Wisteria Colland has prepared her entire life for the Rider's Quadrant. Why would you go into infantry or the scribes when you could have the chance to bond a dragon? But things aren't as simple as Wisteria had hoped when she gets herself tangled up...
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One hundred and one dragons.
I see a variety of colors, aside from the blues and the black dragons. All of them are as magnificent as the dragons on the day of the parapet, and it's everything I can do to not stare openly.
Immediately, the gaze of a huge dragon the color of dark blood with hues of rose drifting over his wings swings towards me. His eyes, which remind me of the sun just slipping behind the mountains, lock on to me and hold my gaze as if he's seeing straight into my soul. And I guess, perhaps, he is.
I know that it's dangerous, and might lead to my incineration, but I find myself unable to pull my eyes away. Not from fear, locking my gaze in place, but utter awe. He's probably one of the most beautiful dragons I've ever seen, and is easily one of the largest here. His deadly sword tail flicks over his giant talons, and he sits tall and elegantly, as majestic as a king.
I don't realize I've stopped until Ridoc calls from behind me, "you good, Ria?"
I jolt out of my trance, and quickly avert my gaze. "Yeah, all good," I call back, and hurriedly get my feet moving. I can feel the great Red Swordtail's pale yellow eyes still locked on me, watching, assessing my every step.
I try to tune into the conversation ahead of me, but I can't focus on what my squadmates are saying when I can sense the red dragon's gaze like it's a tangible thing, crawling up my spine and sending shivers throughout my entire body. I don't know what that means, but I sure as hell not staying behind to find out.
"We should probably start talking," Ridoc calls from behind Luca, who walks between us. I realize he's most likely right—we were almost half-way through and I hadn't said a word.
"Um...." I wrack my brain for something to talk about. Thankfully, Ridoc has ideas already.
"You got any family? Back home?" He asks. "You're from Monserrat, right?"
"Near there, yeah," I reply over my shoulder. "I have two younger sisters, Oleander and Belladonna. They're twins."
Ridoc snorts. "Your parents got a thing for poisonous plants?"
I smile. "No," I answer. "My grandmother named us. She died before we were born, but it's something of a tradition in my family for the grandparents to name the children."
"How did she know you guys were gonna pop out girls?"
My smile widens. "She didn't. My parents were thinking about trying for kids and she just compiled a list of names that she liked."
"What about the rest of your family?" Ridoc calls. Luca stays stonily silent behind me as she listens.
The smile on my lips falls immediately. "My parents wanted me to go into the Healer Quadrant," I start bitterly. "It took me about a year to convince them to hire me a trainer so I could become a rider. My mother pretty much shunned me after that, wouldn't talk to me or anything. My dad was a little better about it, but still. They had these big plans about how I was going to carry on the 'Colland legacy' by becoming a healer and having a shit ton of babies."
