Page 33

I froze.

Are you prey, fledgling?

Slowly, I turned back. Nyxaris turned his head towards where I stood, hiding in the shadows of the rock. Glowing amber eyes locked onto me through the dark.

I feel you. Are you so foolish as to believe I could not sense you standing there in the dark?

I felt my face flush hot. I don’t know what you can and can’t sense.

Yet there you are, he observed. Watching me. Do you have questions for me, fledgling? Why else do you linger?

I took a step back. Then another. No. No questions.

Down beside my ankles, Neville whined. The sound was a plea. Did he want me to run or to stay?

I will not harm you.

I froze again.

The dragon rumbled aloud, a great booming sound that echoed over the cliffs. You think I would choose one I wished to destroy?

You didn’t choose me. My voice sounded small and pitiful even in my own head.

The little one beside you follows you. He visits me, too.

I glanced down. Neville?

Neville, yes. A pause. He’s much more civil than you are.

I beg your pardon?

You ignore me. You would flee even now. Do you know nothing about what offends dragons?

I shivered. I didn’t mean to offend—

Silence, the dragon commanded. You do not listen. Not truly. You do not speak. You do not come. What am I to think of you, a rider who refuses the bond? A girl who would rather hide beneath her mother’s skirts than face me?

Tears stung my eyes. I didn’t ask for this.

A roar filled the air. I stumbled backwards.

None of us ask for this, Nyxaris bellowed in my head. You think I wanted this? We are chosen. You were chosen. You were saved.

Then, maybe you saved the wrong person, I blurted out. Maybe you shouldn’t have saved me at all. Medra is the one who belongs with you. She should be your rider, not me.

Silence. I was breathing hard, my cheeks wet, my eyes blurry. I’m sorry, I whispered.

Sorry? Is that what you are? Nyxaris snarled. She did not tell me you were such a coward.

I turned and ran, boots slipping on the slick snow-covered gravel. The wind whipped at my face as I scurried up the hillside and back towards the castle. The ribbon tying my hair back slipped out, flying away in the breeze. I didn’t even try to turn and look for it. Behind me, the cliff had become silent once more, but I could still feel him, watching me, listening to me. Judging me.

I blinked away tears as I stumbled back into the warmth of the school. Neville had vanished. I didn’t blame him. He’d probably stayed behind to visit Nyxaris. The dragon was probably much better company than I was.

The door caught in the wind and slammed behind me with a bang. I picked up my pace again, boots pounding against the stone floors as I turned corner after corner, blindly retracing my steps back towards my mother’s apartment. I’d passed the refectory and was nearing the library when I heard them—students laughing. It shouldn’t have been unusual. But the sounds were too loud. Too sharp. Too cruel.

I peeked around the next corner, pressing tightly against the stone wall. A group of highblood students were gathered around something, laughing and talking. Some took swigs from flasks in their hands. I recognized a few of the girls from House Drakharrow. Quinn Riley was there. And another girl, Gretchen, I thought her name was. A bunch of boys were with them; they looked older than any students I’d seen. None of them were familiar to me. All of them wore matching badges with the image of a blood droplet being pierced by a sword on their uniforms. There was writing on the badges, but I couldn’t make out what it said.

The voices were getting louder. The group split up, moving in different directions.