Legacy in Ruins: Dragon Rider Book 1

I. Look. Amazing.

Oh my god you guys, I can't believe that we actually surpassed the number of votes. I had told you that if you guys got me to 260 votes, that I would publish the rest of my book. But you guys are wonderfully extra and got me to 295 votes instead! Oof. So as promised, I'm here to post the rest of my story.

And before we get started, a special thanks to everyone commenting and voting on my story. 

Fidgeting uncomfortably, my fingers pulled at the uniform that four seamstresses had spent an entire hour working on; turning me, measuring me, and interrogating me about stupid preferences of how tight I wanted the uniform to be. Though that was an entire month ago, and looking back at it, I'm glad they questioned me so much. The metal armor looks and feels great on me.

The tightness reminds me of skinny jeans that wraps around my body from neck to toe. And from far away the cream white scales that wrapped around my shoulders and biceps, then swirling down to my outer thighs, made me seem like a much smaller Rima. Except her white was under her belly and wings.

Flattening the already smooth metal material on my stomach for the hundredth time, a sharp but small pain shot up my finger. I winced, shaking out my wrist while mentally cursing at the pointed metal scales that contrasted the white with a deep red. But before I could get into admiring and cursing at the design of the armor, the entrance doors open.

Rima was the first to enter the room, holding her head high with her wings pulled back just enough to make me smirk at her extra boost of confidence. Her scales of red and white reflects against the light fixtures above like metal that's been polished to the high heavens.

Behind her, Tin, Abraxis, and Sed waddle in. The deep bark brown dragon finds his human quickly, trotting over to Joshua to show off the sheen of his scales. Sed does the same with Blake, whose red hair is the exact opposite to his ocean blue scales and eyes. While my gaze lingers an extra beat on Easton patting Abraxis' snout, my focus moves back to Rima.

"Say it." She muses, lowering her snout down to my face. "I. Look. Amazing."

Grinning, I roll my eyes. "Only about half as good as me. But if you add half and half together it makes a whole. So as a whole we look amazing."

Her laugh sounds more like a deep growl compared to her snickering which is airy and at times almost a chirp. Rima lifts her head, red eyes gleaming with amusement until she snorts. "You're horrible with comebacks AND compliments. How did I ever get stuck with a human like you?"

"One." I shift onto one leg, hand on my hip. "You picked me. And two, shut up."

"Oh my gods, is all of your family this bad with insults?" She sneers, joking until she senses the drop in my heart. The smile pulling at her lips, exposing sharp teeth loosens, taking a pitiful and apologetic smile. "Sorry. I forgot-"

"It's fine." Covering my hurt and anger with a plastered grin, I try unsuccessfully to assure both me and my dragon that my family no longer means anything to me. It's hard to hide my true feelings when a certain dragon can poke through our bond and feel everything I'm experiencing. "I mean I have to face them eventually right?"

Ignoring me, my dragon grows rather uncomfortable with the conflicting emotions, just like I normally would in her situation. But her need to have me understand that my family doesn't deserve someone like me overrules her initial thoughts. She lowers her head until her snout is inches from my face, red eyes peering into mine with concern and her own anger. "Your 'family' disowned you, they threw you out of your own home because they couldn't accept who you are. You didn't have a choice in becoming a rider and they were so stupid they couldn't understand that and still love you. Don't waste your time caring about people who don't care about you."