Dragonrider Academy: Episode Three Copyright © 2020 by A.J. Flowers
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Cover Art by Rebecca Frank
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All Persons Fictitious Disclaimer:
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
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All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system.
Published in the United States.
Contents
Blurb
Dragonrider Academy Recap
1. Silence and Sunlight
2. Lost
3. Love by Design
4. I Lance You
5. Like a Moth to a Flame
Blurb
A Note from the Author
Also by A.J. Flowers
They say don’t count your dragons before they hatch…
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I never did like to listen.
Killian thinks I’m making a huge mistake, but my heart chose this egg… even if it’s lifeless. The hollow shell has the faintest echo of a heartbeat still inside and my magic as a dragonrider called to it, setting a bond in place.
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Bonds can be broken, but I refuse.
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There’s no question. This is my dragon, and I’m going to save it.
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Even if I die trying.
Been a while? Read the recap!
Hey! I’m Vivienne Reid, but I prefer to go by Vivi. I’m just your regular student with an unhealthy obsession with fantasy novels and Slim Jims. (I mean, who doesn’t love a snack with a good book?)
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Everything was peachy until Max Green invited me to a beach bonfire party. I’m not the kind of girl who cares about the school’s hottest jock—much less parties. I’ve been a loner all my life, which was exactly why having someone acknowledge that I exist sounded pretty cool.
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So, like a fool, I agreed.
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There’s probably something else you should know about me. My father drowned when I was little. I barely remember him. Ever since then, it’s just been me and my mom. Well, and my best friend in the whole world… a golden finch named Solstice. He didn’t like the idea of me going to Max’s party, either, and I should have listened to him. I wonder if he knew how the events would unfold that night?
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Long story short, Max is a jerk and after he and his friends had a few beers, things went south, fast. I found myself stuck underwater trying to get away from him when something weird happened.
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Ever heard of the Lady of the Lake?
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Yeah, she snatched me up and brought me to a new world.
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Dragonrider Academy.
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Are you keeping up with me? This is where it gets really weird.
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The first guy I run into is smoking hot. Like he has crazy muscles, blue tattoos over his arms, bleached hair and white-washed eyes that makes him just look downright otherworldly.
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Well, that’s because he is. He’s a Nephilim, half-human half-angel hybrid.
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He’s also my fated mate.
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One touch and we’re bonded, just like that. I don’t believe in love at first sight, but something about Killian is different. He unlocks this potential in me that I never knew I had.
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Turns out I’m not exactly human, either. I’m from a long line of women, descended from the goddess herself—or a supernatural so powerful that that’s just what she’s called. Don’t get me started on the details.
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I have goddess blood in my veins, which means sometimes I’m able to do some pretty cool stuff. Like jump over walls, or kick Jasmine’s butt. That duel was pretty fun, if I may say so myself.
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All of this was a lot to take in, but it only revealed to me the truth about my father’s death. He’d died protecting me from all of this supernatural bull crap. It was because of his death that my goddess blood activated as a child. I had created Solstice and called the bond between Killian and me before I even knew about any of this.
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Of course, I’m not the fated mate Killian thought I was. I’m not strong enough to help him evolve into the dragonrider he’s meant to be, much less sustain his wyvern, Topaz.
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As our bond falters and weakens, I struggle with my guilt. It was my goddess blood and my past trauma that created this mess, all because I wanted to find who drowned my father and bring them to justice.
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Now, I’m just another student at Dragonrider Academy. Orientation starts with claiming a dragon egg, and you’d think I could at least get that part right?
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No, I’ve bonded with a completely dead egg—nothing inside.
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Except for the echo of a heartbeat of once was…
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Let me tell you what happens next…
Dragonrider Academy: Episode Three is here! Turn the page to continue Vivi’s journey.
“Please...” I silently begged. This was my nightly mantra, my prayer.
Nothing else mattered. My world had narrowed down to just me and my dragon’s egg.
More like a husk, really. Killian wouldn’t call it that, but I knew he was thinking it.
I didn’t care. Somewhere in the back of my mind my other priorities screamed for my attention and I’d just shut that little voice off and go back to my mumbling. Yes, I still wanted to reunite with my mother and let her know that I was okay… but I wasn’t okay, was I? Not like this. Not until I hatched my dragon.
The mystery surrounding my father’s death took a backseat as well, at least for now. This was all connected to him, somehow, and if I could solve this mystery, the rest would fall into place. I just knew it.
It was all connected.
