upright then slapped my back. “Smooth moves. I was so sure you were going into that dung heap.”

“And I would have been more than happy to give my sweet, big brother the hug he’s always desired--because no other woman will touch him.”

He gave me a challenging sidelong look. “Oh yeah? You wanna go there? At least I’m not a virgin.”

My face flushed so quickly I grew dizzy. I shoved him. “Oh, please. Even if there was a man stupid enough think he could get me to stop taming so I’ll stay home and pop out some babes instead, he wouldn’t get passed you guys. You’ve scared them all away.” My brothers and father were giants, tamed the fiercest of dragons, and could fend off a herd of centaurs with their bare hands if they really wanted to. No man brave enough to face them to get to me existed. I accepted that five years ago when I attempted to go out with the butcher’s son. As soon as Dad found out we kissed, Charlie decided to call things off the next day just out of fear of him knowing. If that was because of a kiss, the man who slept with me would die. And the whole village knew it. “I’m going to die a virgin.”

Kaden offered a sympathetic smile and ruffled my hair. “You know Da wouldn’t actually kill a man if you chose to be with him, right?”

I threw a cutting look at him, soothing the wild mane he’d freed from my ponytail. “I do, but no one else does.”

He stopped walking, giving me a chance to put my hair back in its ponytail before I got frustrated. The dark brown curls were hard enough to brush, it took concentration to tie it back. “You know, when you leave next week, you’ll be unsupervised. Why not visit a village along the way? Find a handsome lad and get it out of the way?”

I stared at him, surprised, a little insulted, and dubious. “You want me to bone a complete stranger?” Dad taught us to be wary of who we trusted outside the valley; not everyone understood what an honour it was to be a dragon tamer. Not only that, crime was higher in other villages because the punishments weren’t as strict as ours (a lot of ours resulted in banishment to the cold, dangerous mountains, fire, or a dragon eating you) so we had to be more careful when we left the valley. And here my second oldest brother was, telling me to get naked with some random guy who may rob me, hurt me, or just straight up kill me while I was at my most vulnerable. No, thank you.

He shrugged. “It’s just a thought. You don’t have to if you don’t mind dying a virgin.”

Damn him.

I sucker punched his gut. Groaning, he tipped over, leaning into me for support. “I sometimes wish you were more like a girl so you wouldn’t hit so hard.”

I shoved him away. “Yeah, well, it’s your fault I was raised more like a man. None of you thought I needed a female role model until it was too late.” I peered up at the sun, seeing we only had a few hours of daylight left. I sighed. “So, are you going to stop being a pussy and tell me how my prince will know when he’s Bonded with a dragon, or should we go home now?”

Kaden rubbed his stomach with a grimace as he straightened up. “He’ll know. It’s something you don’t know what it feels like until it happens. Remember, he’s going to share a soul with a dragon, that kind of thing doesn’t feel like an ordinary sensation he experiences everyday--not for the first twenty-one years of his life, anyway. He’ll feel different, he’ll sense his partner. Ask Harry how he helped Prince Alaric strengthen his Bond. He found his dragon quickly, but even though he was twenty-one, the age to undergo the Right of Passage, he wasn’t ready. He had a hard time adjusting to having a dragon in his head.” He peered up at the sky and came to the same conclusion as I did. “That’s enough for now. It’ll be dark soon. Let’s head back.”

Just as Kaden suggested, I hunted Harry down the next day, replaceing him fishing on the bridge connecting the two halves of Plum; it was conveniently just down the street from our house. If you asked any of our fellow villagers, they’d tell you this was a terrible fishing spot, it was loud with the wagons and foot traffic, the river was shallow here, and it was the children’s favourite spot to play. Well, when the children weren’t playing in the river and it was too early for heavy traffic, Harry had great success fishing here. He’d only been dangling his legs off the arched stone bridge with a rod in his hands for an hour and he already had two fish in a bucket behind him.

The sun had only just started peering over Mount Ankar, so the streets were quiet, save the soft ripple of the river dividing the village. A light mist laid over the roads, swirling in the gentle breeze between buildings. Two hours after sunrise around this time of year was my favourite time. Only a few were awake, getting ready for their day, and the dragons’ yawns could be heard from my window if I listened hard enough. It was a peaceful time, one where I could wander the streets freely before I went over to the training arena on the other side of town to tame dragonlings.

But not today. Or for the foreseeable future. I hope Jazin, Xanu, Kylie, Oscar, or Trinitar don’t cause too much trouble for the other tamers while I’m gone.

