Fire Breather

45.

CONSCRIPTION Day looked different on this side of it. I sat on the crenelations of the tower in the main war college, looking down at the length of the line as the bells rang the ninth hour and individual candidates started to file in, going up the long, winding staircase to the parapet.

"They're starting up the stairs," Violet told Rhiannon who stood poised with a quill and the roll.

"They look nervous," Nadine said, leaning recklessly over the edge of the tower.

They weren't the only ones. Violet had been stuck to my side since Dain arrived, leaning against the wall beside the entrance to the parapet. One touch of his hands and we could both be fucked which was why I hadn't allowed my shields to slip once.

"Weren't you nervous?" Rhiannon asked Nadine. "Personally, I wouldn't have made it across without Vi here."

Violet shrugged, sitting beside me. "I only gave you a little more traction. You had the courage and balance to make it across."

"And saved my ass on the way," I added with a small laugh. "If she didn't yell at me to hold on and then drag my ass up, I would've ended up on that death roll pretty fast."

"I almost forgot about that," Rhiannon admitted, sending me a small smile that I returned.

"It's not raining like it was during our Parapet." Nadine looked up at the cloudless July sky. "Hopefully more of them make it across." She glanced at Violet. "You'd have thought your mother would have held off the storm last year, considering you were crossing."

I truly laughed as Violet said, "Clearly you don't know my mother."

"Only ninety-one dragons have agreed to bond this year," Dain said, making my laughter die in seconds. This year he was our wingleader with the same insignia my brother wore last year on his shoulder. The fucker got Liam and Soleil killed so of course he was promoted for it. "More candidates making it across isn't going to equal more riders."

Nadine opened the wooden door at the top of the turret and looked down the stairwell. "They're about halfway up."

"Good." Dain pushed off the wall. "Remember the rules. Matthias and Sorrengail, your jobs are only to take the final roll before Parapet. Don't engage–"

"We know the rules," Violet cut him off, bracing her hands on the wall beside her thighs.

I glanced at her, raising a brow. Today Garrick and Xaden returned, and I was honestly excited over it, but she just seemed more tense.

"Fine," Dain said, drawing out the word as he stared at her. "Blaine and Nadine—"

"I don't have a job." Nadine shrugged. "I was just bored."

"And I have a little sister to see," I sharply stated, locking eyes with him while scratching the scars and relic on my neck. "Or have you forgotten that Liam had a sister?"

"Hard to forget," he muttered, then looked away from me to frown at Rhiannon. "Running a tight ship there, squad leader."

"There are no regulations about five riders on the turret during Parapet," she countered. "Don't even get me started this morning, Aetos." She looked up from her scroll, raising a finger. "And if you even think about telling me to call you wingleader, I'll remind you that Riorson did a hell of a job without needing everyone to supplicate themselves to him."

"Because he scared the shit out of everyone," Nadine muttered as I smirked with pride. "Well, everyone except Blade and Violet."

"To be fair, he scared me at times," I lightly admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "That man knows how to growl at me like our father did."