I did not expect this to happen. How could I have? No one would expect to randomly find a dragon egg hatching and then be forced to let it bond with you. Furthermore, I could never have guessed that it would be what saves me from the death penalty.

"You cannot be serious. You're going to just let her go? She committed treason. TRE-SON. This... this beast cannot be so important that the honor of the King should come second to the well being of it." Mr. Hayver argued.

The little dragon hatchling lifted it's eyelid to glare at him. She clearly didn't care what he thought. I was quite sure that she would attack him if he tried to separate us. She curled her tail a little tighter about my leg.

"His Majesty has given the order that all dragons be kept with their chosen rider. I do not see why he should change that decree simply because of the acts of the girl. Dragons are an endangered species, sir. His Majesty will not be happy if you endanger this one too." Duke Leonard retorts, making Mr Hayver blanch.

"Can there not be some other way to bring about justice for her actions?" Mr. Edwards adds, "Such as perhaps exile?"

"No that wouldn't do." The Duke responded, "That would render the Dragon useless to us. No, we would need something close. We cannot leave Corin to her own devices while the dragonet matures."

I smirked at hearing them talk about me as if I wasn't here. Although, I do wonder that they would be so bold about planning my punishment right in front of me. The little dragon nudged my hand with her snout, warm smoke puffing out of her nostrils and engulfing my hand. I set my hand on her head and she closed her eyes contently. I look over her golden scales. They're lined with black giving her a regal look. I was told she was a Golden Mountainflame, a rare breed of the fire dragons often found in large mountain ranges. She sure looked rare. She's beautiful. I would take any punishment to stay with her.

"What if she became a servant of the King." Mr. Matthew suggested.

"And give her a chance to attack him? Never." Leonard dismissed the idea.

Mr. Matthew pushed on though. "I do not mean to put her on his majesty's wait staff, if that is what you think I am suggesting. What I mean is to have her join the training of the King's Guard."

The Duke looked pensive and turned to look out the window. The Judges around him looked at each other apprehensively. "I will allow it." He said after a few silent moments.

So that would be my fate. Auriel flicked her tongue out in approval, a small spark lighting as she did.

Highwatch Hall, the home of the king's most elite guards, stood on top of a hill right outside the capital. Its stark gray stone cut into the blue of the sky, casting a shadow over the neighborhood below (aptly named Shadows). Silver and blue flags flew from the four towers at each corner of the star-shaped fortress, walls pockmarked with slitted windows for archers and musketeers to shoot from in case of attack. Directly beyond the front gate was the parade field, where guards-in-training learned how to march and fight with a variety of weapons. And below the field, in a stone cellar that most people didn't even know existed, was my new home.

"Why does it smell like mold?" I muttered beneath my breath, as Duke Leonard and the Guardmaster escorted me down the stairs. Auriel snorted and turned up her nose, but her own escorts, three soldiers in full metal armor, pointed their pikes towards her. The dragonet growled and huffed a plume of fire from her nose, but followed me, slinking down the stairs with a petulant expression on her scaly face.

The Guardmaster chuckled--evidently he had heard me despite how quietly I had spoken. "This used to be a wine cellar twenty years ago, before the King's Guard was forbidden from drinking. It's sat disused for so long, we almost forgot about it. But the Duke and I have decided, given your history, that it would be unwise to house you with the other trainees. You and your dragon will both stay here and only leave when supervised by myself or one of my lieutenants."

It looked like a dungeon. I had no delusions that my involuntary service on the Guard would be nice, but I had thought I might be able to see the sky. Auriel was so small, and mountain dragons like her were said to love climbing and flying. How was she supposed to grow up here?

My forehead itched, so I reached up to scratch it. I felt the raised, scarred flesh where the Judges had inked the upside-down star, the symbol of a traitor, into my skin. It sent a cold feeling through my stomach. I did deserve this. I had known I was committing treason when the white-robed woman with the northern accent asked me to steal the King's golden book for her. I might not have known who she was, or what was in the book, but everyone knew that traitors got punished with death. I took that risk for a bit of gold, and now I was only alive because of Lady Fortune's favor.

The Guardmaster let go of my shoulder, causing me to stumble forward. Auriel bounded to my side and nudged me with her nose, then spit a mote of fire at a damp, unlit torch on the wall. It lit up with a terrible crack.

"A lieutenant will be here to collect you for breakfast tomorrow at sunrise," he said, as if I could have seen the sun. "Until then, make yourselves comfortable."

I sat down on the floor, feeling wooden planks digging into the leather of my trousers. So comfortable. Auriel hissed at a spider in the corner. Duke Leonard gave me a stern look, like he was deciding what size of noose would fit best around my neck. Then the party of guards marched back up the stairs and closed the door behind them, and I heard a deadbolt slide across stone.

I was a traitor, a prisoner, a guard, a dragon's unlikely rider. But right now, I was alone in the dim light of a flickering torch, breathing in smoke and dust and wondering whether to thank or curse Lady Fortune. Auriel paced around the four walls, hissing and growling, her tail lashing like an angry cat. She looked vicious like a guardian dragon from a fairy tale. But then her orange eyes locked on mine, and they softened as she recognized my guilt and pain.

"Auriel," I murmured, extending my hand to her. She rubbed her head against it. "I'm so sorry that, of everyone in the world, you had to see me first when you hatched."

She sat down right in front of me, tail curled around her claws, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

"You're a Golden Mountainflame. You were supposed to hatch in the wild somewhere, and you would have been free there with your dragon family." My voice catches on that. Even dragons are supposed to take care of their kin. "But instead, you hatched under a pile of trash in the river. If you had washed up anywhere else, in a village or a farm, some lucky person would have found you and become your rider, and that person would be honored by the king. But you got me instead, a criminal on the run, and not even the kind of criminal with the skills to escape."

At this point, I hated that I was nearly crying. Auriel stepped forward and curled up in my lap, warmth coming off her scales from the fire inside her body. I reached out a hand and stroked her head, letting her presence comfort me. I was a screw-up, but she wanted to stay with me, and that counted for something.

Not something, I thought. It counts for everything. I'd be dead if I hadn't found her.

Eventually, we fell asleep there, still curled around each other.