Brushing that thought aside--those troublesome dragonlings would be just fine in Spence and Kain’s care--I hopped onto the wall of the stone bridge beside Harry and watched the fish swim downstream. They were a good size, the length of my forearm, but they weren’t fully matured yet. When the spring came back around again, they would be huge. More often than not, because this spot was shallow, they pushed the weak ones onto the shore, making it easy pickings for us before the birds and harpies came in.

“Hey, Kali,” Harry greeted quietly, eyes intent on the fish. Out of all of us, his eyes were the closest to green, depending on the lighting. They were the most beautiful and interesting; mine was a lame steel blue--nothing fascinating about them. “What can I do for you?”

“You’re supposed to help me figure out how I’m going to guide Prince Camden through his Right of Passage.” I know Dad had ordered them to do it earlier in the week, but I’d thought he would use that time to think on it. Apparently not.

“Oh, right.” He shrugged with a rueful smile, eyes still studying the fish. “I don’t think you need our help. You’re a smart girl and you’ve been watching us with the Acker princes since you were thirteen. You know what to do.”

As much as his faith in me was refreshing, I didn’t have the same confidence. Dad had taught them since they could walk what to expect and what the prince needed to know, while I was in the dragonling pen with Elesor, rolling around in the mud. I only had a week to get an idea of what I was supposed to do. Less than a week now, actually. Somehow I had to try to not make myself look like a clueless fool in front of the prince, who will probably spend the most time here out of his brothers, because I didn’t know what I was doing.

I sighed heavily, feeling the butterflies in my stomach again. They grew stronger with every passing day. Soon they were going to escape.

The fishing rod dipped down. A fish had taken the bait. Harry yanked it up as hard as he could. The fish went flying out of the water, over our heads, and landed on the bridge. Harry swung his feet off the side and pounced the fish. With an efficient whack! of his stick, the fish stilled. It joined its brethren in the bucket.

Content, Harry joined me on the wall again, but instead of positioning his fishing rod, he crossed his lanky legs and faced me. “Kali, I promise you’ll be okay. I’ve seen how you are with the dragons; you’re the best tamer in the family. If you can handle a dangerous creature ten times your size, you can handle Prince Camden Acker. Don’t let Kaden’s bet bother you.”

I’d actually forgotten my brothers had placed bets on how quickly the prince could make me cry.

“Is he that bad?”

“Not really, no. Not when you get to know him. He’s just a little rough, is all.” He tapped my knee merrily. “Nothing compared to Zellar before you tamed him.”

Zellar was the biggest male I’d ever tamed. It was during mating season and we needed a strong male to mate with our females to keep the bloodline strong. We hadn’t used him during previous mating seasons because he was so aggressive and wouldn’t let anyone near him, but our dragonlings that year were born weak and often got sick and died. Our breeders knew he would strengthen the line. So it was up to us to tame him so our breeders could get close. One by one, my brothers tried to calm him, but he wouldn’t let them and their whips and chains near him. It had gotten to the point where Dad was ready to put him down if he wasn’t going to be a cooperative member of the colony. I asked him if I could give it a try before he made any decisions. He said no because he’d already hurt Casper and Giles, but I snuck out one night--against all sane reasoning--and found Zellar alone on the cliffside. He was awake by the time I’d climbed the cliff to get to him and hissing when I was standing before him.

Unlike my brothers who went straight to whips, I only ever used a rope. This time, I kept my rope tied at my waist and sat down near the dragon, letting him hiss and raise his hackles at me. I didn’t touch him for hours, only huddling up in my coat and munching on jerky while he made his threatening noises. After a while, he grew tired and silent. I scooted closer to him, which set off more growls. He snapped his teeth at me, but I didn’t move or even acknowledge he was there, despite how scared I was of his massive teeth or worried he was going to whip me off the cliff with his barbed tail. Once he calmed down again, I moved to his side, still pretending he wasn’t all big and scary. That time, he didn’t hiss or growl, only bristled his scales. I deemed it time to acknowledge him and looked him straight in his blue eyes. We stared at each other for at least an hour. I spoke softly to him, telling him I wasn’t there to hurt him, that I was trying to save him. He was the second dragon to show me that he understood my words. His nostrils flared when I’d told him my dad was going to have him shot if he didn’t stop hurting people trying to get close to him. I told him what would happen if he let me help him. As it turned out, like most people, he was scared of the unknown. Once I’d explained everything to him, he let me touch his face. Just as the sun was rising, he allowed me to sit between his wings. We flew for the first time down to my backyard where Dad was preparing to replace Zellar and kill him before the village woke up. Man, he was so surprised to see me on his back, he could have had a heart attack that his thirteen year old daughter had tamed a vicious dragon.

