Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
I straddle the branch about four feet from the trunk, then lock my ankles beneath as a redhead barrels toward me.
I reach out, and leather skims over my hands, but I get a grip on the back bottom of her uniform top, and her belt slams into my hands. Then I hold on with all I have.
The world spins as her momentum slows, and the belt digs into my hands so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t cut straight through me, but I don’t let go. When we come to a stop, I’m hanging upside down, and blood rushes to my head as she stops flailing.
“Aetos!” Joelle Tadita, a second-year, looks over her shoulder at me, her eyes wide with fear.
“Hold on,” I grit out through my teeth, then haul her upward, going on pure adrenaline. “Reach!”
She grabs hold of the branch. “Got it!”
I let go, and she dangles for a second before dropping to the branch a few feet beneath. Only when I see that she has her balance do I pull myself up with my abdominals, grab hold of my own branch, and let my legs fall. Then I lower myself to the same branch she’s standing on, her chest heaving as she catches her breath.
“What are you doing in a tree?” I ask, steadying myself by splaying my fingers over the trunk.
“Observing like a good second-year.” She holds one hand over her heart. “Thank you for catching me. I owe you one.”
“No problem.” I hold out my hand. There’s a red welt across the center of it, and the second I notice, both my palms begin to throb.
“You’re good in a tree.” She takes my hand and we turn awkwardly on the branch so she’s closest to the trunk.
“I had a good teacher.” A smile curves my mouth as she starts to climb down. “Try not to fall out of another one today. I might not be in that one to help out.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She blows a red curl out of her face and jumps to the ground. “Good luck up—” Her head turns west, and she smiles. “There’s a green coming!” She runs off to the north, and I move back to my previous perch.
A green. Exactly what my father hoped for. Arranged. Whatever.
My heart starts to pound as the heavy footsteps approach. He’ll be proud of me. He’ll trust me the way I do him, and he’ll ease up on the constant hovering.
Trees move to the east, and my attention pivots.
A Red Swordtail with scales the deep shade of a tomato walks between the trees, its tail knocking the leaves off the branches as it stalks in my direction, snarling at the approaching green. Its head is low in the firing position, its golden eyes shifting, assessing the potential battlefield in a way that reminds me of how I searched for the perfect tree.
The green maneuvers to the right of the tree, while the red prepares to pass on the left. They’ll be underneath me in a matter of seconds, and every instinct bellows to go red.
“Whatever will you choose, Dain Aetos?” A snarling, masculine voice barrels through my head, emphasizing the Ss. “Choose wrong, and I’ll discover how long it takes to burn you to ash.”
My chest cranks tight, like my ribs are trying to squeeze the breath out of me. One of the dragons is talking to me, which means he’s mine. But which one?
I should go right—to the green. He has to be the one speaking. That’s what logic dictates. That’s what Dad wants.
But this will be the most important relationship in my life, and what I want, how I feel matters, too.
Dunne be with me. I leap left.
My boots hit solidly between the red’s shoulders, just in front of the seat, and my knees bend to absorb the impact.
The red’s head swivels around at an impossible angle, and I throw my arms out for balance as it unhinges its jaw and roars. Heat and sulfur blast me in the face, and the pure force of the sound shakes every scale beneath my feet. I recognize his face from the cards—Cath.
Oh. Shit. I’d better be really fucking sure he’s the one, or I’m about to spend the rest of the day getting reacquainted with Violet’s dad and Brennan.
“How sure are you?” the voice asks, and everything shifts. Muscles ripple beneath me as the red bolts forward.
Momentum hurtles me backward, and my feet come flying out from under me. I grab for the pommels, but I hit the hard ridge of scale with my chin instead. White-hot pain erupts in my face, but there’s no time to process it. Not with Cath launching into the sky.
“I’m sure!” I shout, slipping backward as he climbs with sweeping beats of his wings. I grasp the pommel scales with my aching hands. Then I pull with all my strength, hauling my body into the seat. My toes find the grooves between his scales, and I hunker down against his back as he pulls us into a stomach-curdling vertical climb.