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Antonia scoffed. “Try not to keep me up when you scream at night. We all know you are a walking target, Herring.”

The Night corridors were up a golden-railed spiral staircase on the second floor, beneath a crescent moon relic hanging over the arched entrance.

Cold drafts pelted the halls as candles flickered in the hanging lanterns.

Shadows crawled up the walls, brittle like branches, casting slender flames high and low.

The rooms were small—barely enough space to move after Malachi forced the guards to bring in a second bed and two of everything else.

I quickly slid the griffin egg beneath my bed, tucking it safely into a makeshift nest I’d fashioned from the cloak Charles had given me.

My closet was already stocked with the academy’s uniforms—Serpent green, as deep as pine forests.

Evening suits hung neatly alongside thick sweaters for colder days, and plaid skirts emblazoned with the academy’s crest. The oval stained-glass windows painted a constellation of stars across the stone walls, the fading sunlight igniting them in hues of amber and violet.

After a long, hot shower, I stretched out on the mattress—a welcome relief compared to Serpent Bunker, where every twist and turn met the jab of a rebellious spring. I sighed into the softness, savoring the moment .

Malachi, however, didn’t share my appreciation for rest. When she finally emerged, she was dressed in a plaid skirt and a white polo, unbuttoned just enough to reveal a hint of cleavage. Her blonde curls bounced just above her collarbone, still damp from the shower.

She stopped short when she saw me sprawled across the bed. “ What are you doing?” she asked, her tone hovering between curiosity and shock.

“I’m resting,” I said, leaning on the wooden frame. “You look nice.” She smelled of that same rich vanilla scent from before.

“Tonight, we celebrate. It’s our first official night at the Serpent Academy. So, get up,” Malachi said with a grin.

“Malachi,” I began, my voice heavy with exhaustion. “I’m grateful you got another bed put in. Really, I am. But I just survived the most brutal nights of my life. And I don’t even have my quell, let alone my enigma.”

She stared at me as if I’d sprouted horns. “You are Fallon’s daughter, are you not?”

Her words hit like a misfired arrow. I returned her stare, confusion knitting my brow. “My mother?”

“She’s a legend around here,” Malachi said, the grin widening as if she couldn’t believe my ignorance. “Won Skyfall two years in a row with her wyvern. Managed to keep her forbidden quell hidden, too. First student ever to be publicly stripped of it. I read all about her before the Rite.”

“My mother was a dragon rider?” I echoed, blankly staring at her, trying to reconcile this version of my mother with the woman I’d known.

“Well, technically, she rode a wyvern. The difference is in the legs. But yeah, every academy student is journaled—their quell, house, and enigma. You can look up anyone’s records in the library.

My family rides dragons, too. I mean, we have to—because of my grandfather.

A griffin? Cute, but not much help in a fight.

No offense.” She grinned, radiating self-assurance, as if she were too delicate to be lethal—despite the glint in her eyes that said otherwise.

“That dragon you rode in on—is that yours? The one with three heads?” I asked, shifting the subject with ease.

“Tors?” She shook her head. “I used him to train my entire life, but he’s not my enigma. Dragon bonding isn’t as simple as just finding an egg. Dragons have roots, and I’m not in the mood to give a history lesson right now.”

“I almost got expelled today. A gathering isn’t something on my list.”

“Well, lucky for you, you’ll have plenty of time to figure it out.

” She grabbed a matching academy uniform from the closet and shoved the plaid skirt against my chest. “Now, get dressed. We’re going to enjoy the party.

And that Bridger guy? He definitely had his eye on you.

Keeping close to student mentors isn’t just smart—it’s survival. ”

“Bridger wants to kill me and steal my father’s title. Of course, he had his eyes on me.”

Malachi hummed a soft tune. “Are you going to let him?”

“No,” I said, pulling the shirt over my head and tucking it into the patterned skirt. “What exactly is this party ?”

Surely, I looked like a swollen doll from the welts marring my legs and arms.

“This party is to get to know your fellow students and the Serpents. Just because we are under Archer’s watch doesn’t mean you can’t learn from the others. Take Monty. He can teach you how light affects your quell.” She gave me a subtle wink. “Second and third-years will be there.”

“What is that wink for?”

