Threshing Day (The Empyrean, #3.5) — Chapter no 6

632 AU Cuir—Green Swordtail (Male) Descended from the Uaineloidsig Line

Estimated Age: 59 Recorded Riders: 1

—THE COMPENDIUM OF DRAGONKIND, LAST UPDATED BY COLONEL VALIN KAORI

BODHI

“Any last questions?” I ask, making pointed eye contact with each of the three marked ones. My heart beats wildly as we stand at the edge of the forest, but I keep my facial expression neutral. Telling them I’m terrified, too, isn’t going to help our cause, and while dragons enjoy deference, they tend to make overly scared cadets crispy.

And if there’s one thing I’ve gotten good at, it’s keeping my feelings to myself.

“Watch your backs for petty cadets bearing grudges. Find your dragons.

Don’t die. Pretty sure that sums it up.” Imogen Cardulo blows a strand of short pink hair out of her eyes before leveling me with a look that says my pre-Threshing motivational speech wasn’t all that motivating.

Can’t blame her. I’m not exactly a leader, nor have I ever wanted to be one. My cousin, Xaden, got all the inspirational, magnetic genes in the family, and I received whatever was left over. Usually, I’m perfectly fine with the distribution of our talents. He was born to lead the duchy of Aretia, and that kind of magnetism doesn’t fade just because Navarre stripped my uncle of his title before they executed him and my parents in the same manner as our city. I’m skilled at keeping everything running in the background so Xaden can be free to do Xaden-like shit. I’m also really damn good at keeping Xaden from being too much…Xaden. It’s a fine balance between supporting my cousin and making sure his ruthless ass doesn’t end up executed, too.

Most days, I’m content with that role. But today, I’d love to have an ounce of the confidence that landed him Sgaeyl, making him one of the most powerful riders in the quadrant as a second-year. Today, I’d love to have the power he does to inspire others and take away my friends’ fear.

But more than anything, just for today, I want to walk into this forest as my own man, to be seen as more than Xaden Riorson’s cousin.

As it is, sometimes I feel like I’m one of Kaori’s projections of Xaden; I resemble him enough to earn both hatred and respect, depending on who’s looking, but lack the power to make the same impact he does.

But I told Xaden I’d lead the others when I can, and Durrans don’t go back on their word. I promised my father I never would, and I meant it.

“I think we’ve got it,” Ciaran agrees, his complexion a little ruddier than normal today.

“Good—” I spare a glance over his shoulder at where Colonel Aetos is talking to his son, and my heart rate skyrockets when I catch the colonel watching us. “We need to break this up. Now.” We’re at an official quadrant event, but the four of us being alone together lands us in a gray area when it comes to the Code of Conduct.

The others look back and all of them tense, even Imogen.

“Stick to the west,” I remind them. “We’ll meet up tonight.”

We nod at one another, then split up, heading into the shaded forest. I take the westernmost path as instructed, and the others disappear behind the

countless varieties of trees.

“You did well with the speech.”

“For fuck’s sake!” My hand flies to the center of my chest as Xaden appears at my side as though he’d been walking there the entire time. I shake my head. “You have to stop doing that.” He’s become a menace with those shadows of his, but I’m grateful for the cover they provide when we need secrecy. Which is pretty much always around here.

“Do I, though?” His smirk fades quickly. “I mean it. You did well with the others. Ciaran left with more conviction than he arrived with.”

“I could have done better, but I’m not you.” It comes out a little more petulant than I’d prefer.

“No one asked you to be.” He shoots me a look, then grasps my shoulders and turns me, stopping us in the middle of the forest. His eyes bore into mine as he leans down slightly, bringing our gazes level. “Bodhi, no one asks, expects, or wants you to be me.”

“Yeah.” I force a quick, easy grin. “Of course. Only if you die, right?”

Naturally, he sees straight through it.

