Dragon Blood 4: Knight by Avril Sabine Page B

any better than the Knights she’d already met.
    “Alright. Pair up. Time to practice with your swords.”
    Amber was relieved when it was Roy who faced her, his sword out and ready. At least he didn’t try and kill her like Jennifer did. It’d be nice if she could just once disarm him. It wasn’t like she was hopeless in battle. It was only that this wasn’t her style of fighting. Claws, wings and fire. That was what she was used to in battle.
    The lesson passed quickly and Amber began to think she might actually be starting to learn something. Maybe she should get Kade to teach her sword fighting next week. Or even Rian. When Stanley called an end to the lesson, Amber was glad to sheath her sword and follow Roy to the dinning room. He let her go ahead of him when she entered the room, following her to her table once she was served.
    She was tempted to tell him he didn’t need to go to that extreme, but there were too many people who’d hear her. She’d wait until they were at the training room. When they did arrive there and she started to talk to him, he interrupted her.
    “I’m not listening.”
    Jogging beside him, she frowned. Was he telling her to shut up because he didn’t want to hear what she had to say or was that his way of telling her there were listening devices in this room too? Was it considered a classroom? Her frown cleared. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? He was part dragon. She reached for him with her mind.
“Can they hear us in here?”
    Roy stumbled, sending her a startled glance.
“Yes.”
    “You don’t have to sit with me.”
    “Stay out of my head. I don’t want you reading my mind.”
    “I can’t. I’m not that good.”
    “Are you sure? My mum said my mind was like an open book so she couldn’t help but read it.”
    “All I’m getting are the words you’re giving me.”
    There was a long pause before Roy answered her.
“If I’m expected to protect you I need to sit close.”
    “Okay.”
    “Maybe I should put you in a bedroom next to mine in case you’re attacked in the night.”
    He was taking this far too seriously.
“I’ll be fine. I can call you like this if I get in trouble.”
    “It won’t work unless I’m in the same room as you.”
    “I’ll be fine. The whole idea is to make people think I don’t have allies here. Then surprise them if they do attack.”
    Roy nodded slowly, still jogging.
“That’s a good tactic. But what happens if you’re attacked in your room?”
    “I’ll make enough noise that the entire corridor will hear me.”
She slowed.
“Do we have to jog so fast?”
    “You don’t have to keep up with me.”
    Amber slowed more and Roy pulled ahead of her.
    “They say you’ve killed dragons. Many dragons.”
    She wanted to ask him who ‘they’ were.
“No.”
    “You haven’t killed dragons?”
    It probably wasn’t a good idea lying to a temporary ally.
“I haven’t killed many. Only two.”
    He slowed until he was alongside her.
“What was it like?”
    She met his gaze, trying to decipher the look in his eyes. It wasn’t the same one Dominic had when he’d learned. There was wariness, maybe even a touch of fear. She shook her head.
“Something I wish I hadn’t needed to repeat.”
    They fell into silence as they continued to jog, leaving the moment their hour was up. Roy left her at her room, after first checking that no one was in there. She held back her smile until he’d left, grabbing her bag and heading to the bathroom.

Chapter Ten
    The next morning when Amber sat at a table in the dinning room, not only Roy joined her, but also Dominic. She watched him across the table, wondering what he looked so happy about.
    “Why are you suddenly so attached to Amber?” Dominic’s eyes were firmly on Roy.
    “I told him he needed to show me around.” She noticed Stanley was watching them and she wished she’d sat as far from him as possible. At the time it had seemed easier to sit at the empty table, which was right