Page 22 of Wings of Ice and Steel

She whooped, she couldn’t help herself, and the knight called Dantro glanced at her, chuckling, as she scrambled to cling on. There was retching as one of the High Lord’s men emptied his stomach to the sound of disgusted cries, spattering the poor knights behind.

Ariadnne’s wings snapped open last minute in a manoeuvre that shouldn’t be possible for a beast of her size. Nieve lurched, rattling her harness as Ariadnne lowered them gently to the ground.

That was…she… was incredible. Nieve would be the first to admit she didn’t understand the way the shifters changed with their beasts. When asked, Lucius merely gave her the cryptic response that he was his dragon and his dragon was him, but they were also different. She’d love to know how much of the dragon was Ariadnne. Her heart pounded as she peeled her white-knuckled fingers from the leather strap. She wanted to go again.

Josef lowered the rope ladder and worked his way along Ariadnne’s spine, past unbuckling knights, to Lord D’avant and his men, helping them extract themselves from the harness and pick their way along the pearlescent ridge. A tinge of puce coloured their faces, including that of the mighty High Lord. Nieve chuckled and swung her legs over Ariadnne’s shoulder, sliding to the floor and bracing against the inevitable air-legs she’d experience until the ground stopped moving.

Lord D’avant gripped onto Melixanthe’s shoulder. ‘Nearly a hundred miles in just over an hour. I should hire you more often,’ he tried to jest but looked too sick. ‘I’ll be in the command tent, General. Join us as soon as you’ve seen to your knights.’

‘I won’t be long, my lord.’ Melixanthe nodded curtly, marching over to the ground crew to relay orders.

Nieve waited with the other knights at Ariadnne’s side as the camp took shape. The white-haired Gale beside her, Lucile, winked and Nieve let herself smile. Maybe she’d find a place in this company after all, even with guilt chewing at her heels.

They were shooed out of the way as harness engineers descended on Ariadnne, stripping the leather rig to begin the process of checking for faults. Everyone moved with the sharp precision of those used to war. This was their business, after all.

Nieve snuck another glance at the dragon behind her. Ariadnne was as far from Lucius as it was possible to get; where he was squat and stocky, she was long and serpentine. Where he moved with lumbering power, she coiled with delicate grace.

Like the delicate grace of Ariadnne’s sloped neck when she studiously examined her hands. Or the delicate blush that crept up her arched cheekbones each time she caught Nieve looking.

Ariadnne’s draconian head swung around, and this time Nieve was caught staring by a pool of violet larger than her head. Her ear tips warmed as the multi-faceted eye swirled and darkened to a deep indigo—then swung away as the dragon reared to watch the firedrakes land.

Lucius and Regulus were, as always, unabashed by their nudity and didn’t hesitate to transform and eat. Nieve’s blush spread as she wondered if Ariadnne would do the same.

The knights dispersed, but Ariadnne remained where she was. Nieve found herself reluctant to move.

‘You coming?’ Dantro shouted over his shoulder.

Nieve glanced at Ariadnne as the white dragon curled herself, cat-like, at the edge of the camp. A white mountain.

‘She won’t join us,’ Dantro said. ‘She doesn’t like strangers seeing her change. Especially here, with all the soldiers milling around.’ He smiled at Nieve. ‘She’ll be fine, don’t worry.’

‘Okay.’ Nieve joined him as he made his way to the already roaring fire. ‘What will she eat?’

‘The head engineer has already gone to ask for a pig. Why are you so worried?’

Nieve looked back. Ariadnne’s eyes were shut, but the restless twitch of her tail gave her away. She remembered Ariadnne speaking about her lack of choice.

‘Just getting used to the differences.’

She glanced around for her old company, missing them, and immediately spotted Sol glowering from across the fire. Nieve’s collar suddenly felt tight and she took a seat on the makeshift bench between Dantro and a knight who introduced herself as Kayla. Nieve soon learned Kayla had the ability to chat about everything and everyone without asking a single question. Within minutes, Nieve learned that Kayla’s parents had passed away when she was young, leaving her to raise her two brothers herself, and that her bloodline was good, but her parents fortune had passed to an uncle so most of what she earned went to her brothers.

Nieve’s mind was elsewhere. ‘Oh,’ she nodded politely, accepting the bowl a servant held out. The porridge was scalding, and she burnt her mouth on the first bite. She grimaced and excused herself to grab a cup of water. However, instead of the water barrel, her feet led her back to the ‘slumbering’ bulk of Ariadnne—whose tail still twitched.

‘Hey.’

The nearest eye flickered open, and a smile tickled the corner of Nieve’s mouth. Awake. She knew it. She gestured with her bowl to the floor by Ariadnne’s head.

‘Do you mind if I sit?’

She wasn’t sure if this was correct etiquette, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how Ariadnne was alone and probably worried about the coming fight.

About how Melixanthe had called her ‘green’.

Ariadnne lifted her head off the ground, eyes swirling. She nodded.

‘Is that a ‘yes, I mind awfully’ nod?’ Nieve teased her. ‘Or a ‘please sit and talk my ear off’ nod?’

Ariadnne snorted, but she didn’t look inclined to push her away.