Raelan

DURING MY MEETING WITH THE headmistress the day after Alina moved into the north tower, I was told I’m to stand outside the room while class is in session. I pushed back, arguing that I’m to be near the princess at all times, but Headmistress Moonhart refused, stating I’d be too much of a distraction. She even said she’d take it up with His Majesty herself if she needed to, reminding me that Coven Crest is her domain and we’re to follow her rules.

Begrudgingly, I complied.

And actually, it’s a small miracle, one I didn’t realize I’d be so grateful for. Being separated from Alina by a closed door helps give me a break from her, gives me and my dragon a moment to catch our breath.

These last few weeks have been excruciating. It’s so much worse than I thought it was going to be. Alina’s smell is around me all the time, and every time I see her, I have to fight my dragon’s urge to break free and claim her, to wrap her in its claws and carry her off to some distant high tower where no one will ever find us again.

I absolutely cannot do that, no matter how vehemently my dragon is trying to convince me otherwise.

Far off, a clock tower chimes, its deep song reverberating through the castle corridors. It only takes about twenty seconds for the door to Alina’s magical ethics class to fly open, and first-year students in blue-trimmed robes start pouring out. She’s in the middle of the group, talking to two young men, her lips pulled into a big smile as she laughs.

My dragon coils.

As soon as she steps from the room, I’m at her side, and the smile that was on her lips moments ago flickers. I try not to take it too personally. She would likely react that way no matter which of the king’s knights was standing here in my place. Still, it stings.

She carries on her conversation with the two other students, who eye me warily but say nothing to me. One of them invites her to the astronomy tower to study.

What they need to study so early in the schoolyear, I couldn’t guess. He probably just wants to spend more time with her.

“I’d love to,” she says.

A ripple of irritation goes through me. I tighten my jaw.

I’ve no right to be annoyed. Of course the male students are taking an interest in her.

But my dragon struggles to see reason.

The three of them start down the hall. I’m taller than most of the other students, and when they see me coming, they flit out of the way, creating an unimpeded path for Alina to walk down. Though most probably wouldn’t realize it, I note the subtle tightening of her shoulders as the students make a path for her and then pause or turn to watch her walk by. But she plays it off smoothly, acting like she doesn’t realize how the others stare.

I follow Alina and the two boys down twisting corridors filled with students and faculty and all manner of animal spirit companions. Then we come to a narrow arched doorway over which a glittering silver constellation has been etched into the stone. We pass through it to the staircase and start to climb. The steps ascend the tower in a tight spiral, and when we come upon other students on their way down, they have to press themselves against the cool stone walls to make room for us to pass.

Alina’s smell fills the space around me, and my dragon encourages me to reach for her, to capture a strand of her hair and twist it about my finger. But I do no such thing. I take a breath and hold it, then busy myself with counting the stairs as my boots ascend each one.

By the time we’ve reached the top, I’ve counted to 310—making this tower slightly taller than the king’s study back in Ravenscroft Castle.

We step out of the stairwell and into a tower with a big glass dome that provides an unhindered view of the early-September sky. Golden constellations glow upon the glass, depicting their locations in the sky despite the daylight making the stars impossible to see. Under foot, the floor is a tiled crystalline mosaic of celestial bodies. I lift a boot to find a star shooting across the sky .

Crescent-shaped couches hug the smooth rounded walls, and students lounge about, reading or studying or talking quietly with one another. Some gaze through telescopes trained on the open sky beyond the glass-dome ceiling.

That same sky calls to me, invites me to shed my human skin and unfurl my wings. The desire to do so makes my back itch, and I roll my shoulders in an effort to alleviate the discomfort.

Alina and her two companions find an open couch and drop their schoolbags alongside it before sitting down. I take up a position just to Alina’s left, close enough to reach her should I need to but far enough away that I can turn my head just slightly in an effort not to be overwhelmed by her intoxicating smell.

As expected, the male students don’t pull out books or notes of any kind. They just want to talk to her.

“So,” one of them says. “Is he your bodyguard or something?”

Though my gaze is directed away, I can feel their eyes shift to me. My dragon gnashes its teeth, but I don’t make any outward indication that I’m bothered or so much as interested in what they have to say about me.

“Yeah.” In my periphery, Alina shifts, her blue hair slipping over one shoulder. “He’s one of my grandfather’s knights.”

“And is he... always with you?” the other male asks.

Something about his tone sends me bristling, and my gaze slowly slides to him. I want to ask what business it is of his, but Alina responds before I get the chance to .

