The Rider's Second Flame
Synopsis
Sunniva Marrowlark tends the Emberwell, the great communal hearth whose flame keeps the cliff-city of Cindral Vault from freezing, and she coaxes the last dragon egg in the Reaches into hatching. The hatchling, Vyrrenne, does something no dragon has done in four hundred years: it splits its bond, taking its heat from Sunniva and its sky-sense from Kestrian Vohl, the grim Dragon-Rider whose first flame died in the Ashfall — which means the two of them must live, sleep, and fly inside a tether of two hundred paces or the hatchling guts out. As they discover that split bonds only ever fall on fated pairs, they also discover why the Emberwell has burned so long: the Vault has been siphoning dead dragons' flame into it, Kestrian's first dragon included, and the Ledgerwarden intends to make Vyrrenne the next fuel. The finale ends the siphon for good: the Emberwell is broken open into a hundred common hearths, the Sundering Nail is destroyed, and Kestrian and Sunniva choose each other out loud, with no fate required.
Chapters 6 of 6 chapters free
- 1 Shell-Song Free
- 2 The Rider Who Doesn't Fly Free
- 3 Two Hundred Paces Free
- 4 Warm-Room Rules Free
- 5 Auditing Day Free
- 6 What the Bond Carries Free