“I’m not going to die, and even if I did, we’re no longer held to the heir and spare positions.” He lifts the eyebrow Sgaeyl scarred last year. “We have no title to defend anymore, remember?”

“True.” I sigh. “But the council—”

“Fuck the council. I’m doing more than enough to keep them happy.”

He clasps the back of my neck. “You are exceptional, and worth a thousand of me. You are calm when I’m unreasonable and steady when I’m volatile.

You inherited every admirable quality of your mother’s while I seem to have acquired every disreputable one from my father.” He lets me go, then ruffles the tight curls on the top of my head like we’re kids again. “Being too much like me would only detract from your excellence.”

“Thanks.” My barely there smile is genuine this time, and we begin walking again, heading deeper into the forest. That’s another skill he’s developed in the last year that I lack—the gift of saying whatever someone needs to hear at the exact moment they need to hear it. “You’re not supposed to be out here, you know.”

“I’m observing.” His shrug raises, then lowers the swords he keeps strapped to his back.

I prefer mine at my hip. “Not interfering?”

“As if I would ever break the Codex when no one’s looking,” he quips sarcastically.

“So you’re just observing me?” My back stiffens. “Why? Because you don’t think I’ll make it on my own?”

“No,” he counters. “I’m just here to pass a mess—” He throws his hand in front of me, effectively halting our steps, and his head swings left.

A second later, I hear voices approaching from the southeast.

Fuck, even Xaden’s hearing is better than mine.

“I just don’t think it’s fair that they get the same chances we do,” a guy whines as he walks with three other cadets from First Wing. I know that voice. It’s the cadet who broke Norwood’s nose during breakfast a few days ago. He and his friends have made the lives of the marked ones in First Wing painful.

Shadows swirl around Xaden and me as we move quietly to the shelter of the nearest tree.

“Their parents nearly tore this kingdom apart,” a girl agrees.

Awesome. They’re talking about us. My jaw clenches. If they had any idea what’s really happening beyond our borders, maybe they’d understand the choices our parents made.

“Right?” the first replies. “And now they have two squad leaders. Can you imagine graduating and being put under the command of a fucking separatist’s kid?”

Xaden’s mouth quirks upward, and I fight a grin.

The fact that both he and Garrick are squad leaders in our wing may aggravate the shit out of the Navarrians, but it’s a point of pride to those of us who wear rebellion relics. Only exceptional cadets are chosen to be squad leaders, and knowing Xaden and Garrick have both risen to leadership gives hope to the rest of us that we won’t be judged only on the actions of our parents but might be allowed to stand on our own merit.

We didn’t choose to be here, but we can make our own decisions now that we are.

“It’s bad enough to have one Riorson in charge, but his doppelgänger is coming up through Fourth Wing right underneath him,” another girl complains, their voices growing louder as they come closer.

My smile slips. Do Xaden and I look alike? Sure, that’s genetics. But we have different eyes, complexions, hair, and builds. He’s got two inches

and at least twenty pounds on me.

Xaden catches my eye, lifts his hand, then points toward the south, where flashes of red peek through the dense trees. A Red Scorpiontail is approaching. I stare at the glistening ruby scales and focus inward, trying to locate whatever Kaori insists we’ll feel when we know a particular dragon is ours.

“And you know they’re helping each other,” the first guy mutters.

“Durran fights just like Riorson. It’s why he hasn’t lost a single challenge yet.”

Both Xaden and I grin. Fine. That’s true. I can’t wait to see their faces when Liam gets here next year and destroys them all on the mat. Xaden spent years training him. My fingers skim the newly sewn Gauntlet patch on my chest. I bet Liam wears one just like this next year, too. He’s the best of us.

The red appears fully, stepping into the wide space between two trees, and my heartbeat falters as it growls at the cadets. Kaori’s projections are great, but they don’t come close to capturing how menacing, how petrifying they are up close. Or how many teeth they have.

“Relax,” Xaden whispers. “It’s not going to scorch you.”

Like that’s supposed to comfort me?