“Usually, yes.” She opens her bag and pulls out a book, then sets it in her lap. Maybe she really does intend to study, even if the boys don’t. For some reason, that comforts me.

Though it shouldn’t.

“Isn’t that a little bit... creepy?” the first boy asks. “Having someone follow you around all the time?”

“ So creepy,” his companion responds.

They laugh, and the sound is particularly cutting.

Alina tenses up—I can feel her energy in the air between us, palpable and impossible to ignore.

At my sides, my fingers curl into fists. Who are these boys, and why do they feel it’s their right to question her this way? To tease her?

“Can you send him away?” one of the boys asks.

Now I turn fully to face them, and all three of them look up at me.

“No. But I can send you away,” I say, voice low.

Alina’s eyes widen. Then she quickly wipes the surprise away, replacing it with a thin smile. “Raelan,” she says, trying to maintain her composure, though the tension beneath her words is obvious, at least to me. “Could you give us a bit of space, please?”

My response is immediate and unwavering. “Absolutely not.”

Now her wide eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

I’m still staring at the boys, who are starting to wriggle under the intensity of my glower. “I said absolutely not .” To make my point, I take a step closer to the crescent couch they’re all seated upon. “You”—I jut my chin toward one of the boys, whose thigh is a bit too close to Alina’s—“move over. One foot.”

His mouth pops open in a look of shock, and he throws a glance at his friend, then returns his gaze to me. His brow arches. “What if I say no?”

Good, a challenge.

Without hesitation, I reach down, grab him by the robe, and physically separate him and the princess, shoving him a foot down the blue velvet couch. “Then I will happily do it for you,” I growl.

“Raelan!” Alina snaps, but I ignore her. My dragon would very much like to toss these boys from this tall, tall tower, and all its focus is on them.

“Man, get a grip,” one of the boys says. “You’re crazy.” He quickly snatches up his bookbag and pushes to his feet. “I’m out of here.”

“Me too,” the other boy says. “See you around, Alina.” He, at least, is smart enough to give me a wide berth as he stands. Then, without glancing back, they both stride across the tiled floor and pass through the doorway to the spiraling staircase, leaving everyone in the room staring at me—and the princess.

Her anger vibrates in the air around me, making my skin tingle with warmth.

“What the stars was that?” she asks, voice low and punctuated with venom. “What were you thinking ?”

I draw myself up and adjust my long-sleeved tunic; it got rumpled when I manhandled the boy away from Alina. “They just wanted to get you alone,” I say, and I somehow keep my voice level despite the anger singing through my veins.

“No, they wanted to get away from you , very much like I do right now.”

Slowly, I draw my gaze away from the doorway—it doesn’t look like the boys are coming back—and look down at Alina. She’s clutching her schoolbook in her lap, and ice creeps from her fingers and across the book, turning it inch by inch into a block of ice. If she notices what she’s doing, she makes no indication of it.

“It’s my duty to protect you—that includes protecting you from other students who may have... ill intentions.”

Alina’s light brown cheeks turn a shade of red. “Ill intentions?” she growls. “Who are you, my father ?” With a huff, she pushes to her feet, goes to throw her book into her bag, and realizes it’s frozen solid. Dismay flashes quickly across her face, and I’m suddenly feeling a touch bad about making a scene.

Because everyone is certainly staring now.

So far as I’m aware, the princess is a powerful frost witch, but she lacks the ability to fully control her magic, hence her interest in attending the academy. But whatever her reason for being here, it’s my job to protect her, even if that means keeping young men and their twisted thoughts away from her.

What about my twisted thoughts?

It’s not lost on me that I’m the most dangerous thing here. As if reminding me of the power locked inside my veins, the chain around my neck burns, stinging my skin .

Cheeks still flushed, Alina shoves the frozen tome into her bag, then hefts the strap onto her shoulder. “I’m going to the library,” she says. “You’re dismissed for the day.”

I don’t miss a beat. “You can’t dismiss me, Your Highness. I don’t answer to you; I answer to His Majesty.”

Her fingers curl into a white-knuckled grip around the strap of her shoulder bag. “Then I’ll write to Grandfather, and he can tell you to back off.”

“As you wish, Your Highness.” I hold out a hand, gesturing to the staircase. My use of Alina’s full title seems to further irritate her, if the sharp look she gives me is any indication. “Shall I escort you to the library now?”

“I told you to call me Alina .” She lets out a frustrated huff, then stalks past me. And I realize for the first time how beautiful her anger is.

Even if it’s directed at me.

Especially if it’s directed at me.

You sick masochist , I think.

And then I follow her to the stairs, and we start back down from the astronomy tower.