Dragonrider Academy: Episode 5

by A. J. Flowers

  That’s where I led Killian, bypassing all the security at the front gate. Solstice had been the one to find the loophole, now that I recalled my childhood adventures. I’d never realized just what she’d been up against, that even back then, she was trying to help me survive.

  I found the same old window with the broken latch in the back, jiggled it free, but frowned when I slid open the glass. It wasn’t as much space as I remembered it being.

  “I’m too big to fit into this opening anymore,” I realized, glancing at Killian. “And there’s no way you’re getting in.”

  Killian chuckled. “No, I imagine not.”

  Solstice chirped and pecked at the lock on the door, blasting it with golden energy. I raised an eyebrow at her, then tested the knob. The door gave way without protest. “Good girl,” I whispered.

  We made our way up the stairwell until we reached the executive floor. Security was nowhere to be seen, likely still prowling the mansion grounds instead. If they knew our target was Max, then they’d stick with him, luckily for us.

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, I headed straight for Mr. Green’s office. I remembered it from my visits as a child, and found the same gaudy nameplate glittering above a set of double doors. Solstice worked her magic again on the lock and we hurried inside.

  We spread out, the four of us including Topaz whose glamour had worn off, to search for what the Greens might be hiding. I walked the perimeter of the room looking for grooves in the floor. This time, I found them in front of the fireplace.

  “Got you,” I announced.

  I pushed bricks and moved the things on the mantle trying to find the trigger. Topaz jumped from Killian’s shoulder and rammed the poker standing beside the fireplace. The stick went back at a forty-five-degree angle and the fireplace grated as it swung across the floor.

  “Oh, you genius little dragon!” I cooed at him, scooping him into my arms to give him scratches. He basked in my affection, especially when Solstice swirled around my head chirping her jealousy.

  The room spanned out, reminiscent of the one I’d found in the mansion’s bedroom, only larger and boasting a small desk at the back.

  Killian whistled at the arsenal hanging on the walls.

  “They have just as many in their home,” I said dryly.

  Killian and I got to work, starting with opening filing cabinets. We found more photos of my mother and I, some of Solstice as well in her tree near my window, and her favorite perch by the lake.

  “Did they ever go after you, girl?” I asked Solstice, concerned what might have happened when I wasn’t watching. The golden finch had only appeared to me randomly, otherwise disappearing for hours at a time before I’d known what I was.

  She keened, her sounds suggesting that she’d done her best to stay out of harm’s way, but there had most definitely been a present danger.

  Killian growled low in his throat at whatever was in the file he was reading, fury rolling across his face like storm clouds. I read over his shoulder and gasped.

  It was the file for my murder that involved Max—the one that had almost succeeded.

  Except… Max hadn’t known about any of it. He’d been used, manipulated by a shard of Excalibur, the sketch of it a dark splotch on the paper.

  “The Order most definitely would not have approved of this,” Killian bit out, holding up the offending document. “Can we get James involved now? This is sick.” Killian pointed at the inscription. “This spell is permanent and it’s a powerful weapon against dragons, which would make complete sense as to the reason why the Wild Dragons want Max.”

  “So, he can kill them….?” I asked, confusion filling me. I couldn’t imagine why the dragons would want a weapon designed to be used against them.

  “Dragons are a parasitic species. They consume and absorb. The Wild Queen has proven what she’s capable of and she wouldn’t care about the side effects of absorbing the power that’s inside of Max green. If she gets her hands on him, she’ll extract his magic and use it against the Knights of the Silver order, and against the Dragonriders.”

  “What does the power do, exactly?” I asked, my eyes wide.

  He frowned, pointing down at the page. “This is corruption merged with a shard of Excalibur. It’s a twisted form of magic, one that uses the power of madness and turns it into a weapon. The Wild Queen would be compatible with it, if she’s willing to go even madder than she already is—which I imagine isn’t a problem.”

  “Great,” I huffed. “So, what do we do? We can’t just hand Max over to her.”

  “No,” he agreed. “Not without a means to restrain the madness inside of him.”

  “And how do we do that?” I asked.

  Before Killian could respond, a loud bang sounded from the main office. My heart raced and my stomach dropped as Max came into view, looking positively menacing with a black eye shadowed into his face and blood splattered on the front of his blue t-shirt. Killian shot up, putting himself between Max and I.

  Max approached us, his gaze tearing away to stare at the weapons on the wall.

  “What the heck?” he whispered, his face slack. Then he took in Topaz and Solstice who hissed at our feet. Topaz had turned entirely visible while Solstice shimmered between finch and wyvern. Max backed up a step, his eyes growing wide.

  “You didn’t know about this place?” Killian asked, skeptical.

  “You’re…” He shot out a finger, snapping his gaze back up to us in shock. “You’re Dragonriders. Real Dragonriders, aren’t you? My father told me about you… He said you were dangerous.”

  “He’s the dangerous one,” I shot back. I pushed around Killian and shoved the file at Max. “He’s been using you. Read for yourself.”

  He took the file hesitantly, looking back at us before he opened it and began reading.

  His face slackened, and then fury grew in his expression. He was shaking by the time he finished flipping through the pages, ending on the sketch of the shard.