“How the fuck would you know?” I reply just as quietly.

The cadets turn as a group to face the red, and the first fool draws a sword.

“We’re supposed to approach from the right!” the girl insists, darting to

the right.

No, no. Reds prefer the left.

The dragon tracks the movement, then lifts a single claw and smashes the cadet straight into the ground with a nauseating series of crunching

sounds.

Oh, fuck.

“Stupid,” Xaden whispers, but he doesn’t move.

We should warn them about being in a group. Even if they hate us for existing, it’s the right thing to do. I open my mouth— “Desi!” the guy with the sword shouts.

The dragon curls its tongue, and fire erupts from its mouth, streaming out in a flow that reminds me of lava. The cadets don’t even have time to scream before they’re cremated. Smoke drifts from the vicinity of where

they stood as the dragon huffs once, then turns west.

Just like that, four cadets are dead.

“And that’s why you don’t approach in groups,” Xaden says. “Norwood will sleep easier tonight.”

I take a single step beyond the tree and watch the scorpiontail depart.

“Let’s go.”

“What if it’s mine?” I continue watching the red flick its tail.

“It’s not,” he says with such certainty that I turn back to face him, lifting

my brows.

“According to whom?”

“Sgaeyl.” He pushes off the tree and strides right past me. “Come on, Cuir is waiting for you.”

“Cuir?” I repeat like a fucking bird, chasing after my cousin. My mind races through the list of willing dragons. “Green Swordtail?”

“Yes,” he says as I catch up. “Sgaeyl says Cuir is waiting for you in a field to the south.”

Too many emotions flood my body to catalog them all, but I register the burst of joy that I’ve been chosen and an inexplicable pang of… something…that I’m being told. “What, like Sgaeyl chose my dragon for me?”

Xaden scoffs. “She’s not one to play matchmaker. She’s just conveying the information.”

“That’s not normal.” My hands fist at my sides.

“This”—Xaden gestures to the rebellion relic on his left arm—“makes everything out here abnormal when it comes to us. I can’t explain it.”

“I think you can.” I keep up with him, only because I know he’ll leave me behind if I try to prove a point by stopping and waiting for an answer he obviously doesn’t want to give. There is no match in the world for his stubbornness, except for maybe Sgaeyl. “You are the only family I have left. You’re closer to a brother than you are a cousin. So fucking tell me.”

He glances my way as we approach the field, then nods. “There’s a chance that the dragons willing to fight this war with us are seeking out riders with rebellion relics.”

“Of course they’re willing to fight Poromiel, otherwise they wouldn’t

bond—” My words die. “Oh. You mean…”

“Yes.”

My chest draws tight. “Are you saying the choices are already made for

us?” Gods, is everything about my life decided by other fucking people?

“It’s just a theory,” he says quickly, his gaze darting toward mine.

“Sgaeyl told me about Cuir because she knows I worry—” He grimaces.

“That’s not true. Sometimes I think she relishes in me worrying. She knows I won’t leave the forest until you bond, and Garrick and I have somewhere we need to be.” He throws up a finger. “I will tell you about that after you bond.”

“One day your inability to be entirely truthful with someone is going to bite you in the ass.”

“Doubtful. My ability to keep secrets keeps people alive.” The leaves rustle on a sulfur-scented wind. “But I will tell you I’m going to need your help.”

My chest swells with a sense of purpose, and I nod. “I’ll do whatever you need.”

“I know.” We share a look and continue toward the field where my future waits.

I almost never get to see him alone anymore, especially with the addendum in place, so I take advantage of the situation. “Are you going to see Cat? Is that where you have to be?”

“Fuck no.” He grimaces. “I spend as little time with her as possible. It’s not worth the trip when all we do is annoy the shit out of each other. I don’t know how much longer…” He rips his hand over his hair. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You deserve to be happy,” I say quietly, and somehow it feels like the loudest thing I could have said in a forest full of dragons.

