Crown of Serpents (Book 1 of the Serpent Bloodline Trilogy)

Chapter 2

"Hey Gio, do you know where Az is?" I ask, catching up to my younger brother. He faces me. His brown ruffled hair whipped around in the wind. Were outside in the training grounds, and I know that Az usually likes to take his own flights sometimes, but he's not usually out there for this long.

"How would I know where your crap of a dragon is."

"Gio!"

"What? It's true."

"You're such a prick." He shrugs and continues walking. Shaking my head, I run over to the doors that lead to where the dragons like to stay. It's not exactly a stable, since we don't control where our dragons go. Unless it's for a mission, or we're on patrol, they usually do their own thing. Luckily for me, Az isn't clingy. I head into the fields, spotting a lot of dragons, most I don't know the names of. The birth of a dragon is rare, so either you get one, or you don't. Most raise their dragons, while others...Try to tame them. Normally, they end up with a severed head and several missing limbs. I practically grew up with Az. He was a hatchling when I met him, and we kind of just...Happened. His full name is Azzyr, but he prefers Az.

The wind blows off my hood, and small droplets of rain fall on my brown braided hair. I start jogging farther along the grasslands. I mutter a few curses when the rain starts picking up. "Where are you Az?" I mumble. Running farther out, I stop near the river. Where me and Az usually spend our time. Where I can find peace, drawing, or training, instead of on the mats. Blowing out a breath, I sit down on the grass.

It only takes a few minutes for me to hear the flap of wings, and then the ground rumbles when he lands. Whipping around I stalk up to Az. "Where the heck have you been? Father wanted us on patrol ten minutes ago. I mean, you can have your freedom, but this? I already..." I trail off. I do not want to think about the execution I missed a week ago. Father was pissed when I didn't kill him. I should have done it. But I hesitated. I didn't care if the man died. I don't care if he had a wife and kids. I've been training for this my whole life. But I was...Scared. An emotion I'm not allowed to have. Along with love, or any emotion at all.

Az huffs a reply.

I'm snapped back into reality. AKA— The reality of yelling at Az. Even if I'm not really mad at him, just a bit annoyed. He can handle himself, so I'm not worried about him getting hurt, not at all. Just annoyed that he's late. Rolling my eyes, I walk over to his legs. Az is huge compared to most of the dragons, and even though they can get on my jumping and using the dragons' legs as a boost...I, cannot. My father tried to teach me for three years before Az made him let me have accommodations. AKA— A weakness.

Taking a breath, he straightens out his leg, letting me run up it and hop onto the saddle. He shoots up into the sky, the powerful beat of his wings blowing the trees around. Settling into a glide, I tap Az's neck three times—A type of code we teach all dragons for battle, since they can't understand us, only our emotions. A type of connection you can have with some dragons. Most don't even find that dragon, I'm lucky that I did.— It helps in giving directions, but most of the time they know where they're going— Almost immediately, he swerves to the right, where the border is to our rivals. AKA— Kharid— The Kingdom of Idiocy.

Not really though.

They have stayed our rivals for centuries because they aren't stupid enough to attack outright. They know better.

And there is also a reason we've stayed the most powerful Kingdom for centuries. Other Kingdoms, just aren't smart enough.

But— They have stayed our rivals, and they want to think they're our equals. As in— They are also the most powerful Kingdom.