Wingborn by Becca Lusher

weather. There were few better
miryhls to be had than Atyrn. “ Badly done, my friend. ”
    Lady Mhysra snorted scornfully. “ As if you weren ’ t the first to approach Cue, ” she muttered. Stirla and Derrain
laughed, but the girl ignored them. She was wary of him, Lyrai
knew. Unlike Stirla, who was friendly and flirtatious with any and
everyone, young women made Lyrai nervous. He never knew how to
treat them. It was bad enough when he was obliged to spend time
with his sisters, and they were family. Apparently, Mhysra felt the
same way towards him. Under normal circumstances, Lyrai would be
delighted to be avoided, but when she became a student … He ’ d have to work on his manners.
    “ Come
on, Mhysra, don’ t be grouchy, ” Derrain cajoled. “ As if Cumulo would leave you. He ’ s put up – I mean you ’ ve put up with
him for sixteen years. ”
    She
smiled reluctantly. “You’ re not Mherrin. ”
    “But I get
points for trying, right?” the lad appealed to the lieutenants.
    She shoved his shoulder. “ Give over, Derry. Didn ’ t you want something here? ”
    As the boy turned to Stirla, asking to be
shown around the eyries, Lyrai watched the girl murmur something to
Atyrn, while the miryhl rubbed her affectionately on the shoulder
with her head. Then, despite Cumulo ’ s jealous growls, Mhysra kissed the
eagle ’ s beak. Only after
she had checked that her friend was still busy with Stirla did she
approach her bonded.
    Hooking his beak over her shoulder, Cumulo
tugged her close and hustled her under his wing. When girl
protested, her miryhl growled and turned his head so they could
continue their argument in whispers.
    It was quite a sight and Lyrai leant against
a perch to watch them. Cumulo often treated her like a naughty
chick, while she treated him like an annoying little brother, but
there was a thread of affection running through their partnership
that he ’ d never seen
before. Even in the oldest pairs the interactions were more of
comrades and friends than family. Perhaps that was the real sign of
a Wingborn.
    A prod on the arm drew him back to the
present.
    Stirla grinned at him. “I’ m going to show Derrain around. Want to
come, or are you busy? ”
    Since Lyrai was still grounded without a
miryhl, they both knew he had no reason to be in the eyries.
Especially when his flurry was out on patrol, meaning he
couldn ’ t even spring a
surprise inspection. The only thing worth looking at was the girl
and her Wingborn.
    “ I’ ve got paperwork to do. ”
    “ Oh
aye,” Stirla said with a exaggerated wink. “ Paperwork , is it? Come
along, young Derrain, let ’ s leave my esteemed colleague to his work. ” Still chuckling,
Stirla took the lad off, leaving the girl and her miryhl to argue.
Lyrai glanced at them, then turned away. Regardless of what Stirla
thought was going on, Lyrai missed having a miryhl. Seeing others
with theirs made his feet itch and an empty ache fill his chest.
Not that he’ d been close to Froth.
    It had been a bad decision from the start.
To an awestruck almost-sixteen-year-old desperate to impress his
peers and parents, the pale gold female as swift as the wind had
seemed like an excellent choice. Everyone said how well they looked
together. Unfortunately, she was a little too vain, a bit too lazy
and far too full of herself. That was how she ’ d ended up injured. Lyrai hadn ’ t even been flying her at the
time. No, his foolish bonded had ruined herself completely on her
own, while showing off to the rest of the flurry and clipping a
wing on a cliff.
    Turning his back on the eyries, Lyrai headed
for the offices. He really did have paperwork to do. Not that
he ’d intended to do it –
Rift Rider officers rarely did – but it wasn ’ t as though he had anything else to do. He
wanted to fly, wanted it so badly that if he hung around the eyries
much longer, he might do something stupid. Like try to take
Cumulo.
    The day of Choice and his chance to