The Five (Book Two Of Dragonmoor Academy)

My father is alive.

My father isn’t just a memory, a grave marker, or another story my mother kept hidden. He’s right here. I don’t know if I should scream, hug him, or demand the answers he’s kept from me for eighteen years. All I can do is stare.

Daniel had died before I was born. My mother told me that. The heroic Rider who’d sacrificed everything. The father I’d never meet.

Except he was standing right here.

No one said a word or moved. The silence was so deep I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my chest.

He looks nothing like the photo I found in the attic. That picture made him seem softer. The man standing in front of me has scars on his knuckles, a thin white line on his jaw, and eyes that look too tired for someone who just found his daughter. As I take him in, emotions I can't name twist in my chest—resentment at the years he wasn't here, longing for the father I imagined, and confusion at the reality standing before me. Still, parts of him feel familiar in a way I can’t help but resent: the focused stare, the stubborn mouth, the way he stays silent when words are too hard.

I watched him like you’d watch a ghost, half-believing that if I looked away, he might disappear.

He didn’t resemble the heroic figure from the portrait outside Thessara’s office. That man had been smiling and seemed lighter. This man looked like he’d been ground down by whatever the hell he’d been doing for the last eighteen years.

Had Thessara known? Had she looked me in the eye and lied?

‘Give him a chance,’ Urrodon said into my mind. ‘When you are done, come to me.’

‘Where are you?’

‘In the valley behind this pathetic human dwelling.’

“Aeris,” Daniel said.

Hearing my name in his voice hit harder than seeing him. It carved through my chest and lodged somewhere behind my sternum, sharp and impossible to ignore. My throat contracted. I wanted to say something—anything—but the words tangled themselves into knots.

I remembered Sera. I remembered illusions that felt real enough to touch, manipulation that wore a friendly smile, lies that had nearly gotten me killed.

“Are you real?”

“He’s real,” Axel said from beside him.

I turned my head toward him, letting the movement carry all the fury I couldn’t fit into words. The glare I gave him was powerful enough to scorch stone, to burn through the walls of this gods-damned fortress and keep going until it hit the ocean.

Axel pressed his lips together and shifted his weight, like he wanted to step back but wouldn’t let himself. I kept staring at him, watching him squirm under my anger. Good. Let him squirm. Let him feel even a little of what I felt.

Axel cleared his throat. For once in his life, he seemed to realize that forcing his way into a conversation would be the worst possible move. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

He moved toward the door like his ass was on fire, not quite running but close enough. The door clicked shut behind him.

The second he was gone, I turned back to Daniel. “How are you alive?”

Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but before he could get a word out, someone knocked on the door.

Are you kidding me?

When neither of us responded, the door opened, and Sage stood there. His shirt was rumpled, and his hair looked like he had been dragging his hands through it all morning. The shadows under his eyes were worse than I had ever seen.

“Commander Sterling,” Sage said.

Commander?

Sage does not look at me. His eyes stay fixed on my father. “They’re ready.” His eyes found mine, and by the time apology, explanation, and grief stopped choking each other in my throat, he was turning back toward the hallway.

They?

So others were waiting. More secrets, and more decisions about my life being made without me.

"Who?" I asked.

Sage looked at me. "The people trying to decide whether you save us or destroy us."

“Great. Glad to know I’m making a good first impression.”

Daniel moved forward. “You need to come with us.”

“No.” The word came out before I could think. “I just found out my father isn’t dead. I’m not interested in attending meetings with strangers.”

“Aeris—”

“No,” I repeated. “You don’t get to show up after eighteen years and drag me into whatever political nightmare you’ve got brewing.”

“What happened at Dragonmoor changed everything. The attack. The collapse of the wards. The power you unleashed. Too many people have questions.”

“So do I.”

“I know. And I promise you’ll get answers. But right now, we need to go.”

I hated that answer. My hands shook with anger. But I could tell from his face that he wouldn’t change his mind, and he was already heading for the door, ending the conversation whether I liked it or not.

I followed them out. Axel was waiting in the hallway and joined us as we walked. I noticed the tension between Axel and Sage. There was no warmth or familiarity left. Whatever friendship they had was broken, maybe for good. I guess that’s my fault too. If Rebecca hadn’t tried to kill me, she’d still be here.

The corridor outside Axel’s room was wider than I expected, with stone walls, narrow windows, and faded tapestries. People might call Solari a safehouse, but it was really a fortress. Thick doors, defensive lines of sight, and stairwells built for retreat or ambush. Every arch seemed designed to slow down an enemy.

Sunlight streamed through the high windows in thin, bright bars, catching dust in the air and turning it gold. We passed a landing where the stairs split, one way going up and the other curving down.

As we approach a pair of carved doors at the end of the passage, the voices from within become distinct and urgent. Daniel pushes the doors open and enters without hesitation. Inside, a long table is littered with maps. My father moves into the room while I remain near the threshold, watching.

Axel makes his way to the far wall of the room and leans against it.

Our eyes meet for a fraction of a second, and the ache in my chest is sharp and immediate. The exhaustion carved within his features doesn’t hide the storm in his eyes—or the memory of how I once trusted him without proof. I look away first, forcing my attention to the strangers.