This was my answer to everything.
Killian watched over me as I devolved into despair. Maybe he enjoyed seeing me suffer like this, although I suspected he suffered with me, too. I’d called him to become my mate just so I could use him for his powers as a Nephilim, and because of our bond, he cared about me. Or maybe despite that, he cared for me because he understood my reasoning.
Even if he had forgiven me for such a heinous thing, he shouldn’t.
Because I couldn’t forgive myself.
Despite my failures, he watched me in the darkness of our dorm room, always the silent sentinel while I muttered to myself over my dead egg. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his eyes on me as my lips moved of their own accord, chanting my mantra over and over again.
Our dorm had become a safe haven that I rarely left. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since I’d found the egg, or rather, since it had found me.
Days?
Weeks?
... Longer?
It didn’t really matter. Day and night ran together and if it weren’t for Killian going on runs to the cafeteria, I probably would have died from starvation.
He’d tried to get the Dean involved, at first. She respected my choice, no matter the consequences. It didn’t really matter if she approved or not—I wasn’t going to give up. That wasn’t possible anymore. The bond strengthened every day and my desperation ramped up with it.
When I’d stopped
eating, that’s when he’d tried to get me to talk to Lily or someone who might be able to “talk some sense into me.”
It didn’t matter what anyone else thought, though. I wasn’t going to give up on trying to bring back the lost spirit tied to this egg. I clutched it to my chest with sheer determination that I wouldn’t fail, no matter how hopeless it seemed.
That only seemed to frustrate Killian. In the end, we had nothing left to say to one another and silence was all that remained between us.
Despite all of that, he still stayed by my side. Even though he was mad, even though he wanted to stop me from making what he believed to be a massive mistake, he wouldn’t abandon me.
He could have left. Should have left. My degradation only brought him down with me because of our bond.
He could have stolen the sword in the Dean’s office and used it on me to break that bond that only grew stronger as I drew power from him more every time he touched me. I couldn’t heal him or Topaz anymore, not when I was like this. Any strength I found went straight into the egg that I desperately wanted to save.
This one-way path of power won’t be sustained by our rider bond forever. While I fueled a hopeless cause, he became weaker. Topaz slept while releasing struggling wheezes. Killian shifted, new aches appearing all throughout his body that made it impossible for him to rest. He wouldn’t admit how bad it was to me, but I could see the sores on him when he got dressed in the morning. My influence was eating away at his immortality and it was only a matter of time before I drained him too far for him to come back.
Still… he didn’t leave. He stayed, and his gaze watched me throughout the night while I struggled to revive my egg.
Sunlight crested the windowsill, unusual in its obnoxious cheeriness. Dragonrider Academy had a sandy sort of allure to it, a dimness in the morning dawn that made the waking dragons look like they were coming out of a dream.
I watched them now, their scales glittering in the rare burst of sunlight. It made this place feel even more magical and my standard melancholy found itself dampened. The dragonriders lifting off, starting their rounds for the day had a mesmerizing effect. I’d been jealous of them at first, yes, but now I held onto a sense of absurd hope that I would join them, eventually.
“Look at that,” I whispered to my egg, pointing to one of the younger dragons flapping awkwardly into the sky with lurches and jolts. “That’s Cyprus,” I said, a small smile cresting my face. “He just learned to fly.” The adorable dragon gained enough height to hit a current, then tumbled through the air, eager to show off for his rider.
I’d watched Cyprus take his first few struggling leaps and now I realized why today was so special. Even the sun had come out to spotlight such a special event. A dragon learning to take to the skies felt right… This was a good omen.
The chirps of excitement of the other dragons filtered in from the open window and a small smile spread over my face as I stroked the cold shell of my egg.
“Well, I should get to class,” Killian said, his voice hard and scratchy, a harsh contrast against the uplifting scene outside. He hadn’t slept at all, and his fatigue only reminded me how exhausted I was as well.
When I didn’t respond, he rested a hand on my shoulder. The jolt of electricity made me curl my shoulders and grit my teeth. “You shouldn’t touch me,” I warned as sputtering golden light rippled over my skin only to sink into the thin shell pressing against my chest. “I can’t control it.”
“I know,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically kind. “It doesn’t matter.”
I glanced up at him, annoyed by his tone. “Of course it matters.”
