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Chapter Fifty-Three

B riony

I stare out at the assault course in front of me with apprehension.

The last time I tackled this course was right at the beginning of my time at the academy.

It seems like an absolute lifetime ago. On that occasion, I’d nearly fallen to my death.

Okay, the person responsible for my fall is no longer here, but having just survived another assassination attempt I’m not exactly feeling confident, especially as my legs have morphed into jello and the pain medication has most definitely worn off.

Then there’s the way Adrianna – Odessa’s best friend – is glaring at me like she’d like to reach down my throat and rip out my heart.

I swing up and down on my toes, trying to find some sort of enthusiasm, waiting for one of the troll twins to blow their whistle and signal our start .

When he does, I set off at a slow jog. I don’t have it in my legs right now to run at my usual speed. I haven’t run two meters, though, when Dray and Beaufort appear out of nowhere flanking either of my sides and Thorne positions himself behind me.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing?” I ask.

“Making sure you get through this course without any serious injury,” Beaufort explains.

We reach the first obstacle. A series of tires fixed to the ground. Other students are already hopping through them.

“Right,” Dray says, scooping me up into his arms and skipping through the field of tires with ease.

“Is this even allowed?” I squeal.

“Do I give a shit?” he says, placing me back on my feet when we reach the end, the others right there with us.

“I can do this myself,” I point out. They all look at me like I really did lose all those brain cells.

“Fine, okay,” I mutter, setting off on that slow jog towards the next obstacle, wanting the ground to open up and swallow me as Beaufort lifts me up and over a short wall blocking our path, handing me to Dray on the other side, who lowers me down.

“This is fun,” he says, giving my ass a playful slap as we set off.

“This is your idea of fun?”

“Yeah, this course is usually way too easy. This makes it more of a challenge.”

Although, I’m not sure it makes it that much of a challenge. They lift me through, over and along each piece of apparatus with ease.

Then we reach the monkey bars.

“There’s no way you can help with this one,” I say, watching the student in front of us try and fail to swing to the other side, landing down in the mud .

“Huh,” Beaufort snorts, lifting me again and going to wade straight through the mud.

“There are spikes in there!” I warn him.

Thorne lifts his hand and his shadow magic swoops through the mud and plucks out each of the spikes, clearing Beaufort’s path for him.

“You underestimate us, sweetheart,” Beaufort says, staring down into my face in a way that has my pulse rate fluttering.

“Perhaps, but you’re trashing your sneakers.”

We’re nearing the end of the course, when I realize I’m actually enjoying this. Sure, that’s partly because I’m doing none of the hard work. But I’ve never hung out with the Princes like this before and they make me smile. They make me laugh.

At the end of the course, Dray leans in to whisper in my ear as we jog along. “We’re going to leave you now, Kitten. We have to make it look a bit believable.”

I wave them off and a few minutes later I’m crossing the line.

Twin number one peers at his stopwatch.

“You managed that pretty quick.”

“Yeah, I’m getting better at this stuff,” I lie.

“You’re hardly even sweating.”

I shrug and go off to wait on the grass for Fly and Clare.

Fly’s the first to arrive, panting and out of breath. He rests his hands on his knees, sweat dripping onto the ground.

“You look much better than you did,” he observes. “There’s color in your cheeks.”

“Is there?” I say, innocently.

“You looked like,” he winks at me, “you were having fun. ”

“I don’t know what gave you that impression.”

“No, because what’s not to like about two seriously hot men carrying you around.”

I stick my tongue out at him and he comes to sit beside me. Clare is one of the last to stumble over the line.

“Are you coming to the changing rooms?” she asks me. “No Odessa to worry about now.”

“Nope, I’m not taking any risks.” I nudge Fly.

We’ve agreed that Thorne and Fly will take me out to the forest to find Blaze.

We weave our way through the academy buildings and out onto the field. The sight of the forest has bile rising up my throat and I have to pause for a moment and force myself to breathe.

“Okay, Cupcake?” Fly asks.

“Yeah … it’s just.” I shake my head. “The last time I was here …”

“What’s wrong?”

I turn around to find Thorne examining me with concern.

“Nothing,” I say.

“Are you sure you can manage this? It’s a fair distance and I can’t carry you like the others.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “Fly can.”

“Err,” Fly protests.

“Come on, let’s find Blaze.”

“You got one of those tasty snacks again, Thorne?” Fly asks him.

“What tasty snack?” I ask, but Thorne’s already striding on ahead, seeming to have forgotten already that my legs don’t have their usual strength.

Soon the sun’s setting above us, the last of the day’s rays racing across the sky and painting it maroon, the temperature dropping rapidly until my breath hangs in a fog of smoke around my face.

