The Last Dragon Rider (Book 1 of Rider Series)

Chapter 18

I sat up in a bed, panting and clutching a soft sheet I was lying on. My heart pounded hard in my chest, and I felt like I was still falling, even though I knew that I wasn't.

My eyes scanned the area I was in, not taking anything in as I tried to calm my pounding heart. I was shaking for some reason, but it slowly started to stop as I could calm my beating heart.

After a few minutes, I slowly let out a breath of air and sagged back into my bed, closing my eyes. My head pounded as if something was trying to break in, and I knew that it wouldn't go away, no matter how much I wanted it to.

I groaned and moved my hands across my head, trying to ease some of the tension that I felt. My whole body was sore and screamed out in protest, but I didn't care because my main concern had been my head.

Something clambered onto the bed and onto my stomach before making this tiny roar sound that I had never heard before. The thing touched its... snout to my hand, and it made me stop rubbing my head and waited for it to do something else.

Again, the thing made a noise before touching my hand, and it was only the second time that it had done it before I removed my hands from my face to stare at the intruder.

A small dragon sat on my chest and stared at me with big blue eyes. Green, brown, and turquoise scales covered his body, small ridges littering the base of his nose. Small horns covered his face, some bigger than others, but all of them were smaller than the size of my middle finger.

The dragon cocked his head and studied me, waiting for me to do something or to say something against this growing silence. He didn't say a word, but I had a feeling it was only because I couldn't understand him.

"Well, the Dragon Mother was right," I said, leaning my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes for a bit. I opened my eyes again and looked at the dragon to see that it was still sitting on me, the weight of him starting to become a problem. "You know that you are heavy, right?" I asked. "Move."

The dragon scowled but got off of my stomach, moving to my side and almost pushing out of bed completely. He laid his head on my stomach and looked to my left, saying something that I couldn't understand.

Someone chuckled, and I looked in that direction to see the High King staring at my dragon before turning his gaze to me. There was an unknown look in his eyes, but I could see that he was hesitating. He didn't know if I wanted to see him after gaining my memories back. "Your dragon says that he isn't heavy; you are just weak," he said.

I sat up in the bed and moved until I was leaning against the headrest, my gaze never leaving the male before me. "What can you tell me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

The High King, Ardën, sighed, and sagged underneath my gaze. He looked tired, the weight of the world appearing on his shoulders because he knew that I remembered. "Not much," he replied honestly. "We don't have much time, anyway, and the time we do have will be him telling you stuff." He shifted his gaze to my other side, and I turned my head to see Jonah slouching in the other chair, fast asleep.

A snore escaped his lips before he grunted, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the peaceful looking male.

I tore my gaze from him and looked at the High King to notice him already staring at me. "The Shifter?" I asked, talking about the bear that had attacked my family and me on that night so long ago.

A shiver went down my spine as I remembered the attack on us, the screams of pain from my brother, and the shouts from my father, telling me to run as he went to attack the bear. I remembered freezing when the bear turned his gaze to me and started to stalk towards me, swiping at my father and killing him as if he was nothing.