Luminescent (Inheritance Cycle and Beyond)

Chapter Eighty: Amatory

My Dragon pressed his belly to the ground as I carried the slim saddle over to his side. With one leap, I jumped up his side with the saddle in my arms. Perched on top his back, I settled the saddle into the grove where it sat before letting the straps dangle down his side.

Jumping back to the ground, I waited for him to stand up so I could weave the straps under his belly and up his chest. Over the years, we had both done this action enough times that no words were needed to be exchanged. Buckling the straps together, I pulled them tight before looking up at him.

"Tight enough?" I asked. He shook his massive head.

"A little tighter and it should be perfect." Complying, I tightened the straps one more hole before tucking the hanging leather away so it wouldn't catch on anything. I checked the chest strap, as the leather had been chaffing against his scales. An elf had helped me to enchant the leather to hold up to his scales, but I still didn't dare leave the leather unchecked.

"All good," I muttered to myself before heading over to my bags to finish packing up. I strapped my bedroll to my bag and double-checked that I had all of my items packed away in my bag before throwing it over my shoulder and climbing back up to the saddle. "if we fly at an even pace and don't take any detours, we should reach Ilirea by lunchtime."

"Right on time." My Dragon rumbled back as I finished buckling my bag to the saddle. All that was left was to finish getting dressed. My boots hit the ground, and I reached for my sword. Rather than going for a usual hip sheath, I chose one that perched on my back. Unorthodox for a dragon rider, but I preferred it because I could move better.

Tightening the leather straps across my chest and waist, I slid my glittering sword into place before grabbing my set of daggers. Maybe my mother had rubbed off on me, but I had found a love for hiding daggers on my person a long time ago.

One went into each of my knee-high boots, one went underneath the back of my corset, another was tucked away underneath my trousers. I didn't bother to hide the ones strapped to both of my thighs, and the last one, the smallest of them all, was tucked into my braid as an accessory.

Whoever had the unfortunate stupidity to attack me would be surprised to find that I came packing.

After reequipping the daggers, I had shed last night as well as my Rider's sword, I grabbed my forest green embroidered cloak and swung it around my shoulders. I clipped the cloak together with the gold dragon pins I had received when my Dragon had hatched before turning to said Dragon.

"Alright, shall we?" His head dipped down in a yes. With a smile, I jumped up his side and settled into the saddle. Rising to his full height, my Dragon shook out his body before leaping into the air.

His enormous wings beat in the air as wind streamed past my face. The landscape passed as he slowly got faster and faster. With the sun rising on our right shoulders, we turned towards Ilirea.

"I know you are apprehensive about seeing him again," I bristled at the words, my fingers tightening against the scales of his neck.

"And what do you mean by that?" I replied crisply. "you will have to be more specific on who you mean by 'him.'"

A snort resonated in my mind. Unfortunately, my Dragon knew me too well even though he had not hatched when the certain events occurred.

"You are a very nosy Dragon, do you know that?"

Hopefully, this won't take too long because I would just like to get to Vroenguard and figure out precisely why they need me. I wasn't exactly a cookie-cutter Dragon Rider.

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We banked to left as we circled the city of Ilirea. Since it had been rebuilt from the war against Galbatorix, the architecture and style of the city had been returned to that of its original built.

Far below I could hear the shouts of the people, well I guess we had been spotted. Though I suppose that a giant dragon flying above their heads wouldn't go unnoticed. My Dragon flared his wings to slow our descent into the main square in front of the castle.

My Dragon's wings touched down on the cobblestone, I slung my leg over the side of the saddle and dropped to the ground. The guards, now accustomed to Dragon's being a more common occurrence.

Stepping forward, I began to walk towards the throne room. The late morning talks would be wrapping up soon, followed by lunch. It was the perfect time to catch the queen. With the heel of my boot, clicking on the stone floor, I entered the throne room.

At the sound of my dragon lumbering in behind me, all head turned to look at us. The queen's chocolate eyes focused on me. Holding my right hand over my heart, I bent the upper half of my body in a small bow.

"Your majesty."

"Suri,"