  “I’ve seen this,” he murmured, his gaze dark. “I thought it was just a bad dream.”

  “It’s real,” Killian said, the murder in his gaze promising me that Max wasn’t quite off the hook just yet. “You have darkness in you, Max. Darkness that has hurt someone I care about.” He drew one of the blades off the wall, wielding it at him. “I can’t let you walk out of here.”

  Max might be a bully, and a cocky jock, but one thing he was not was a trained warrior. He stared at Killian, eyes wide, stunned and speechless.

  I rested a hand on Killian’s wrist, lowering his weapon. “There must be another way,” I said. “Let’s take him back to the others. Maybe James will know what to do.” Plus Max was my only chance at getting my mother back. I couldn’t let Killian kill him, even if I wanted him to.

  Killian sniffed, considering it before relaxing. “Fine.” His eyes narrowed at the shadows that snaked around Max’s wrists. Corruption seemed from him in visible form, swirling around him in lazy waves. “You have control over it, don’t you?”

  Max glanced down and flexed his fingers. “I thought I was going crazy,” he admitted. “I kept seeing glimpses of the ocean… of doing something I…” He glanced back up to me. “That wasn’t me, Vivi. I swear it. I—”

  I shot up a hand. I didn’t want his apologies, and I certainly didn’t want to relive those particular memories. “You want to make this right? You come with us. You cooperate.”

  He met my gaze, his face twisting with rage before he turned and punched the back of the brick fireplace, leaving a dent in the brick with several pieces flying in all directions.

  So, definitely not human.

  Killian pushed me behind him again, spreading his arms in an effort to make sure I was safe. “The corruption is fighting his free will to work with us,” Killian said as the temperature in the room plummeted. He drew his weapon again, resuming a warrior’s stance.

  Max roared and Solstice burst into wyvern form, shedding the last of Lily�
�s glamour.

  Solstice jumped from the floor and flapped onto Max’s head. The sudden weight of my dragon made him freeze, and then her golden magic shone down on him like a sunrise.

  His skin sparkled and shone with her light, and he made a strangled sound as his arms began to glow. A black shard shouldered inside his chest, sizzling against the light.

  Solstice screeched and stomped her foot on his head, clearly telling him to stay still. Surprisingly, he got the message and obeyed.

  Solstice closed her eyes and spread her wings. The light increased in brilliance. Several moments passed and then the gold began to travel along his body, all of it appearing to gather over his heart before it burst out in a blinding flash.

  Max stumbled back from the force of whatever my wyvern had just done and Solstice fluttered off of his head. He turned to face us, and all the crazed anger gone from his expression. All that remained was sadness, grief, and regret.

  “Oh my god, Vivi. Oh my god. What have I done?” He stared into my eyes, his face breaking. “I remember it all so clearly now. The party, swimming, and… everything else.”

  I winced as the memories rushed through me. Even knowing that he hadn’t actually been in control of himself at the time didn’t help with the trauma I still needed to deal with.

  “She cleansed his corruption, at least temporarily,” Killian explained, giving Solstice a nod. “It’ll help him cooperate for now.”

  Max shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I’m so sorry. I can’t understand why my father would do this to me. Why does he want you dead so badly? It doesn’t make any sense. The Knights of the Silver Order are a force for good. We protect the innocent.” His jaw flexed. “Instead… he tried to make me snuff it out.”

  Killian and I locked eyes for a moment, mutually gauging how much we should tell him. Killian nodded at me, and then the male. I sighed and turned back to Max, beginning my story after I emerged from the water in another realm and ending with the information that we had just learned ourselves.

  He had a determined look in his eyes when I finished. He nodded at me without hesitation. “I will go.”

  “Go… where?” I asked, not sure if I’d heard him correctly.

  “To Avalon.” The surprise must have shown on my face because he doubled down. “I will go. I have to. Helping you get your mother back is the least I can do after everything my family and I have put you through.”

  “Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  “Right now, though, we need to go,” he said, ushering us out of the room. “You triggered a silent alarm when you broke into my dad’s office. That’s how I knew you were here. Local security, my parents, and I all have apps that notify our phones if any alarm is triggered. So, security won’t be far behind. They were at the mansion on my father’s orders to stick with me, but I lost them when I was in the woods looking for you. They’ll realize where I’ve gone and this place will be swarming with them soon.” He backed out of the room. Killian took my hand, drawing me out, but I pulled back.

  “One thing,” I said, grabbing a file.

  Killian gave me a raised brow, but I didn’t have time to explain. First, we had to get out of here without getting caught.

  We rushed through the hallways and down the stairwell. We ran straight into security, but Solstice released another blinding wave of light, stunning them and giving us a chance to escape.

  Even as we ran through the forest with the threat on our tail, relief ran through me.

  Max had agreed to go.

  My mom would be safe.

  But first… we had to make sure that Max wasn’t a weapon that the Wild Queen could use. I had a feeling that Evie might just be able to help with that…

  We made it back to my house after finally losing security. As we walked through the door, I smiled at our weary greeting party. James and Lily sat together on the love seat, and Evie and her four guys were all sprawled on the couch. Their conversation stopped as we walked into the house, Max in tow.

