"No!"
Laena knew nothing of Aegon's thoughts. She shook her head, her expression turning serious as she spoke.
Then she immediately reached out and caught Aegon by the shoulder, stopping him from taking another step forward. "Vhagar is getting old, and she has a very bad temper."
This was something Laena had learned over her many years with Vhagar. After all, even when Laena fed her personally, Vhagar only allowed her to approach. The attendants from Driftmark only dared drive the sheep over and let Vhagar feed herself.
Aegon stopped at once. He was nothing if not willing to take advice.
The older a dragon grew, the worse its temper became. That was practically an ironclad rule.
Take Cannibal, for instance-
If Aegon had not spent the past few years constantly bringing him and Sheepstealer "takeout," finally managing to ride him and evolve "Wild Dragon's Friend" into "King of the Wild Dragons"...
He would probably still have been just as he was a few years ago, sometimes refusing to show even his current rider any respect.
Besides, the boast Aegon had made that afternoon while taking a veiled jab at Corlys-"Good thing I didn't bring Vermithor and Silverwing along too, or things would have been even more chaotic"-had indeed been nothing but a boast.
Even after years of constantly bringing Vermithor and Silverwing "takeout," without the special advantage he had over wild dragons, he had made little headway. Aside from the hot-tempered Vermithor, who had never let him touch him, even Silverwing, widely known for her gentle disposition, had only allowed him to touch her a handful of times.
Perhaps that was also because they had lived for far too long.
Over nearly a century, they had witnessed too many deaths and partings-
Their riders had grown from youths into