sigh of disappointment, he followed the reptile.
‘I wasn’t expecting a mount like that.’ Zane drew as close as his beast would allow, and it had absolutely no desire to get any closer to the bess.
‘I hadn’t planned on it either.’ The dragon shrugged.
‘A present?’ The sarcasm in the elf’s voice was a bit over the top, so Draco struggled to work out exactly what Zane meant.
‘No, I found him at the harbour and somehow we ended up together.’
‘Tss, lucky bloke.’ The hiss was followed by a long sigh. ‘I’d like that too.’
‘Arkien’s a big place; there’s always a chance.’
The elf shot the dragon a sidelong glance and said nothing.
‘Don’t tease Zane, or he’ll come up with some daft idea.’ Noah swept his gaze over the reptile, paying no attention to the bess. ‘Towards the end of the year, he was constantly whingeing about not having his own mount. I thought my ears would wither off. I won’t put up with that a second time.’
‘Then don’t listen to it,’ Zane snapped, and, much to his warg’s delight, picked up the pace.
‘What’s got into him?’ Draco wasn’t sure whether he should be concerned or simply let the brief exchange slide.
‘Don’t worry. He’ll moan and moan until he gets bored of it.’ Parthir moved closer, placing a reassuring hand on the wolven’s armoured forehead as he did so. ‘Between you and me, though everyone knows it anyway, Zane was supposed to get a mount.’ He lowered his voice. ‘He was boasting that his father had promised to buy him whichever one he wanted, provided he scored above expectations in all his subjects in the exam. Well, as luck would have it, Zane’s own impatience meant he only scored an ‘acceptable’ in history.’ He took a few steps in silence. ‘Needless to say, his father was unyielding…’
‘It seems… he didn’t quite cope with it.’
‘If only.’ The choppy laughter was clearly forced. ‘He railed against everything around him, but somehow forgot about his own mistakes.’
‘There’s nothing I can do about that.’
