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Since the teenaged girl didn’t start gasping or turning blue, Percy picked up the bread and bit into it. The crunchy outside surprised her. As all the flavors melted together in her mouth, she chewed slowly, wanting to savor something other than plain potatoes, peas, or boiled, cheap meat of the day like she’d always eaten in the past.
Violet picked up one of the books as she waited for Percy to finish eating. “This one was mine. I’m sure you noticed all the drawings around the edges. I know I shouldn’t have done it—I love books and wouldn’t do it now—but back then, I was bored. I learned to read really early, and the teachers didn’t know what to do with me.” She placed it back onto the stack on the table. “It gave me a lot of time to think of my mum, which often got me into trouble. I just wanted to know more about her, you know? And I love my dad to pieces, but he rarely talks about her.” She sighed. “And I’m rambling. I tend to do that, so tell me to shut it whenever you like.”
Percy smiled at the girl. She was so much more open than anyone Percy had ever met before. “No, I like it. I spent most of my life alone, often in silence, so a friendly voice is a nice change.”
Violet’s eyes widened. “That’s awful. And you know, I have some ideas of how to fix that. Dad’s getting you a radio today, and maybe you can watch one of my soap operas with me later. I don’t know if you’ll likeCoronation StreetorEastEndersbetter, so we could try both. The people onCorriesound more like us, if accents are hard for you to follow. Although the other one has had loads of drama lately, so it’s never boring.”
Even if Percy had never had a TV of her own, they’d been on sometimes when she’d been taken for a test, experiment, or checkup.
She’d never really watched it beyond the first time, because seeing people laugh or smile on the screen had seemed mocking. No doubt, the facility staff had done that on purpose.
But she couldn’t keep avoiding everything related to her imprisonment. And certainly, watching make-believe people on a screen who couldn’t see her, belittle her, or manipulate her wouldn’t hurt her. “Okay, I’ll try your shows.”
Violet grinned. “Brilliant. We can make dinner beforehand too. Although there was another reason I came in here. My dad wants to start giving you lessons about dragon-shifters. I wanted to help, but he said maybe later.” She sighed dramatically. “I have loads of schoolwork to do first.”
Before she could stop herself, Percy blurted, “Be grateful you can go to school.”
The younger dragonwoman blinked. “You didn’t go to school?”
Fuck.Now what?She didn’t want to reveal how she’d barely received any education in the orphanage and then none after leaving it. While Percy didn’t think of herself as stupid when it came to life and dealing with bloody awful situations, she lacked maths and language skills, for certain.
Although, why she cared about what Bronx and Violet thought of her, she had no idea.
Violet stared at her, as if trying to figure her out, and her pupils flashed.
That stab of jealousy flared again.
Something flickered in the back of her mind, a few bursts of purple light. She dared to ask,Dragon, are you there?
Nothing.
She was about to growl her frustration—what if the doctors here had given her something that had completely silenced her beast?—when Violet’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “I know me saying you should be honest with my dad means nothing, but he wants to help you, Percy. He won’t ridicule or talk down to you. He never does that. One of my cousins is dyslexic, and over the last year, my dad has been helping him with his reading since Dad’s had more free time.”
She frowned. “Why does he have more free time?”
Violet glanced at the door and lowered her voice. “My dad lost his leg over a year ago during a rescue mission. He was kind of a firefighter and wilderness rescue officer. If people were trapped in a burning building or lost on a mountain, he helped save them. Well, there was a massive warehouse fire on Lochguard—the Scottish dragon clan—because of a bomb. My dad flew with others from Stonefire to help. And when he was doing a last check for people inside the building, part of the roof collapsed and trapped his leg. They had to cut off the bottom part to save his life.”
Violet paused, wiping away tears, before continuing. “He’s struggled to find a new purpose since he can’t do his old job, especially in his dragon form. But ever since you’ve shown up, he’s more like his old self—confident, happier, and making plans. All things he didn’t do for months.” She reached out and squeezed Percy’s shoulder, and Percy didn’t even flinch because she was too wrapped up in Violet’s words. The teenager said, “Just give him a chance and let him help you. With him on your side, he’ll move heaven and earth to try and make things happen. It’s just who he is.”
Percy searched Violet’s gaze, looking for any signs of deceit or manipulation. Early in her life, some of the doctors had used sob stories to get her to help with new prisoners.
Those had ended badly for her, especially as she got older and they decided to try fertility experiments.
That flickering light appeared again, but nothing else. Was it her dragon?
She bit her bottom lip and looked at her hands, studying her fingers. Just reading the children’s books had revealed how lost she was in this world of dragon-shifters. At twenty years old, Percy probably knew only a fraction more than most humans. Until she could bolster her reading skills, she would have to lean on someone to get her up to speed.
Could she try to give Bronx the benefit of the doubt and risk being deceived all over again?
Unwinding her fingers, she rubbed her temples. Over all the years she’d held on to the dream of being able to shift into a dragon and fly, she’d never imagined she would have to trust anyone to get her there.
As naïve as she was, she’d thought if her dragon just came out, she could talk to her beast and they would pick up where they left off.
However, as she lightly touched the nearly healed scab where she’d clawed her face, she knew it wouldn’t be that bloody simple.
Lowering her hands, she looked at Violet again. Maybe it was the female’s youth, her innocence, or her pure zest for life, but Percy didn’t hold back when she said, “I can’t handle someone else betraying or hurting me, Violet. I’m just… tired.”
As the truth escaped her lips, heaviness settled over Percy. She sometimes felt old, quite old, as if she were fifty instead of her true age. Only her dream of being reunited with the only friend she’d ever had and flying in her dragon form had given her the strength to keep going.