“This is where I was attacked,” I murmur a few minutes later.

“Yes, we discovered the place,” Thorne says. “Or Dray and his nose did.”

“You’re lucky Professor Tudor found you,” Fly says as we carry on deeper into the forest, the color leeching from the sky as it darkens. “I feel really bad that I didn’t realize you hadn’t returned.”

“Hmm,” Thorne mumbles, clearly agreeing.

“It’s not your fault a bunch of psychos decided to attack me,” I say. I peer through the trees. Above the canopy the dark outline of the first of the Highland hills looms large. “I can’t believe he came this far.”

“It’s not too much further.” Thorne cups his hands and starts calling.

I follow suit and Fly places his fingers in his mouth and whistles really damn loud.

There’s a ruffle in the trees beyond us and then Blaze comes shooting through the trees like a bow from an arrow. He hurtles right at me, landing on my shoulder and attacking my face with his tongue.

A sob of relief escapes my throat. I was so worried he’d hate me – that he wouldn’t forgive me for sending him away like I did.

“Gross!” Fly says.

“He’s happy to see me,” I say, wrapping my arms around the little dragon and hugging him to me. “And I missed him too. Oh Blaze, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

I litter his scaly head in kisses of my own. He’s heavier than he was a few days ago and bigger. I roll him over onto his back, checking his body for any signs of injury. He has a few minor scratches here and there but nothing major.

“Oh you poor baby,” I say as he nuzzles his head under my chin. “Were you scared?”

“Have you seen the size of his round little tummy?” Fly says. “I bet he’s been having the time of his life!”

“Unlikely. He was all alone, and he probably thought I’d abandoned him.” I stroke my hand down his spine and he purrs. “I was just trying to keep you safe. I would never ever abandon you, Blaze. I promise.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” Thorne says.

“Well, I intend to keep this one.”

“Really?” Fly asks me, “even when he’s grown to the size of our tower?”

“I’ll find a way,” I say stubbornly, even if I know they are both correct. This situation isn’t sustainable. I can keep Blaze hidden in my room for now and fed on a diet of rats and mice but that won’t last forever. He’s going to get too big, too loud and too smelly. “Come on, let’s go home.”

He wriggles from my arms and for a while he’s happy to flap alongside us as we walk back through the forest. Then he gets bored, buzzing off to chase squirrels or harass the night-time birds emerging from their nests.

When we start to near the academy, where the forest begins to thin, he lands on a branch and refuses to go any further.

“Come on, Blaze. We’ve got to get back.” I beckon him over but he doesn’t move, quirking his head to one side and staring at me with his big golden eyes.

I stride over to the tree he’s occupying and reach up to pluck him from the branch, but he flutters out of my reach and goes to sit on the branch above.

“Blaze,” I say, “this isn’t funny. We can come back to the forest tomorrow.”

He makes a little whining noise at the back of his throat.

“I think he wants to stay here, Cupcake.”

“Well, he can’t!” I stamp my foot. “Blaze, come here right now.”

The dragon lowers his head and whines again.

“Fly, will you get him down?”

Fly doesn’t look happy about it, but he walks towards the tree and reaches upwards. Immediately, Blaze jumps up and sends a blast of fire Fly’s way.

Fly screeches and jumps back, but not quite in time, the flames singeing the very top of his hair. He swears, patting at his head.

“The little shit,” he mumbles.

“Blaze,” I say, wagging my finger at him, “that wasn’t very nice.”

“He could have melted my face off!” Fly protests.

“Maybe it’s safer if he does stay out in the forest,” Thorne says.

“But he’s so little and all alone.”

“He’s not so little anymore, Briony. He’s the size of a doberman. And he can clearly look after himself.”

“I don’t know,” I say. The truth is, in the month we’ve spent together, I’ve enjoyed his company more than I could have imagined. I can’t bear the thought of being parted with him.

“He seems happy out here, Cupcake. I’m not sure it’s very fair to keep him locked up in your room.”

“But someone might find him out here,” I protest, despite knowing Fly makes a very fair point.

“No one comes this far out into the forest,” Fly says.

“And you could come back and visit him every night, check he’s okay,” Thorne suggests. “As long as you bring one of us with you.”

“Not me!” Fly says glaring at the dragon.

“He didn’t mean it,” I mumble. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“You should tell Beaufort and Dray about him,” Thorne says. “Then one of us can accompany you out here each night to see him.”

“I don’t know,” I say, “what if someone found him? What if something happened to him?”

But Blaze doesn’t give me any choice because in the next moment he’s flying away.