  “Well, look what the riders dragged in,” Lily said dryly, eyeing Max with a raised brow. “I thought he was the enemy.”

  “Maybe not,” I explained. “Max wasn’t in his right mind when everything went down at the beach. He was… corrupted.”

  The three of us sat down and I explained what we had found out. By the end of it, James was on his feet pacing and Evie was beside Max, peering into his eyes as if fascinated.

  Max stared back at her, equally enamored, but Evie seemed to always have that effect on males.

  “Green! I never liked that man,” James ranted as he paced. “Of course he would be the one behind all of this. Why didn’t anybody tell me Max’s last name? I could have told you who he was.”

  Killian gave James a flat stare. “Maybe you should have asked.”

  “So, you’ve agreed to be traded for Vivi’s mother?” Evie asked Max, her fingers slipping up his wrist. Max relaxed under her touch.

  He nodded. “It’s the least I can do to atone for everything she’s been through because of me and my family.”

  She looked at him for a long moment, seeming to be thinking hard on something, “Well, dragons are not typically gentle creatures, especially where you’re going. If you go in alone with no one to protect you, you probably won’t survive long.” She straightened, giving him a toothy grin with fang. “I can provide you protection, if that’s something you might be interested in.”

  Max met her gaze and then nodded again.

  “You’ll become a part of my Hovakim,” she decided, earning a raised brow from me. How many worshipers did the dragon need? “You will be protected as one of my own, and you will never be alone again.” She smiled warmly at him and gestured to the rest of her partners.

  Lily rolled her eyes while James snickered. “Heavy deal, man, but one I would take if I were you.”

  Killian hummed in agreement. “It would bind Max to her and keep the Wild Queen from absorbing the shard’s power.” He tilted his head. “Well, she could kill him and extract it that way, perhaps.”

  “It would destroy the shard,” James remarked. He snapped his fingers and gestured for Max to stand up. Max obeyed and James flicked his shirt collar aside, pointing at a dark vein that streaked down his torso. “This is a spell that binds the shard to the heart. If the heart stops beating, the shard will shatter and the power within it will cease to exist.” He drew his hand away. “How did you come to possess a corrupted Shard? Ivar would not have authorized this sort of magic within the Order.”

  Max rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t even know about this. My father did it to me… maybe when I was asleep?”

  Evie hummed as she stepped around him, analyzing him as she twisted with liquid, reptilian movements. “There’s dragonian magic on you. Your memories have been altered. Your father did this with a dragon’s help.”

  Not good.

  “Would it have been the Wild Dragons?” I asked.

  Lily bit her lip before nodding. “Yes, it must be. The Greens have been working with her.”

  James shook his head. “That’s the thing with Traditionalists. They believe the ends justify the means. They would be willing to work with the Wild Dragons if it benefited them.” He clicked his tongue. “That’s how the Traditionalists have been trying to overthrow my brother. Idiots.”

  The conversation dwindled into the inevitable course of action. Evie would convert Max as one of her Hovakim, a process I was told would take the entire night, leaving the rest of us to get some rest before we would splinter off. Evie was still under the guise as one of the Avalon’s dragons, and she would return to them with the story that she’d saved Max from certain death by bonding with him. It wasn’t a hard story to sell, given how much Killian hated him, regardless of his intentions.

  Evie and her Hovakim, including Max, retired to the master bedroom they had been using all week. Lily also convinced James, who was still fuming, that they should sleep as wel
l on the couch.

  Just like that, it was just Killian and I, which wasn’t new but it felt different this time. We had found what we needed. Max was here and ready to go to the dragons voluntarily. The stress we had been facing for months was finally coming to an end, which left room for other neglected emotions.

  Such as our feelings for each other.

  Killian stood from the couch and held his hand out for me. “We should head to bed too. We all have a busy day tomorrow.”

  I let him pull me up and we made our way to my room. We got ready to sleep in silence, taking turns in my bathroom, before we settled into the bed with our wyverns curled up between us.

  I stared at Killian, studying his face. He was so beautiful to me. Of course, he was literally half angel, so it made sense. The cut on his lip drew my attention and I raise my hand to brush it lightly with my fingertips.

  “Why did you think starting a fight was the best idea?” I asked him, exasperated that he got himself injured.

  “He hurt you,” he replied simply. He brought his hand up to cup my cheek. “Vivienne Reid, you are the most important person to me. I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt, and I would do unspeakable things to anyone who was the cause of it.”

  My heart fluttered at his declaration. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  His gaze met mine and I couldn’t look away. My world closed in around me, leaving nothing else except his soul and mine, two sides of a coin meant to be together forever.

  I’d bonded with him, with Solstice and Topaz who curled up between us. We were a family, and he was my mate.

  When he pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine, it felt right. I closed my eyes and fell into the sensation that overwhelmed me every time our skin touched—a blazing heat that snapped through me like fire and ice. Electricity blazed along my fingertips and Solstice stirred in her sleep, keening with approval of the unification of my bond with Killian. Our connection fueled our bonds and our dragons, strengthening us all with life.