Yeah, I guess if I could handle Zellar, Prince Camden couldn’t be that bad.

“I’m not worried about a man,” I told Harry in confidence, “I’m worried I’m not going to live up to the family name. Prince Camden is counting on me to guide him. If he doesn’t replace a dragon partner, he’ll be the first Acker in history to be denied by a dragon--and it’ll be my fault. I will have failed him, his family, and our family. I don’t know how to talk him through the Bond if a dragon choses him or how to use Dragon Vain. He’s screwed.” I dumped my head in my hands. Only with Harry would I show any sign of weakness. My other brothers would eat it up and make me pay for it for weeks, but Harry felt the pressure and butterflies as much as I did.

He slid off the wall and came to my side, wrapping an arm around me. “Little sister, one day you’ll see in yourself what we see in you. We’re tough on you to help you grow stronger, but perhaps we are too tough. You are a female after all.” He was trying to comfort me, and he genuinely thought our family had been too tough on me, but I was who I am because they treated me like an equal. I was strong and brave and smart--they made me those things. I wouldn’t be them if they were too tough; if I feared my brothers and dragons, I’d be living with my Aunt Patricia. Ugh.

I slapped his arm away and stood up, pretending there wasn’t a good six inch height difference between us. “You’ve never been too hard on me, I just don’t know what I’m doing this time.”

“Right,” he agreed, winking with mischievous eyes, “so stop doubting yourself and let me teach you something. Follow me.” He picked up his fish bucket and headed back for the house. He gave the bucket to Kaden to “do something nice” with the fish then waved for me to keep following him. We walked along the cobblestone road through town.

The morning mist had finally faded, allowing the sun to shine fully down on Plum, so the streets were lively with vendors and children running down the road. A couple of them bumped into us then apologized profusely, mistaking Harry’s tall frame for Tallinn’s who could be a right asshole--even to children--if people got in his way. Harry ruffled the boy’s hair and told him to be more careful. The girl flushed when Harry smiled at her then hurried after her brother.

We went to the edge of town for the wildflower fields. There wasn’t too much colour going on at this time of year, but there were a few blues and reds for the late blooming flowers. Woods Creek bubbled further ahead, hidden within the tall grass.

Harry led me to the circle of logs in the middle of the field; they surrounded a large pit of stones where we held festival bonfires, burned the dead, or where individuals used it for a night away from the village. It was a circle that welcomed all, even every prince that had come through our streets. We would have a traditional feast here on the first night of Prince Camden’s arrival to welcome him to our home and to initiate our Right of Passage. Acker and Dricino cut their palms, shook hands, and swore a blood oath to do everything in our power to ensure the prince is successful and that the prince will use the power we give him to protect the people of his country with his life. When I was younger, it scared me when Kaden and Casper had cut their hands to swear such a daunting oath, now I was scared that I would break the oath.

Sitting down, Harry patted my back to join him on a log. Reluctantly, I sat beside him and stared at the empty fire pit.

“When Prince Alaric Bonded with Jezabel for the first time,” Harry said quietly, “he lost his shit. He felt his mind connect with hers and suddenly shared everything with her. It was very overwhelming and he ran away.”

I turned my gaze to him, surprised. Prince Alaric had only been here four years ago, but I didn’t remember him running away or freaking out. He was actually quite a collected man, very smooth and quick on his feet; it was a strange notion that he would run away.

“What did you do?” I asked curiously.

He laughed, a short but amused sound. “I hunted the bastard down and dragged him here. He’d upset Jezabel very much by running away from her. Of course, being Bonded to him, she understood and knew what was going on in his head. He wasn’t scared of her, per say, just the idea of her being in his head. He wasn’t aware how connected they’d be. King Krona tries to prepare them for the Bond the best he can, but there really is no way to describe it, and it’s a little different for every pair.” Harry patted the spot on the other side of him. “I sat him here in this very spot and told Jezabel to sit over there.” He pointed to the other side of the log circle. “I made them talk it out without getting into each other’s heads so they could be honest with each other and themselves. It took a lot of coaxing, but after a while, Alaric grew to like that she understood him. He didn’t have to be collected all the time with her, like he felt like he had to with everyone else. He was only ever himself with me and her. I hope that’s different now. He’ll be happier if he’s true to himself.” He smiled at me. “Don’t lose hope if Prince Camden freaks too, okay? It’s normal. You have to keep a level head and put yourself in his shoes and don’t be mad at him.”

“Were you mad at him?”