“What is this elusive happiness of which you speak?” He scans the forest around us, ever on guard.

“I think it’s love.” I nod to myself. “Like what my parents had. Love and family and a future beyond all the misery—or at least someone who

makes the misery worth it.”

“I like that for you.”

“I like that for you, too.” My hands curl into fists again. “I hate that you’re betrothed to someone you won’t have that with. Hate that you had no say in the matter. Most days I wake up just wishing it would all…stop.”

“The betrothal?” His brow furrows.

“The wars. The fighting. The powerlessness, including your betrothal.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Bodhi.” He drapes his arm over my

shoulder. “I’m the one who’s responsible for you, remember?”

“All I do is worry about you,” I blurt. “You think I don’t see what this place is turning you into? I barely recognized you when I showed up in July. You hardly ever smile anymore. You almost never laugh. I’ve seen you kill on the mat when a knockout would have sufficed, and you didn’t warn those first-years that the red was going to bake them because they were in a group. You should break the betrothal. Fuck whatever agreement Uncle Fen made. I’ll back you with the council. You know I’ll do it. I’ll keep my word.”

Durrans always keep their word. Dad’s voice slides through my memory.

“I know you will. It’s not the betrothal changing me.” Xaden squeezes me once in a half hug, then drops his arm. “And does it really matter what I become if it means you’re safe? Garrick? Liam? Imogen? Sloane? Soleil—”

“You don’t have to list every marked one,” I counter as we approach the line of trees surrounding the field. “I get the point.”

“You don’t.” He pauses, then pins me in place with a look that instills fear in most of the quadrant. “But you will. Because you didn’t warn those cadets, either. Not that I give a shit, but I’m bound by Codex not to interfere, so what’s your excuse?”

My mouth snaps shut. A pit hollows my stomach because he’s right, even if I don’t want to admit it. I could have stepped out and said something to those cadets.

He looks up to the sky, takes a long breath, and then looks at me again.

“This place changes everyone, including you.”

“We can choose not to let it,” I whisper.

“If we don’t change, we die.” His expression softens into something akin to pity.

“What would our parents think?” My pulse pounds as I turn away from my cousin and walk into the field.

“Our parents would think those cadets had already been warned by Kaori, and it was their choice not to listen to guidance. We can’t save everyone, Bodhi,” Xaden calls after me.

A big Blue Clubtail that isn’t on Kaori’s list waits in the center of the field, standing at its full height. Its claws flex on the ground and, above a scar that bisects its snout, its golden eyes narrow on me.

“Bodhi—” Xaden’s words die from the edge of the field behind me.

“Oh, fuck. Not that one.”

It’s not the green I’ve been told I’m going to bond.

Fuck it. I’m done having my choices made for me. I may not be a Riorson by name, but I am by blood, and I can handle a blue. I break into a full sprint, my arms pumping as my feet devour the distance across the

field.

“Bodhi!” Xaden shouts. “No!”

Three things seem to happen all at once.

The blue lowers its head and opens its enormous jaw, tongue curling, fire welling in the back of its throat. Shadows rush the ground in front of me. And I realize I may have just made the biggest mistake of my life and am about to pay for it.

I throw out my arms in front of me like they have a chance of saving me from the impending inferno, and my mother’s face flashes in my mind.

This is bigger than any one of us, Bodhi. She held me so tight, as if she could squeeze a lifetime of love into me if she tried hard enough. If we stand by while evil consumes the most innocent of us, we will deserve what happens when it reaches our own doors. Stay close to Xaden. He’ll protect you, and you’ll keep him in balance. You need each other.

I close my eyes as the fire roars in my direction, remembering the scent of lilacs, her perfume, the last kiss she pressed onto my forehead before walking into battle with my father. I may meet Malek, but I’ll get to see my parents, too. Heat kisses my face.

Forgive me, Xaden. He risked everything, gave everything, and I threw it away.

