The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3), Dan Michaelson [books to read now TXT] 📗

“I’m not trying to cause trouble here,” I said. “I guess I just hoped to be a greater part of things.”

“You don’t feel as if you are?

“I feel like I’ve been told I’m important to the king, and the role I play is important, but I also feel as if when I want to be involved, I’m told otherwise.”

With everything I had encountered in the kingdom and the dangers that had occurred, and now with my connection to the dragons, I wanted to help the kingdom. I felt my connection should enable me to do something more. It should enable me to be a dragon mage. Wasn’t that what I wanted?

“It’s a dangerous game,” Thomas said, his voice lowered. “And I think those who understand the nature of it are trying to protect those who don’t.”

“Why must it be a game at all?” I asked.

Thomas frowned at me. “I didn’t mean it was—”

I shook my head. “I’m not trying to challenge you, Thomas. I’m trying to let you know I can be a part of more than what I’ve been permitted so far.” If the Vard were going to attack, then I needed to help as much as I could. “I’m concerned about my family,” I said. “It’s something Manuel and Thomas both mentioned. They said the Vard were moving, and there was some danger to them, and that—”

“Manuel is always concerned about the Vard moving around the perimeter of the kingdom,” Thomas said. “That’s the purpose of the Hunters. They need to prove their worth, and part of how they do so is by showing they can make a difference when it comes to the attacks. They need to sniff out, as it were, anything that might befall the kingdom.”

I didn’t have that feeling from Manuel. In fact, I didn’t have the feeling that he wanted to sniff out anything, only that he was trying to serve the kingdom in the same way Thomas did.

“You don’t think we have to be concerned about the Vard attacking the outskirts of the kingdom?”

“Is that what he told you?”

“He told me about an attack on the edge of the kingdom years ago.”

Thomas shook his head. “He should not have spoken of that.”

“You don’t want me to know?”

“It has nothing to do with me wanting you to know. It has everything to do with whether or not there is any value in discussing it. It happened so long ago that it does not matter. Not anymore. All that matters is that we continue to protect the kingdom.”

“If the king . . .”

I realized what I was saying and lowered my voice before looking around. I was having a debate with Thomas inside the Academy, a place where others already wanted to discredit me, which meant I had to be careful here. I knew all too well what Brandel might do if he were to hear this conversation. He would use it against me, and whether it would be effective or not was a different matter. Brandel’s comments shouldn’t matter, and it shouldn’t be effective against me, especially given what I had done on behalf of the kingdom already, but it might matter to him.

“You were saying?” Thomas said.

I shook my head, looking around me. “I wasn’t trying to say anything. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Perhaps not.” Thomas glanced toward the door. I followed the direction of his gaze and saw Eleanor watching us.

“If something is taking place, I want to be a part of it,” I said.

“I understand what you want, but I’m not convinced it’s necessary,” he said.

“Because it’s happening outside the city?”

“Yes. And you’re not ready.”

“If I could get ready?”

The instructors hadn’t shared with me what I needed to do to eventually serve independently as a dragon mage. Maybe now was a time to ask that question. I hadn’t been here long enough for me to feel as if I should be given that autonomy, but I was getting closer.

“If you could get ready, then perhaps. As it is, we need those who are fully trained to handle any Vard threat.”

I was less concerned about the Vard than I was about the possibility of others infiltrating us, but I would let Thomas think I shared his concern. “Where are they moving?”

Thomas shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to reveal that.”

“Because you don’t want to, or because you can’t?”

Thomas watched me for a moment, saying nothing.

“I see,” I said. “This is something you don’t want me to be a part of.”

“I wouldn’t want you to be a part of what happened in the city before,” he said. “But I did what was necessary.” He looked as if he wanted to walk away without talking about it any further.

“I’m not convinced it was,” I told him.

“It’s a good thing you don’t make decisions on behalf of the king,” he said.

I opened my mouth to say something more, but Thomas spun, then headed up and out of the main level of the Academy, into the upper levels. I was tempted to follow, but decided against it. There wasn’t much point in that now anyway. As I turned away, I caught sight of Eleanor and decided I didn’t want to visit with her, either.

That left me with only one option. I took the stairs into the lower level of the Academy and found myself in the massive chamber where I began to practice.

What else did I have to do?

Thomas didn’t want to include me, and Manuel had left me worried about my family, even though I wasn’t sure if I really did need to be concerned about them. I stood in the center of the room, feeling the flow of dragon magic working through me, swirling from me to the dragons, then back.

I was acutely aware of the addition of the other dragons now, as if standing here, using the power I was holding, had somehow shifted things for me, making me much more aware of the way that power flowed.