House of Dragons (Royal Houses #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,74

the empty hallway.

Or did she?

Gelryn slumbered high above in the barely lit eaves. Kerrigan strained her neck to catch a glimpse of the fierce dragon. Even with the dim light, she could just barely make out his massive figure.

Her eyes flickered to the set of stairs carved into the side of the mountain. They were used in daylight, when the cavernous rooms were fully lit. It would be supremely stupid to risk them at night, but Kerrigan had training in the morning, so she had no other option.

With a huff, she attempted to summon a small ball of fire to guide her way. The flame sputtered and popped in her hand before guttering. She strained, attempting to force her magic to do what she commanded but it was no use. The vision had tapped her magic, draining her dry. A little bit of light had never been a feat for her. Flames came the easiest to her, but right now, she couldn’t even make a spark.

She straightened her shoulders and moved to the first step. She really wished that she had thought to bring a torch of some sort with her as she started the impressive climb up the cliffside.

Kerrigan clung to the mountain wall, feeling out each step before she made it. Her legs burned, and her breathing was ragged. Though, to her surprise, she saw some marked improvement with all of the running Fordham had made her do. Not that she planned to tell him that.

At one point, a rock slipped out from under her foot. Her body crashed sideways, toward the gaping mouth of the opening far below. She latched on to a chunk of rock and held on for dear life, one leg dangling into the abyss.

She lay flat on her belly and dragged her leg up and over onto the stairs. Her hands shook. If she had fallen, she would have died, and no one would have been the wiser. That was why no one climbed in the middle of the night with no light. She groaned and carefully hauled herself up to her spaghetti legs. She continued up the stairs, nearly collapsing at Gelryn’s feet in relief and exhaustion.

One giant eye opened up and stared at her. Child, why are you interrupting my slumber?

She held up a hand as she tried to catch her breath. “I need… to talk to… someone.”

Talk to a human and do not bother me again.

“My visions,” she gasped out. “They keep happening, and they’re getting stronger. I need to find out how to control them or stop them or at least what they mean. You said I was a harbinger. That I am strong in spirit magic, but I don’t know what to do, Gelryn. Please, I beg your assistance.”

Gelryn’s eye had closed once more, and she thought that he had gone back to sleep. That all of this had been for nothing. But then he breathed out a wave of heat through his nostrils.

Let us leave this place.

“Leave?”

Climb on my back, and we shall depart.

“Are you… are you sure?” she whispered reverently.

The last thing she wanted was to insult Gelryn, who had lost his bonded dragon rider and never taken another, but she had to be sure.

Kerrigan Argon, do not ask me to repeat myself.

She nodded. Should have known better. She rose slowly to her feet, wincing at the pain in her legs. She was really going to pay for that tomorrow when Fordham made her run a million miles. With the strength left in her arms, she pulled herself up and onto Gelryn’s enormous back. Dragons just weren’t this large anymore. He was truly an ancient breed. She felt like a bug on him more than a rider.

Gelryn rose to his haunches, spreading his massive wings. Kerrigan held on with all of her might, flattening herself against him, and then he took off, descending deep into the cavern below. She barely suppressed her shriek of terror before he leveled off and then flew upward to one of the exits in the mountain. Then, just like that, they were soaring high above Kinkadia.

She released her death grip on Gelryn’s back and pressed herself up into a sitting position. She held her hands out to her sides, enjoying the wind running through her hair. It was easy to forget all of her problems when she was up in the clouds. Her last ride with Tavry felt like a lifetime ago, but she remembered thinking it would be her last.