Three people sit along one side of the table, all dressed in the dark leathers of dragon riders.

The first was a woman with auburn hair pulled back in a bun. The second was a broad-shouldered man with dark skin and a patch over his left eye. Scars covered his arms, and his hands rested on the table as if he was ready to flip it if things went badly. The third was a younger woman with blonde curls in a ponytail, her green eyes following my every move.

“Aeris, I would like to introduce you to Lyra,” Daniel said, motioning to the woman with auburn hair. “Tom—the man with the eye patch—and Mira.”

“What’s this about?” I asked.

Lyra leaned forward. “Dragonmoor’s wards are failing. The attack accelerated the collapse, and we think you might be the only one who can fix them. The wards are the only reason we have survived this long."

“We don’t have records complete enough to restore them, and we certainly don’t have a trained Keeper.” Mira’s gaze cut to Axel.

“She’s not ready,” Axel said. “You can’t ask her to rebuild the wards that took a handful of Keepers to create on her own.”

“No one is asking her to rebuild anything today,” Daniel said. “But she is the only one who has the power to restore the wards.”

“The wards were established six hundred years ago,” Tom said. “Half of what we know is legend. Aeris may be the only Keeper we have, but that does not mean she can survive the work without training.”

“Then what are you saying, Tom?” Daniel asked.

“Her training becomes the plan,” Tom said. “Protected, structured, and limited. Elemental control first. Combat and survival second. Ward theory after she can manage her powers without burnout. No anchor work until Thessara signs off. Evacuation remains the fallback. But if we abandon Dragonmoor now, we lose the Academy, the forges, and the command point.”

“She’s also Seraphina’s daughter,” said Mira. “If Aeris reconnects the anchors, she forges a bond between herself and every ward they sustain. Soraxis wouldn’t need to hunt down each ward-he’d only need her, and the whole network would unravel with her.”

“That’s enough, Mira,” Daniel said.

“She had every opportunity to join Soraxis,” Axel said, and there was an edge to his voice I had never heard before. “She chose Dragonmoor.”

"If you think I could become a weapon for Soraxis, just say it. If you think I’m too weak to survive the training, say that too. But stop talking about me as if I’m not even here."

Axel looks at me as a slow grin spreads across his face.

"You want proof of loyalty?" I looked at each of them. "Sera offered me a place beside Soraxis. I killed her instead. You want proof I understand the risk? I know I’m not ready. So train me. Protect Dragonmoor while I learn. But don’t decide my future for me."

Mira makes a low sound of disagreement. “The girl nearly died using that power. She doesn’t understand what she did. Expecting her to repeat it is madness.”

“We don’t have many options,” Lyra remarked.

“We have options,” Mira stated. “You just don’t like them.”

Lyra turned her attention back to me. “The power you released at Dragonmoor involved all five magical elements. The original wards were created through the unification of all five.”

“So you want me to… what? Try to fix the wards and hope I don’t explode in the process?”

“We want to understand what you did,” Lyra answered. “And whether it can be controlled.”

“She could already be working for him,” Mira noted. “We don’t know where her loyalties lie.”

“I’m not working for anyone,” I snapped.

“We’re trying to protect our people,” Lyra stated. “You have to understand our position.”

“No,” I said. "I don’t understand, because everyone keeps making decisions for me. I’m tired of being treated like a weapon people want to use."

Lyra looked at me for a brief moment, her expression unreadable. Then she said, “We aren’t trying to decide whether you’re dangerous.”

“Funny,” I said. “Sounds like that.”

“We’re trying to determine what you are.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“The wards can’t be fixed until we understand you,” Lyra stated. “And your nature can’t be comprehended by us.”

“Then who?” I asked.

“The Five.”

I waited for someone to elaborate. When nobody did, I said, “The five what?”

“The Five Dragon Gods,” Mira explained.

“You’re joking,” I said.

“We’re not,” Lyra said.

“Dragon gods,” I repeated. “You’re serious.”

“You’re bonded to a war dragon that was trapped for centuries inside a ring. Is it truly so hard to believe there are older powers in this world?” Tom says.

“Ancient shrines dedicated to them still exist,” Lyra said. “We believe you need to stand before them so they can determine what you truly are.”

Daniel holds up a hand, silencing the argument. “Mira’s concerns are valid. But so is Tom’s assessment. We train her. We seek answers from the Five. It is the only path forward that doesn’t involve abandoning Dragonmoor, and it is decided.”

The three riders stood and filed out of the room one by one. Mira was the last to leave, and she paused in the doorway to look back at me.

“Your mother was my friend,” Mira says. “I defended her when others called her a traitor, and she made a fool of me. I hope, for your sake, you are not so careless with the loyalty you are offered.”

When she leaves, Axel crosses the room. “Urrodon is waiting in the valley.”

“I should go before he decides Solari needs fewer walls.”

I start toward the door, but Axel stops me with a look. “Your dragon will wait. Daniel might not know how to start this conversation if you give him time to retreat.” He gives me a single nod and walks out.

Which leaves me alone with my father and eighteen years' worth of questions I don't know how to ask.