“Absolutely furious. I felt so insulted that he would run away from such a thing-- something we all wish we could do. But it is overwhelming and terrifying to have someone you just met know everything about you. Just be patient and everything will fall into place, Kali. Those are my wise words.”

I would heed his words. Harry had helped me a lot today; I squeezed his arm in appreciation, feeling more confident in my abilities. “Thanks, Harry. Now, I think I can teach Prince Camden to ride and fight on a dragon, but how do I teach him to use his fire? That. . . I’m so clueless about.”

He smiled then tapped my nose. “I’d ask Giles about that. I think out of all of us, he had the best method teaching Prince Quinntin how to use his fire. He picked it up faster than most princes; that part of the training is usually what takes the longest in the Right of Passage. Come on, let’s go replace him.” He stood up and offered me a gentlemanly hand to help me to my feet. Since it was Harry, I accepted, secretly liking it that at least one man, even if he was my brother, treated me like a lady.

I’d never admit it to anyone, but it would be nice to be a lady every once in a while. But I knew as soon as I expressed my desire, no one would ever let it go and I would lose all respect my brothers had for me and Dad would send me off to live with Aunt Pratrica to learn how to be a lady and do lady things and replace a man. There would be no going back. I accepted long ago if I wanted to be a tamer, I would have to forfeit the life of a woman. So far, I didn’t mind it. I had fun with my brothers and dragons; I wouldn’t change it for anything.

We found Giles sparing in the backyard with Casper and Kaden. Casper got a good hit across Kaden’s jaw, knocking him back onto his butt, while Giles tackled Casper from behind and straddled his stomach with a barrage of punches.

Rolling his eyes, Harry whistled to get their attention. “Time out for a second, guys. Kali has some questions for Giles.”

“Thank the Gods!” Giles rolled away from Casper before he could retaliate for getting the upper hand on him. He slipped to my side, wiping the smear of mud off his cheek. “What’s up, sis?”

“How do I use Dragon Vain to use fire magic?”

His eyes dazzled at the question. If anyone in this village knew more about the powers of Dragon Vain, he would challenge them in a heartbeat. No one knew more about it than the pyromaniac of the family. “Let’s go replace some, and I’ll teach you.”

Casper gave him a look of warning. “Don’t go blowing holes in the mountains again, Giles. You scared the dragons last time you did that.”

Giles waved him off, hooking his free arm over my shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, bro, it’s all for the sake of learning. You understand, right?”

Casper slid his look to me. “Make sure he doesn’t cause too much trouble.”

I nodded, seconding the responsible approach. I didn’t want to have to spend the rest of my day soothing spooked dragons, because most of them would be mad at me by association since it was my brother who had done it, and would make it more difficult to calm down as a result. “He’ll be the last person in the world to cause trouble.”

Giles groaned childishly and stomped his foot. “You’re no fun, Kali. What happened to the girl who rode a dragonling bareback when she was eight even though Da forbade you from doing it?”

I rolled my eyes, shoving him towards the stables where we stashed our Dragon Vain. “She’s still here--but she also has to train a prince.”

He stopped stropping around but his smile was still a little childish. “They grow up so fast.” He wiped at his fake tears. “Next thing you know, you’ll be replaceing a man and having babes.”

“Casper’s closer to having babes than I am,” I retorted. Half of the female population of Plum were lining up to marry him, but Casper only had eyes for Bianca, the flower shop girl. . . if only he’d just ask her out. Sure, she was super cute and had more men following her than women followed Casper, but I’d seen the way she looked at him. She didn’t look at other guys like that.

Giles nodded in agreement, having also seen this look. “You know, if he doesn’t ask Bianca out, I will,” he said loud enough for our brother to hear. Casper’s cheeks flushed before we turned the corner.

“Elesor!” I called into the sky before turning into the stables where the riding equipment and Dragon Vain was stashed. By the time I came fumbling out of the stables with the cumbersome equipment, Elesor’s shadow passed over the yard once before she landed smoothly in front of my brother. She gave him a lofty nod as she fluttered her wings delicately above her head so she wouldn’t blast us with a gust of wind.

“Hey, girl, ready for a ride?”

At that, she roared softly and danced on her toes.

Grinning, I handed Giles the satchel of Dragon Vain then proceeded to saddle Elesor.

Being a small dragon, she couldn’t fly with two people for long, but she got us halfway up Mount Lama, a mountain a short fly away from Plum. She followed us on foot around the steep rocky pass to the mine shaft. We weren’t mining today--thank the Gods for that--but the mines were the safest place to practice using Dragon Vain, since it was so far away from the village. Most of the miners came there via dragon, otherwise it’d take them all day just to get here. There were no miners at this location today, so we were all alone to do as we pleased--as long as we didn’t blow up the mines with our shenanigans.