He smirked and he grazed my cheek with his knuckles, leaving sparks along my skin. “Your… persistence, has expanded your impact on the bond between us.” He stepped back to demonstrate. My eyes went wide when I spotted little flickers of gold in the air drifting from his heart to mine. He ran his fingers through it, disturbing the slowly drifting light. “You see? It doesn’t matter because you’re draining me now even if I don’t touch you.”
He said that so matter-of-factly, as if I wasn’t slowly killing him.
I looked down at my egg that hadn’t changed at all, despite all my efforts. My skin had paled and I felt sick.
This was killing us both.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said with such assurance, making me glance up at him. His beautiful eyes were haunting in this light, boring into me with such intensity that I couldn’t look away. “Sulking isn’t getting you anywhere,” he added with a smirk, “and if you’re going to kill me slowly with this silent torture, the least I can do is speed it up.”
“Why is this happening?” I asked, trying to prevent the sting in my eyes from evolving into tears.
He leaned down, invading my personal space as the air around us hummed to life with a soft golden hue. My heart twisted and my stomach flipped as I matched his gaze. I couldn’t deny the attraction between us and his obnoxiously perfect looks weren’t helping matters, either.
“You don’t even realize you’re doing it, do you?” he asked, genuinely curious as he twisted his gorgeous mouth into a grin. “A natural Conduit. The women of Avalon would have had a fit over you.” He glanced down and his smile dimmed. “Now it’s too late, I’m afraid. You’ve fully bonded to a lost cause.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant my dragon egg… or himself.
He’d grown quiet over the past few days, or weeks, or however long it had been since this nightmare had started. I’d taken that as anger at me.
Maybe he was just angry with himself.
I looked down at the egg wrapped in my arms as I tried not to let Killian’s mood get to me. The shell hadn’t changed at all since I had taken it into my care. Dull specks ran in an abstract pattern around the top, filtering into lines like an illness toward the bottom. I’d memorized the pattern long ago and I ran a finger over one of the raised cracks.
The echo of a heartbeat still lingered underneath the surface. No matter what Killian thought, there was still an essence clinging to this shell… and I refused to give up.
With a sigh I looked out the window again, trying to ignore Killian’s pressure on my skin as his touch ran lightly over my shoulder. I knew if I faced him I’d have to combat that pleading in his eyes and I wasn’t sure if I had the strength.
There was one thing he was right about, though. Sulking in this room day in and day out was getting me nowhere.
“I’ll go with you,” I decided. Maybe there was something different about today. Maybe I’d find an answer that would fix the mess I’d made of everything.
“You’ll… go with me?” Killian echoed with surprise. His wyvern chirped with delight, flapping awkwardly from his nest to land on his shoulder with a rare bout of energy.
I chuckled when Topaz scrambled down Killian’s arm to lick my cheek. “Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving the wild creature off. “You’re glad I’m leaving this room for once, huh?”
Topaz trilled, his voice gaining nuanced tones over the past few weeks of my sulking, despite the general condition of malaise that plagued him and his master. He still had a lot of growing to do and my heart broke at the mere thought of losing him.
I couldn’t imagine what Killian was going through. All the more reason I had to find a solution to this mess.
“Well, I guess I owe Lily five coins,” Killian said as he retreated. “Good thing she brought by one of these.” The golden dust in the room kicked up as he ventured to his closet and rummaged through his belongings. He produced a pouch and handed it to me. I took the offering with one hand and turned it over.
“It’s kind of big for a purse,” I mused.
He chuckled. “It’s for your egg, Viv.” He took the straps and wound them around my waist, stringing the longer end up and over my shoulder to clasp it. I tried not to notice how close his touch ran to the sensitive parts of my body as I shyly looked away. He cleared his throat as he gave it a tug. “There. All set.”
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br /> Gingerly, I tucked the egg into the pouch and stood up, finding that the design held the shell tightly against my body, providing it with warmth.
The sensation made me acutely aware that the egg held no life inside of it. The chilled exterior was just a husk with nothing but an echo of what could have been.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I adjusted the strap so that I could wrap one arm around the base. I didn’t fully trust it to hold up the egg’s weight, even if it did seem secure.
“Thanks,” I said after Killian held the door open.
We walked at a steady pace down the corridor with only Topaz’s light trills to announce our passage to the other students.
Outside of our dorms, nothing seemed to have changed and at the same time I felt like an entire decade had passed with nothing to show for it. I’d missed so many classes that I’d probably never catch up, but it didn’t much matter if I couldn’t hatch my dragon. Why the Dean hadn’t forced me to pick one of Finn’s other eggs, I couldn’t be sure.
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