The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2), Dan Michaelson [best books to read all time .txt] 📗

“What was that?” I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning at him.

“You heard me. I just said it took you long enough.” He smirked at me, getting to his feet and taking a step toward me. I didn’t move. Men—or boys, really—like Brandel needed to be handled in a certain way.

I glanced over at the others. Jameth and Rohda watched, and I could sense an almost excited energy from them. They wanted Brandel to take action. Unless I was careful, this wasn’t going to end well for anyone here, least of all me.

“What do you know about it?” I asked Brandel.

He shrugged. “I know you were sent on a test,” he said, glancing over at Jameth and then Rohda, the grin on his face widening. I had to force myself to take steadying breaths to keep from getting too annoyed with him. “And I know that it took you . . . what? Most of the day?”

I stared at him. “So?”

He shrugged. “Do you even care to know what it typically takes someone?”

“Not particularly,” I said.

“You wouldn’t,” Rohda said, sneering at me.

I looked over to her. “Have I done something to offend you?” I asked her.

Brandel grunted, and he took a step closer to me. He was only a pace away now, and I looked at him. He was about my height, and unfortunately, also about my build. If it were to come down to an actual physical confrontation, it was possible that I wouldn’t be able to handle him the way I would want.

Not that I intended to get into a physical confrontation with Brandel.

It was more than just the fact that we might be evenly matched. It was also his connection to magic. He was far better connected to the dragon magic than I was, and with that, he would have very little difficulty handling me. Using power against another student wasn’t permitted within the Dragon Academy, but that didn’t stop people like Brandel from doing so in subtle ways.

“You’ve offended all of us,” Brandel said, watching me. “You being here. You should go back to the Wilds where you belong.”

There was the common insult I got from them. If only I were from the Wilds. “I’m not from the Wilds.”

He snorted. “Near enough.” He stepped up to me, and I could feel the stench of his hot breath on my face. “Do you know what we say about the people from the Wilds?”

“That you wish you could be more like them?”

Jameth barked out a laugh, but he cut it off as soon as Rohda glared at him.

“That we would cut them down for the way they’ve interacted with the kingdom.”

I shook my head and went to turn away when Brandel grabbed my arm. I jerked it free.

“I’d be careful, Ashan,” he sneered.

“Go ahead and be careful,” I said.

“No. You need to be careful.”

“And why is that?”

“Do you know what happens to students here who don’t succeed?”

“They go back home,” I said. I shook my head at him, having nothing more to say. What was the point, anyway? If I failed at the Academy, and failed at becoming a dragon rider, at worst, I would just return home.

I had long ago resigned myself to the fact that I would be a farmer, and it wasn’t even a life that I would resent. I enjoyed time on the farm, working with the livestock, and didn’t have any problem with that expectation for me.

These others . . . by the way they said that failures had to return home, I could tell that whatever life they had left was quite a bit worse than mine had been.

It should make me feel some measure of sympathy for them.

Brandel glowered at me, though he said nothing more.

I spun away, heading down the hall into my room. As I closed the door behind me, I couldn’t help but feel how strange it was that I was more isolated here than I ever had been while living on the plains, despite being in a city with so many people and attending an Academy where I was supposed to learn about my connection to the dragons.

I didn’t belong here.

At the same time, I needed to be here.

4

The training hall spread out before me. It was an enormous structure, a room within the Academy where we gathered to work with the instructors, and a place where I had come to feel uncomfortable. I wanted to fit in within the Academy, but it had become increasingly obvious that I did not.

So many of the people who came to the Academy had talent already. While I might have a connection to the dragons, or dragon, I didn't necessarily have anything else. That connection made a difference. Those who had such a connection used it in ways that allowed them to demonstrate their power, but it was more than that. They used it in order for them to prove that they were worthy.

Dragon mage worthy.

I might be able to feel the heat in my belly and detect something guiding me, sharing with me that there was something else I could or couldn’t do, but that was all I could feel at this point.

I stayed in the back, looking at the others. Brandel remained close to the front of the chamber, talking to others on his level, like Cara and Dominic, both of whom seemed to belong in the Academy far more than I did. Brandel always had others with him, and they leaned forward, hanging on every word.

"He can be a bastard, but he's skilled enough," the voice said behind me.

I turned to see Ames standing there.

He was younger than me, and had been at the Academy for quite a bit longer. Much like so many who came to the Academy, I suspected Ames had been here since he was young, when he had first demonstrated his connection and talent with the dragons, and had proven that he had