The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) by Dan Michaelson (best free ereader TXT) 📕

the Djarn that we brought to the city. Nothing all that exciting. I’m not even sure why we had to make the journey, but I’m glad we did.”

We paused, and in the distance, the palace stretched before us. I didn’t know if I were the one who had guided us here or if it had been Joran. Both of us tended to wander in the same direction, almost as if we were pulled, some invisible bands dragging us forward, summoning us away from the rest of the city. In the distance, I could see the power stretching, some part of it that was rising around, making me all too aware of what was up there.

“Do you think there are others in the city who might have that potential?” Joran asked.

I looked over. “Like you?”

He offered a hint of a smile. “There was a time that I think I would have wanted to have been given the opportunity to become a dragon rider. Anything more than that was impossible to even conceive of. I could never even imagine the idea of becoming a dragon mage. But here you are. And out in our part of the world, a place where the king rarely sends anyone, I can’t help but wonder if there might be others who have that ability, but will never have the chance to develop it.”

“It’s possible,” I said.

“Not just possible,” he said. “From what you have described, it would have to be probable, wouldn’t it?”

“There’s a reason they came out beyond the forest, out to the plains, and almost to the Wilds. They must have known that there were others who had some potential out there. Whether or not they knew that it was going to be us, or that they would even find anyone, they believed there was something out there.”

“Exactly,” he said. “And that makes me wonder. How many others are out there like you and your sister?”

I didn’t know, and what was more, I didn’t know what to tell him. Maybe there were others out there who had the ability to use dragon power. Not only people like me, or perhaps my father, maybe even Alison, had she been interested—and willing—to come to the Academy, but there was the potential of the Djarn.

I had felt the strangeness when surrounded by the Djarn.

“What has your father been doing in the city?” I asked.

He shrugged. “He doesn’t talk about it. He’s been trying to find a few different things, working his way through the market, and has been more than happy to let me wander. Especially since he knew you were here. He figured we’d want to spend time together.”

“He needs to be careful,” I said. “With whatever’s happening with the Djarn, your father needs to be careful. I don’t want him to get pulled into something that might draw him into danger.”

He started to smile. “I think my father knows how to manage.”

I considered telling him how I wasn’t so sure, or that there might be something amiss, especially given my experience, but I didn’t want to taint the time we had left.

“Why don’t we visit a few of the other shops here?”

“You want to keep me away from the Academy?”

“Maybe I should. I have enough trouble the way it is.”

He shook his head. “You keep saying that, but I have a hard time thinking that you, of all people, would have trouble with anyone.”

“There are quite a few people here, especially in the Academy, who seem to think their family connections mean they have reason to act like bullies.”

“You know how to handle a bully though,” he said. “Remember when we went to Berestal when we were no more than 14 or 15, before your brother and father were injured,” he said, glancing over to me, as if to see how I might react, “and we came across that little shit who thought to push us around during one of the festivals.”

I smiled at him. “I remember that well.”

“And you remember what you did?”

“It didn’t take much,” I said. I’d sat on him. I had treated him like I would treat a difficult animal.

“Do the same thing with anybody who gives you any trouble here,” he said. “Knock them in the teeth, tie them up if you have to, and make sure they know that you aren’t about to be trifled with.”

“I wish you could stay,” I said to him.

“I think I would only get in the way,” he said. “And besides, this suits you. At least, it seems to suit you. Maybe it doesn’t, and I don’t know anything. Just don’t get too caught up in thinking that the king, his dragon mages, the Academy, and all of this are the only answers there are in the world.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you know my mother and sister. They aren’t the dangerous Vard you think them to be.”

I nodded. I didn’t know enough about the Vard. Certainly not enough to know if they were dangerous. “I know.”

“And you know my father. He wouldn’t bargain with the Djarn if there were anything for you to worry about there, either.”

“I suppose.”

“And I guess what I’m saying is: find your own answers.”

I smiled at him. We wandered for much of the afternoon, until he had to leave. Saying goodbye to Joran was difficult. He promised to send word, and I promised to visit, but both of us questioned how easy that would be. There was something leisurely about the time that I spent with him. It was certainly less of an abrupt departure than what we had when I had left him in the forest and gone with Manuel, but it was still not an easy change.

As I returned from the city, I approached the Academy slowly. I glanced over to the dragon pens, looking for any movement, but other than noticing the dragons inside, I didn’t see anything there. It seemed as if there were not nearly as many dragons as there should be. But then,