I gave a big shove and rolled out from under him, jumping to my feet and lighting the grass all around him on fire.
He lit an even larger area of grass on fire.
“Fine.” I punched him with air and, for good measure, sent an air spear under him before shifting its trajectory so it cut upward. I didn’t have to deliver the pain in person. I kept forgetting about that.
The dragon howled, and blood poured down from his belly in a steady gush.
“Oh shit—” I grabbed him in a vise of air and ran under him, the strain from holding him in place covering my forehead with a sheen of sweat. He roared, and I felt his anger, pain, and surprise. “Let’s remember who started this.”
The blood was only dripping now, the cut already healing. Good—dragons healed like vampires. I closed the gash with air before running back out, releasing my hold on him but leaving my air bandage. It probably didn’t help all that much, but it was all I could think to do.
His head, half the size of my body, dipped until his eyes were even with mine, fifteen feet away. Too close, but I didn’t want to look like a coward and back up.
Deep yellow eyes with black irises surveyed me, his focus beating into me, his magic now warming me from the inside out. He huffed, and steam washed through the air between us. His head dipped a little more.
Your magic is unknown to me, he thought, and I nearly peed myself.
A dragon was speaking to me!
Dragons could speak, and one was speaking to me!
I grinned like a lunatic and nodded like a fool. “I’m different.”
The dragon had washed away every ounce of cool I possessed. Now I knew what Penny always felt like.
He didn’t move, and it seemed like he was waiting for something. I remembered what Lucifer had told me about the bonding, something I’d witnessed with Cahal and his dragon, and hoped I hadn’t hurt the dragon too badly for what came next.
Barely able to contain my excitement, I ran and jumped, using my hovering abilities to keep me airborne for longer. I landed on his shoulders and quickly turned, slinging my legs to the sides of his neck and hoping he didn’t call out psych! and kill me on the spot.
The great wings pumped, lifting us up immediately, leaving the ground.
“Oh my God, is this really happening?” I giggled like a little girl as we climbed up and up, zooming into the air faster than I would have thought possible.
I am Archion. I have been waiting for a creature worthy of my flight.
The air whipped around me, and I was so glad I’d fixed that glitch. This wouldn’t be the same without wind making my eyes water. I fashioned air glasses.
I’m Reagan. Reagan Somerset. Of the Brink. If I didn’t get a hold of myself, I was going to punch myself in the face. Unicorns were cool, but unicorns didn’t want to give people rides and they didn’t talk. Or fly.
This was blowing my mind. Cahal missing this? He was so going to say, You told me so. Maybe I was still going mad, but that didn’t change how right I was about the dragons.
What are you, Reagan Somerset? Archion asked. I know your magic, and I also do not. It is incredibly powerful. I think I have gotten lucky with your choice in me.
I might’ve preened a little at that.
I’m only half from the Underworld, on my father’s side.
Lucifer.
Yeah, good guess.
Not a guess. Part of your magic is just like his. It is the other part, the one that makes you more, that I do not know. Is it Brink magic?
He banked hard left, and I caught sight of a sparkly pink spot up ahead.
Oh. I leaned forward and pointed even though my finger was still mostly behind his great head and he wouldn’t be able to see it. Can you catch up to that one? My friend is riding it. Her. The pink dragon. With my friend.
That was it. Punch in the face warranted. How did Penny get through life?
Her name is Coppelia. And it would be my pleasure.
He straightened out like an arrow, and if we’d been in a movie, he would have shouted, Hold on! as he darted forward. His wings beat fast and hard, incredibly powerful. My grin was so wide that it stretched my face.
It’s godly magic, on my mother’s side, I thought as we blasted through the air. Another dragon, yellows and oranges, almost lost to the sky, glittered way off to the right.
Godly magic. I am not familiar with that. It is jarring, the feel of it. I like it.
Yeah, I liked the warmth seeping into my middle from his magic, too. Comforting and energizing and so freaking cool. I was riding a dragon!