Page 28

O rnix

In the days that follow, the interaction with Equinox leaves me uneasy. He didn’t want to hand over the seal. I left him unattended in the human world with an artifact capable of all manner of terrible things, and he came back playing games. Testing us, almost.

The boy is up to something, but I cannot tell what.

Since his return, he has spent no time whatsoever doing anything besides playing on those damn computers.

I have told him to shut the game down, amend it so players are not being fed the secrets of our realm, but I do not know that has happened. In fact, I believe it has not.

I should go to the human world and have the game shut down.

I did try to get my associates to handle it, but apparently it’s not as easy to just turn the whole thing off as I imagined.

A lot of human investment is surrounding the IP now, and there are a great many people determined not to allow the damn thing to be taken offline.

I want to keep an eye on Nox, but there’s nothing to watch.

Just an uneasy feeling that something is happening right under my nose.

It is as I said about the seal; the ripples of past events are converging and there is nothing I can do to stop them.

I can feel the currents of energy. I just can’t see them yet.

“I don’t need you to tell me how to fly! I have already flown before!”

I am distracted from my pondering by the sound of my mate causing absolute havoc in the training room. I know it is my mate, because only my mate screeches curses at that particular pitch, and none of the dragon whelps would ever dare to say the things she is saying to Instructor Wraith.

She comes storming out of the training wing with a chain trailing from her harnessed form, and she is followed by Instructor Wraith, who looks as angry as I have ever seen him.

He steps on the chain as she rushes toward me, stopping her in her tracks and then yanking her back in a manner that is actually rather comedic, though of course I cannot laugh.

“Get back here! You do not leave the lesson without being dismissed!” Wraith snaps at her.

I step off the stairs, manifest my wings and let myself glide to the floor in front of the pair of them before a tussle ensues. I have a feeling things are moments away from violence if Wraith keeps yanking her around like a naughty puppy on a chain.

“This human is an unworthy wretch who refuses to follow even the simplest of orders,” he says. “She’s closer to an animal than a sentient being.”

Melissa swings around and points her finger back at Wraith. “He pulled that fucking chain one too many times.”

“You kept taking off! I explicitly told you to keep your feet on the ground. It is not a difficult command.”

“I can’t not fly. I didn’t not fly. Every time I try to do anything whatsoever, he yanks me down and tells me I’m doing it wrong. He won’t even let me try.” Melissa ignores him and talks to me instead, her eyes wide, her tone pleading.

“She’s making no progress whatsoever,” Wraith says. “She doesn’t have the fine skills in her wings to make the small adjustments needed for safe and stable flight. I think they should be removed. Again.”

“I think you should be removed,” Melissa mutters under her breath.

“She’s disrespectful, and she’s physically weak. She is strong only in her ability to talk nonsense, to disrupt the class, and to drop feathers everywhere.”

“The two of you need to stop,” I say firmly.

“Your highness…” Wraith begins. I do not let him continue.

“I want you to teach my human mate to fly. She has good wings and perhaps she does not have all the control she needs just yet, but she will develop it over time. And you, Melissa, are going to have to show your instructor respect and try your best. I don’t know how that chain got unmoored, but…”

“She ripped it out,” he says.

“She ripped it out? That’s an incredible feat of strength. Very exciting.”

Wraith’s expression contorts into a mask of annoyance. “I do not think she is suitable for my class.”

He thinks he has a choice. I am not entirely sure why an air of rebellion has been sweeping through the Golden Keep of late, but I have no intention of allowing it.

“Instructor Wraith, I want her competent in the use of those wings. I need her to be able to fly, or at the very least, retract them neatly. They can fold down more than they do, I am sure of it. Wings don’t need to be all over the show.”

Wraith reels himself back in.

“Yes, sire. I think all things are possible, but I do need a willing student.”

“I’m not a willing student,” Melissa says.

“That is literally the only thing she and I can agree on,” Wraith adds.

“I could teach her.”

Nox is leaning over the railing of the stairs, having apparently heard every bit of the shouting match. I assume most of the keep has heard this dissent echoing around and through the walls.

