Drawing a breath, I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and stepped into the fire.
Stop grindingyour teeth like you’re constipated,the demon commanded.Not even holy fire can burn us.
That just confirmed my theory. The creature in me was unholy.
The dragon fire closed around me. It did not part.
For every cadet before me—the loyal ones—the flames had split open like a curtain, letting them throughclean. For me, the fire only thickened. It pressed in from every side, a wall of amber that shrank around my body like a living cage. I pushed forward. The magic in the flames shoved back, holding me in the center of the blaze.
Heat seared my skin. I swallowed a scream.
The Sorting was meant for me. It was Drakken’s sinister plot, and I’d walked into it like a fool.
Rage threaded through my fear. I couldn’t die here. Missy was waiting for me. I’d promised to return for her, to give her a better life—a life of freedom and no hunger.
I tried to summon the force that had blasted Slade and his men across the barracks. I reached for it. The wind, the shockwave, the demon’s power.
Nothing came.
Yet the fire didn’t burn me either. It held me, pressed against my skin. Hot enough to make me gasp, but not enough to char. My heart kicked in confusion at its tease—or taunt.
The flames licked along my arms, my neck. Probing, testing. And it was playful.
What the fuck?
The dragon plans to give you a proper bath,the demon chortled.
I heard murmurs rise outside the fire. Collective gasps. The assembly had noticed me being stuck in the flames while everyone else had walked through in seconds.
“What the fuck did you do, Drakken?” Caspian shouted in alarm. “Why is the fire acting like this?”
“Idon’t fucking know!” Drakken snapped.
“Release your dragon fire, Drakken.” Nikolai’s voice was soft and dangerous.
“It’s not up to me now.” Drakken’s voice was hard, but I detected confusion in it. “It’s the same fire for everyone. Are you fucking doubting my honor?”
“I don’t give a shit about fucking honor!” Nikolai said. “I want Max alive!”
“The warlock will either pass or he won’t,” Drakken grated. “We agreed on this. His fate lies with his true allegiance.”
Quit it,I commanded the fire.Stop playing and let me pass. You’re making me look bad! Dragon, if you can hear me—since this is your fire—listen. I have a little sister I need to go back for. She’s six and a half years old. Her name is Missy, but I call her little viper. I’m all she has. If you burn me, I swear I’ll come back to haunt you until you regret the day you hatched.
Did I get it wrong technically? How did the dragon come to be? Did it bond with Drakken at some point? Or was he born a dragon shifter?
I shoved forward with everything I had.
The flames peeled away from the doorframe, abandoning their post and following me. They wrapped around my body like flaming armor as I stumbled through the threshold and into the library.
I crossed into the vast marble hall like a fucking human torch.
The first-years packed inside the library let out alarmed shouts and scrambled backward. The front row shoved into the rows behind them, putting distancebetween themselves and the burning cadet staggering toward them, trembling hands reaching out.
Chairs toppled. Books slid from the shelves against the walls.
“Leave me the fuck alone!” I screamed at the fire. “I’ll haunt you!”
It didn’t. Instead, the flames lifted me off the floor.
