Page 12 of Taste of Thorns (The Firestone Academy #3)

Chapter Ten

F ox

A creature the size of a young foal comes rushing towards us, its dark wings spread wide as it twists and turns, dodging through the trees.

I take a firm hold of Briony and shove her behind me, shielding her with my body.

The creature swoops low and comes to a skidding halt several feet from me, snow spiraling up into the air. Its golden eyes glow even more brightly than mine and it takes one look at me and roars, red hot fire shooting from its nostrils.

I lift my hand, about to blast the thing away. But before I can, Briony is tugging on my arm.

“What are you doing?” she scolds me, before running towards the creature.

Dragon. That’s what she said and, examining it now as she pats its scaly head, I don’t see what else it can be.

“Briony, come away,” I hiss, “that isn’t safe.”

She tsks , bends a little and lets the creature rise up on its hind legs and lick at her face. “This is Blaze. It’s perfectly safe.”

I blink. Blink again. Then rub at my eyes, not trusting what I’m seeing.

“Would you care to tell me, Miss Storm, what the hell is going on?”

“Blaze has been hiding out in the academy forest for the last few weeks. That’s why I was coming out here to see him.”

“That isn’t possible,” I say, shaking my head, “the faculty staff would know if there was a dragon in the woods.”

She shrugs. “He’s good at keeping hidden and he hasn’t been here that long.”

“And where was he before?” I say, rubbing at my brow.

“In my room.”

“In your what?!”

“He was littler then. He’s grown really rapidly since he hatched.”

“Hatched?!”

She nods, continuing to pet the dragon as he licks her hand and jumps about in excitement.

“So you’re telling me that before you had a dragon in your room, you had a dragon’s egg?” I say, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the words streaming from my mouth.

“Yes.”

“And where in all the realm did you find a dragon’s egg.”

“Firestone,” she corrects, “and I didn’t find it, it found me.”

She tells me some fantastical tale about the egg calling to her out in the forest back in Slate, a tale I wouldn’t believe at all if it weren’t for the dragon standing several paces in front of me, if it weren’t for the fact I saw this girl wielding light only the day before.

I look at the girl now. She’s crouched down, running her knuckles up and down the dragon’s sternum as the creature hums in satisfaction, little puffs of smoke floating from his nostrils.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” I ask her, finally realizing what that damn lizard smell must have been.

“You were keeping secrets from me too, Professor, and so I didn’t know if I could trust you. If I’m honest, I still don’t know for sure if I’m a fool. If I’m trusting people when I shouldn’t.”

I understand. After what happened, I haven’t been exactly ready to trust people myself.

“Talking of which,” she continues, “you said you’d help me work out what’s going on.

” She tickles the dragon under his chin, her face lighting up as the dragon leans into her touch.

“You said whoever manipulated the trial may have been testing me. Do you think Madame suspects I have powers? Do you think she knew about my sister?”

“The Princes chose you as their thrall. I am fucking infatuated with you. Of course she suspects there is something different about you. I don’t know if she knows what that is, or if she knew about your sister. That was nine years ago. Veronica was just a regular teacher back then.”

“Was she a teacher when you were a student?”

I don’t answer that question. There are some secrets I am unwilling to share.

“The lumomancy,” I say, diverting the conversation, “has it really never happened before?”

She peers up at me. “No, never … at least not that I remember.”

“What does that mean?”

“It may have happened when I was younger, but I forgot. I mean, I don’t remember learning to walk or talk but I must have.” She places a kiss on the end of the dragon’s nose. “Why?”

“It seems too much of a coincidence to me. No one has been known to wield light for hundreds of years. No one has seen a dragon for hundreds of years either. Perhaps the two are linked.”

“The weird feeling in my veins is really intense right now. Do you think that’s Blaze?”

“Briony,” I say, “do you think you could do it now? Do you think you could find the magic and beckon it out?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sweetheart,” I say, “why don’t you try?”

She stands up and both the dragon and I watch as she closes her eyes. Her arms hanging in the air in front of her.

Nothing happens.

A crease forms between her brows, her lips move silently.

Still nothing.

She grunts in frustration and opens her eyes.

“You mustn’t force it,” I tell her. Although, what do I know? Light wielding may be different altogether from shadow weaving.

“I feel like it happened all of its own accord last time. Like I wasn’t really in control of it at all.”

I step towards her and the dragon’s ears press flat against its head as it growls at me.

“It’s okay, Blaze. Fox here is a friend.”

The little dragon does not seem convinced. It keeps right on growling at me, its eyes never leaving me.

“Blaze, stop that.” She paces towards me as if to show him that I’m not a threat, but the dragon doesn’t like that either.

He leaps between the two of us and blasts a ball of fire my way – much much bigger than the last one.

It’s so quick, even I, with my lightning-speed reflexes and ability to move like the wind, only just have time to meet it with my own magic, the flames flickering around me.

The heat is intense. My cold skin sizzles.

“Fox!” Briony screams. “Blaze, no!”

There’s a flash of light and the flames die immediately.

“Shit,” I mutter, rubbing ash from my eyes as Briony flings herself into my arms.

“You’re okay.”

“Of course, I’m okay.” I chuckle, squeezing her against me and smirking at the displeased little dragon over her shoulder. He looks suitably chastised. “Sorry, pal, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Are you hurt?” Briony asks, taking a step back to give me the once over. “You seem fine,” she adds, puzzled, “how is that even poss–”

“Lightning-quick reactions, remember?” I smirk even harder at the dragon who huffs out smoke.

Briony turns around and wags a forefinger at the dragon. “That wasn’t nice, Blaze. You could have really hurt him and Fox is our friend.”

The dragon snorts then spreads his wings and flaps away into the darkness.

“Blaze, you come back here right now! I haven’t finished talking to you,” she calls after him. “Blaze!”

But the dragon is long gone and obviously has no intentions of returning.

“I don’t know why he did that,” she says in frustration.

I brush more ash from my shoulders and my legs. “My kind aren’t exactly popular with animals. I gather they can sense there is something unnatural about us.”

“He still shouldn’t have done that.”

“But you stopped him.”

She shakes her head. “He doesn’t listen to me anymore.”

“That flash of light. That was you?”

Her mouth falls open at the realization and she stares down at her hands. “Shit, you’re right. I did it again! But I don’t … I don’t …”

“When you’re in danger–”

“ I wasn’t in danger.”

“Then, maybe when,” I swallow hard, a lump suddenly forming in my throat, “when someone you care about is in danger.” I don’t know if she hears me, she’s too busy staring down at her hands.

“This is good,” I say, nodding, “now we understand what triggers it, we can work on you learning to summon it whenever you please.”

And that’s crucial. If someone is trying to hurt Briony – whoever that may be – she needs to be able to defend herself.