“Yes. Let Equinox teach me!” Melissa immediately grips that suggestion like the lifeline it isn’t.

“No,” I shake my head firmly. “I want you to have proper instruction. If I wanted you taught by a reckless amateur, I’d teach you myself.”

Above us, Nox snorts. Melissa pouts. The only one who seems pleased by this interaction is Instructor Wraith, who is absolutely not suited to her temperament.

He’s the best teacher I can think of, but Melissa likes to resist education.

I have not given him an easy task, but that does not mean I intend to relieve him of it.

“Come here,” I say to my mate, taking her by the arm, and leading her far enough away from the others that they will not hear us.

“My love, your lessons with Instructor Wraith are not just about learning to fly. Flying is important and you need to learn how to do it without killing yourself, but being in his class is also an opportunity to fit in. The whelps you are with are your cohorts in a sense. Being around them will teach you much about our culture. You could make friends, and begin to feel more settled here. That is why I will not be teaching you myself, and why Equinox will not be teaching you. You will attend classes with Instructor Wraith.”

“I already have a best friend. She’s back in the human world and she probably thinks I’ve ghosted her to shack up with you.”

“Actually, her father has reached out for us to have dinner together. So yes, I think your absence has been noted,” I tell her.

Her eyes light up. “Really? I get to see Tempest again?”

“You have wings.”

“We can hide them. Or we can make it a themed dinner party. Heaven and hell. I can put a halo on and call myself an angel. Can we do that?”

“I will try to arrange something, assuming you do not cause so much trouble here we are unable to go. You will need to learn to control your wings; that’s the bare minimum.”

“I’m going to learn! I already know!”

“When Instructor Wraith says you can, then we can consider it,” I say.

She is excited enough to accept her educational fate, and that is a good thing.

I lead her back to Wraith, who is waiting. Nox has gone back upstairs, something I am grateful for.

“Melissa has agreed to be a better and more willing student, Instructor Wraith,” I say, feeling as though I am engaged in high level negotiations. It has been some time since this level of diplomacy was required inside the keep.

“She’s undisciplined,” Wraith asserts. “And she has not been brought to justice for the absolute chaos she just caused. Even now, the class is paused until my return because I had to chase her chained self through the halls like attempting to catch a wild beast. She has been absolutely uncontrollable in my class.”

“Oh I didn’t even do anything in your class. I was trying. What do you want? Perfection?”

“Obedience. Progress. Success. For you to not rip the safety equipment out by the root and run away with it.”

“Melissa will not do anything like that again, because if she does, you will call me, and I will come into class, and she will be turned over my knee in front of everybody and spanked until she cries and makes a full apology for you.”

My mate’s eyes go wide at that comment, and the instructor looks very satisfied at it. Melissa needs to know there will be consequences for her behavior. She needs to respect Wraith, even if he annoys her.

Melissa

“I bet you’re happy now that you got him to threaten me,” I say, somewhat bitter as I follow Wraith back to the classroom, dragging my chain as I go.

It makes an unpleasant clanking sound as it is pulled over sacred stones.

I wonder if it will leave a mark. I kind of hope it does.

I have been pushed into this situation in so many ways, and I do resent it, even if there’s the potential of dinner with Tempest to come if I just behave myself long enough.

“I’d be happier if I’d talked him into removing those wings of yours and sending you back where you came from, you monstrous little wretch,” Wraith hisses back.

Oh. So he’s not happy either. Both of us are pissed at having to put up with one another.

I have to fight back the urge to laugh, but I can’t help it, I spit out a short gasp of amusement. I know that dragons don’t care about rank if you don’t actually hold it, and they’re all about earning their place and whatnot, but there’s got to be some limits.

“You can’t talk to me like that. I’m the king’s mate. It might not mean much to you, but he’s not going to actually punish me. You know that, don’t you? He worships me. The future of the kingdom lies between my thighs.”

Wraith’s brows disappear toward his hairline. He turns toward me, stopping me in my tracks.

“Excuse me?”

In hindsight, later on, I’ll realize that question is a trap. For the moment, I just bluster through my thoughts, as if his rude comments were a key unlocking my absolute unhinged side.