She stretched her arm over my shoulder. “I meant that Monty Garcia is hot and offered to teach me special classes. It doesn’t hurt to flirt your way to power. ”

Flirt my way to power. I scoffed. Malachi was flawless, with a sheer grace of cunning. It terrified me that someone could be so bold.

“You’re courting with the Serpent of Day?” I asked. We stepped into the hallway. I wouldn’t mention how many mistresses I had read about. Malachi, of all people, would know.

Malachi pressed her finger on my lips, shushing me. Her hands trailed down my neck toward the buttons and undid two. “Not courting. I have no intention of marriage anytime soon.” Her features pinched. “Or ever, for that matter. But you must admit Monty is gorgeous.”

“Oh, I suppose,” I muttered. “Shouldn’t we focus on our quells and studies? My father’s title rests in my hands. I don’t want… distractions.”

“You won’t survive here if you don’t find your alliances. Your enemies should be your friends—Monty wants me dead. And it doesn’t hurt to have a little fun.”

“So, you’re planning on hooking up with the man who wants to kill you?”

She chuckled, and the smile she gave was something I hadn’t expected, given her following words. “Everyone wants to kill me. Perhaps even you someday.”

So, Antonia wasn’t kidding when she mentioned Malachi’s screams would wake her from doors away.

Every lantern lit the halls with shattered light. Swallowing that curling shadowed brick. We passed the library at the grand entrance, arching into a black windowed door. I needed to visit it tomorrow to read what Malachi learned about my family.

“The headmaster said we should be in our rooms when the lanterns turn on.”

She laughed. “The professors will be drunker than us by the time we arrive. It’s only a threat. No one enforces rules here. They trap the most powerful students and expect us to obey?” She raised a brow.

I nervously asked, “What did the professor mean when he said my mother was a death curser?”

“Fallon could wield death with only a single touch. But her wyvern gave her the quell of sound. She could hear things from behind doors.”

Death. My mother had the death quell.

“Did it say anything about Klaus? He was my older brother.”

Malachi pushed the double-wide doors open. Night took us into the shadows of grey clouds. A gust sprang up, glinted with gold and lavender speckles.

Dare I say, I felt bold stepping outside without a jacket.

“Flame,” she whispered a beat later. “Klaus was placed in Summer.”

My gaze probed the approaching night, grappling with the words Malachi had fed me before they coalesced into meaning.

Klaus was a fire wielder. I knew Father would have disowned him the moment that knowledge trickled down the line of Serpents, discovering that a son of Winter melted the land he was born in.

“I never knew,” I said softly, fighting the urge to be pissed at Klaus but knowing I had no right. At least Knox was alive, and I could curse him for betraying our family and leaving it all up to me.

“The academy takes your most potent traits and places you where you will be the most powerful. You must be born with Summer in your blood for Klaus to wield flame.”

“I am a Winter.” I stifled my breath as we walked down a narrow, shaded path to the backside of the castle. Silver and black fences guided us to a clearing, where fifty people gathered around a fire pit .

The gnawing sea hurled in the distance. Canopies hung low, adorned with crystal and golden teardrops. Flowers budded from the ground, curling around the fence separating the ocean from the cobblestone path.

Malachi looped her arm within mine, vanilla ripping through my tightened lungs as she leaned closer. “Winters are known to be shy. Don’t worry, I’ll break you before the academy can.”

I muttered back, “You can’t break broken.”

“We all have more room to break.”

She was right. I feared the pieces left inside of me.

A flurry of ash rippled through the air, carried by the soft crackle of the fire. A dozen students mingled around it, their green-and-black uniforms blending into the night. I scanned the crowd for Knox, but he disappeared into the sea of identical blazers.

The sounds of voices bouncing off crashing waves filled the space—clipped conversations, bursts of laughter, and the occasional crack of kindling. The night should have felt alive, but anger, guilt, and grief churned within me, threatening to drown the moment.

Archer Lynch caught my eye, lounging on a log with a blonde girl perched on his lap. Her veins shimmered like twisting vines, tiny flowers sprouting from her hair with beads sewn delicately into each strand. She had to be from Spring—her entire presence radiated poison.

Beside me, Malachi spotted Monty Garcia and locked eyes with him, a grin already spreading across her face.

She turned to me. “The more people you know here, the better. Find some alliances tonight—maybe even your enemies.” She shrugged, then added with a teasing lilt, “But if you kiss someone, I want all the details.”