A vise squeezes my ribs, and I’m yanked off my feet as death comes for me. Wind rushes and heat blasts beneath me, rising quickly.

My eyes fly open and the air in my lungs gushes out. The ground falls away, and the fireball dissipates as I’m pulled higher and higher into the sky, held between two immovable green talons.

Cuir.

“I know what agency means to you, what has been taken from you.” A light, mellow male voice cuts into me, and a feeling like home clicks into place. “I will always give you a choice.”

Holy shit, I’m not dead. I throw my arms over the talon that’s curved around my torso and hold tight.

“But I will not always respect or accept that choice,” he warns as we

soar. “So choose now, Bodhi Durran. You may climb and accept this bond, or you may fall to a swift reunion with the parents you miss so dearly.”

What the fuck was I thinking, charging after a dragon who hadn’t instigated a bond?

“I will not hold blame over you for your misstep, but I will not tolerate a rejection, so decide. Now.” His tone is at complete odds with his words.

“I’ll climb!” I shove up on his talon, and he loosens it just enough for me to heave myself onto the top of his claw. He leaves it level, giving me a platform to steady my feet as I grab for the top of the first scale.

“You have until the time we reach the others.”

Nothing like a deadline to get me moving faster. This is completely different from the Gauntlet, is nothing they prepared us for, but I’m excellent at adjusting when things don’t go my way. Scale by scale, I climb Cuir’s leg, fighting the wind and gravity as he takes us toward the flight field.

“Why me?” I shout into the wind as I approach the knob of his shoulder, fighting every instinct to stare up at his wings with wonder.

“Because you seek power to end harm, instead of the means for victory.” He tucks his forelegs underneath him, and I’m left dangling hundreds of feet above the ground. “And that is a unique quality among riders.”

Digging my fingers into the back edge of his scales, I pull myself up with excruciating slowness. The muscles of my shoulders, arms, chest all scream in protest, but I make it. My toes gain leverage on the bottom of his shoulder, and I scramble the rest of the way to the top, gasping for breath.

He banks left, and my body weight drags me across the base of his neck.

“You could make this easier!” I call out, throwing myself flat against his spine so I don’t fly right off the other side of him.

“You could have not tried to bond another dragon.”

Fair point. I move toward the seat, using a motion that’s far more slithering than it could be called crawling. My patches catch on his scales as I pull myself forward, then slide over the hard lump of pommel scale.

“Your climbing skills are superior to your reasoning skills,” Cuir lectures. He levels out, and I tuck my knees underneath me to turn in the seat.

“I know.” I settle into position and notice the dark smears on the

pommel scales. Locking my thighs, I lift my hands, and pain rips up my arms as I notice I’ve torn bleeding holes in the tips of my fingers from the climb.

“I surmise it will not be the last time you bleed from my back if you prove as reckless as you’ve demonstrated today. And to think I waited to bond again until this year for you.”

From the look of our approach, I’ve gained my seat just in time for his deadline. We’ll make it back to the flight field in the next few minutes. I can already see the dragons lined up on the edge of the hill to watch and the others flying at various altitudes around us.

“I’m not reck—” I stop myself before I lie. “I’ll work on it.”

“See that you do. My choices are now tied to yours.” He begins the descent to the flight field, and it hits me in full for the first time.

He’s really chosen me.

Out of every rider in the valley, I’m his selection.

He could have bonded last year. He could have chosen Xaden like everyone does.

“I will choose you every day until your death or your demise,” Cuir says.

Aren’t those the same things? I swallow the swelling knot of emotion in my throat. “I’ll choose you over everyone.” It’s a promise I don’t take lightly. “Durrans don’t break their word.” I grin, thinking of my father.

Then I throw my head back to the sun as Cuir and I cut through the sky. I can keep both promises I’ve made to my parents. I’m a rider now. I’ll never be powerless again.

“Remember that vow.” He banks right, and this time, I shift my weight and we move together seamlessly. “I will hold you to it.”

For the rest of my life.

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