Elesor found a nice perch a little higher up from where we stood. The shaft was just a bit further up the trail, but this spot flattened out nicely and viewed the valley. Also, it butted up against the smoothest cliffside we’d found so far. Or, at least, it used to be smooth; Giles had put a couple dents in the surface over the years.

“Okay,” Giles started, fixing his long hair back into a ponytail like mine. None of my other brothers understood what it was like to have long, unruly hair, but he did and whenever they mocked me for it, he had my back.

He opened up the bag of Dragon Vain and studied the red stones, deciding which one he wanted to pick first. Uncermonically, I grabbed two random stones. One I tossed in the air for Elesor. She probably wasn’t going to be blasting any holes with it, but she could use it to warm up her core. Her chest glowed amber, like there was a fire building up inside her--which there was. It was up to her if she wanted to release it or swallow it. She purred, closing her eyes in utter bliss; I like to think the sensation she felt was comparable to drinking hot tea on a cold day for us.

I eyed my stone, noticing how the gold and silver inside glistened in the sunlight. They were such beautiful rocks--but very unstable. Still, the crazy people of the east wore it for jewelry; it was the most expensive stone you could buy because not only was this valley the only place to get it, the designs and creations jewelers came up with to stop the stone from blowing up its wearer were intricate and expensive to make.

With a careless shrug, I threw it into the cliff wall. The stone wasn’t any bigger than my thumbnail, so the explosion only shook the mountain a little bit. There was more smoke than fire, but man, it sure was satisfying to watch rock crumble.

Giles finally found a piece he liked. It was tiny! Smaller than my pinkie fingernail! What was he going to do with that?

He came to my side, noticing my dubious stare, and held the stone out in his palm for me to look at. “This tiny guy is all a Dragon Prince needs to wield fire. If it’s any bigger, he can’t crush it and use the fire within it. To us, it’s absolutely useless, so I keep these aside and stash them for the princes.” He placed the pebble into a small satchel which looked like it contained quite a few of those pebble-sized stones. “Will you give this to them when you visit? Don’t sit on it, and for the love of all the Gods, don’t drop it. By themselves, they’re basically harmless, in a bag like this? It’ll blow a dragon up.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about holding the bag. Very, very gently, I placed it in Elesor’s saddle bag, who tried to move away from me after overhearing she’d blow up if she was too rough with it.

I stared at my brother. “I see you with that bag all the time. . . is it always full of Dragon Vain?”

“Yeah,” he responded so casually, I was worried for him. No one in their right mind could possibly be so calm about having something so unstable on their hip all day. In the same house as his family! There was a reason we had the satchel in the stables!

Clearing my throat, I turned to the cliff face. “Okay, so Dragon Princes only need a tiny bit of Dragon Vain, but how do they use it? How can a tiny spark turn into a flame they can fight with?”

“Easily. With the magic inside them and the Bond they share with their dragon, fire can’t hurt them. They can crush the stone in their hand and let the magic in their blood flow free and grow the flame. With practice they can will it into any shape--like a sword. Prince Quinntin preferred a bow and arrow. Whatever works for them, really.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“That’s because it is. We haven’t studied their magic, but they have. They have all kinds of books to explain how to use their magic. All they have to do is wait until they become of age and go through the Right of Passage with one of us and gain their magic so they can practice. It’s safest here for them to practice it because our dragons can contain the flames if things get out of hand.”

“So that’s your secret?” I demanded of him dubiously. “Supervise them while they put theory to practice?”

“Yeah.”

Well, I knew three jealous brothers who would like to get their hands on his throat for acting all cocky for having his prince catch on to fire-wielding so quickly. Prince Quinntin, as it turned out, was a natural with fire magic.

Idiot.

I sighed. “So why did we come up here if there is no secret?”

Laughing, Giles grabbed a handful of Dragon Vain and began tossing them one piece at a time into the wall. He laughed harder when I jumped behind him with a squeal and cursed him.

The mountain shook with every explosion, flames bouncing off the walls and threatening to consume us. All the while, my idiot brother was laughing his ass off and having the time of his life. I didn’t know if it was the way the boom felt in his bones or if it was my constant swearing and shouting at him that he loved more. Either way, I snatched the bag from him and jumped onto Elesor.

“If you want to be back home for dinner, I suggest you call your own dragon.” I sneered at him, kicking him away when he tried to get on Elesor behind me. “I’ll have no lunatic on my dragon.”

Very much agreeing with me, Elesor took to the skies.