Violet Stormwing's Arc

Chapter 1 of 46

Six riders had tried to bond with the black dragon. Six riders were dead. Violet Stormwing stood at the edge of its stone pen, close enough to smell blood in the straw, and knew she would be the seventh if she moved the way they had. The dragon watched her from the far wall. Its wing hung wrong, healed crooked over an old wound. Every time she shifted her weight, it dropped its head and hissed. She had tamed more dragons than any rider in the clifftop fortress. None had looked at her like this. This one did not want a master. It wanted her gone. "You're standing too close," a soft voice said behind her. Theo Fairweather leaned against the pen's iron gate, not touching it. He wore a pressed vest and an easy smile, the same smile he gave the lord in every meeting. Violet did not trust men who smiled at dangerous things. He had never ridden a dragon in his life. "Then step in and show me the safe distance," she said. He laughed and stayed where he was. "The others charged in with ropes. They tried to break it." He drew something from his vest and held it out. A leather collar, cracked and stained, a small bell still fixed to it. "This was on it when the last lord's men caught it. It was tame once. Someone kept it. Then someone hurt it and left this behind." Violet took the collar. The bell gave a dull, cracked note. Across the pen, the dragon froze. Its ears turned toward the sound. It stopped hissing. "Why give me this?" she asked. "Because ropes killed six riders," Theo said. "I'd rather bet on the one who reads the animal." He held her eyes a moment too long, then looked away. She could not tell if he wanted her to win or wanted a witness when she failed. Violet turned back to the dragon. She did not step forward. She knelt in the dirt, set the collar on the ground between them, and rang the bell once more. Then she waited. The dragon lowered its head. It dragged its broken wing across the straw and crossed the pen, slow, testing each step. It stopped an arm's length away and pressed its nose to the old collar. A low sound came from its chest, not a hiss. Violet reached out and laid her palm flat on its warm scales. It did not pull back. The bond held. Behind her, Theo's easy smile was gone. He straightened off the gate and watched the dragon accept her hand, and something new moved across his face. Not relief. Calculation. "Well," he said quietly. "The lord will want to hear about this before anyone else does." He walked out fast. Violet held the dragon's gaze and understood the collar had bought her the dragon's trust and Theo something she did not yet know the price of.