Page 24 of Taste of Thorns (The Firestone Academy #3)

Chapter Twenty-One

T horne

“Think you might be able to sleep now, little one?” I ask her softly.

My shadows are humming contentedly inside me. The most at peace I’ve ever known them. The feeling is matched in my body and right in the center of my chest. This tension I’ve been carrying ever since I met her has lifted. I feel lighter. Happier even.

She smiles back at me and it’s so pretty, my heart skips a beat, and I want so badly to gather her up in my arms and kiss her, whisper against her lips just how beautiful she is.

“Maybe,” she says, “maybe I’ll be lying in bed reliving that all night instead.”

“Ha,” I say. “Me too.”

She ties the silk gown back around her body and I do up my pants, using my magic to clean up the mess I’ve made on the floor.

We walk side by side towards the bedrooms. At the doorway to Beaufort’s she pauses.

“You could come in,” she says.

I shake my head. “You know I can’t.”

“I don’t want to be apart from you, Thorne,” she says. “Not after that.”

“Then I have an idea,” I venture, “only, you’re going to need to put some clothes on.”

She smiles wickedly, then slips inside the dark room, returning a moment later in pants and a sweater.

“Are we going to stay up talking all night?” she asks.

“Nope, I’m going to show you something. Follow me.”

Once she’s wrapped up in a coat, I lead her out of our tower, along the academy pathways towards the Great Hall.

The academy is dark and silent. The ground is covered in snow and above us the stars shine brightly.

We wind around to the back of the hall, its stained glass windows dark tonight, stopping outside an old oak door.

The wood is gnarled, the handle made from rusted iron.

“We’re going through there?” she asks.

“Yes,” I say, “down to the old dungeons. They’re the only thing that remains of the old castle.”

“Erm, if you’re taking me to see torture equipment and chained-up prisoners,” she says, “that isn’t the best choice for a date. Although I have been on worse.”

“The jerk from Slate?” She nods. “They haven’t kept prisoners down here for hundreds and hundreds of years. But I could arrange for them to make an exception for him.”

She laughs – a sound that has that muscle in my chest fluttering.

“So why are we going down there?” she asks, not sounding like she likes the idea of descending into old dungeons in the middle of the night.

“Trust me,” I say, turning the handle and pushing open the door.

The stone staircase that lies beyond descends downwards in a spiral, the middle of each step bowed where many pairs of feet have worn the stone away over the years.

Then we’re walking out into the huge cavernous space that lies directly beneath the academy’s Great Hall.

Flaming torches burn in brackets on the walls and high above us in the vaulted ceiling, making the polished stone walls shine.

She gasps.

“You said a dungeon, this wasn’t … it’s beautiful. I had no idea this existed.”

I motion for her to follow me across the grand space to the far wall.

“This is what I wanted to show you, Briony.”

In front of us lies a skeleton, yellow in the firelight, as long as the width of the cavernous space, as tall as the high ceiling. A huge skull sits at its crown, its eye sockets black like my eyes, a long tail curling around a complete rib cage.

“A dragon,” she murmurs, her gaze racing all over the form.

“Yes,” I say. “Danfoed, the last known dragon.”

“It’s huge.”

“Yeah, I did warn you that they grow pretty big.”

“I knew they were big, but not this big.”

“Danfoed was known to be a giant,” I say. “Blaze might not grow quite this huge.”

“Still,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief as she walks the length of the dragon, halting by its long talons, so big they reach up to her waist.

I stand back, watching as she strides up and down the dragon skeleton, examining and studying every part of him. Then I call out to her.

“Briony, there’s something else I wanted you to see.”

She follows me over to a wooden display case tucked into the corner. Behind its glass rests an old leather saddle with a huge harness and reins.

“What is that?” Briony asks, peering through the glass.

“A dragon saddle.” Briony looks at me with curiosity. “It belonged to Emperor Edgar. Briony, he was a dragon rider.”

“A dragon rider?” she repeats, brows crinkling.

“Yes, he was said to ride the dragon Danfoed. Back in the old days there were several great war dragons.” She frowns, clearly not liking that idea. “Together the dragons and their shadow weaver riders kept the monsters from the realm.”

“Only shadow weavers?” Briony asks.

“No, there were light wielders back then too.”

“And what happened to them?”

“That kind of magic died out at the same time as the dragons. Nobody knows why.”

“Riding dragons.” Briony swings her gaze back to the gigantic skeleton. “Stars,” she says, “how was that even possible?”

“With skill and training. But the old books also say there was a bond between dragon and rider, but I don’t know if that’s true.”

Briony smiles and shakes her head. “Thorne, if you’re showing me this because you think–”

“I’m showing it to you because I thought you might be interested.”

She steps back towards the skeleton. “Can you imagine? I just don’t even see how you’d begin to make that work.”

“I bet you could, Briony. I bet you could do anything you set your mind to.”

She smiles again. “You have met Blaze, right? The mischievous little dragon who set Fly’s hair on fire and tried to chargrill Fox.”

“He what?”

“Yeah, turns out dragons aren’t the greatest fans of vampires.” She walks the length of the skeleton, halting by the snout of the skull and peering into the empty eye-sockets.

“But he listens to you?” I say.

“Occasionally.” She laughs, rolling her eyes. “I’m not sure I could trust him enough to try anything like riding him. He’d be as likely to buck me off as he would accept me on his back.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe there is a connection between the two of you? The stone called you to it, Briony.”

She shifts slightly on her feet. “There is a connection. Or at least I think that’s what it is.

My magic feels strongest when he’s around and I can sort of feel when he’s there.

” In the firelight her cheeks pinken. “I can sort of feel when all of you are around too. My magic feels stronger when you’re about. I haven’t told the others yet.”

“It’s the fated-mate connection,” I say. “My own magic feels calmer when you’re around, Briony.”

“It does?” she says, hopefully. “Then maybe we could–”

“No.”

Her face falls and I wish I could give her what she wants. But I can’t.

“Do you think that’s why my magic came in when it did? Here at the academy with Blaze and you, and the others around me.”

I consider this for a moment. “Could be.” I stare back at the dragon. “Or it could be that you need your magic now, just like you need Blaze. Just like you need us.”

“Trust me, I could have done with the ability to fry people with light back in Slate or to frighten them off with a big, angry dragon. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”

“I have a feeling there’s a lot more trouble to come.

” She stares at me. Have I scared her? I’m not one to talk of fate and the future.

That’s Beaufort’s department, what with his visions.

But perhaps I’m starting to believe in all those things.

Fate spared me after what happened. It tied me to two bond brothers – an act that stopped me from taking my life.

Now it’s given us a girl who can wield light and who may be able to ride a dragon. Fate must have her reasons.

“I don’t exactly like the sound of that,” Briony says, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “You’re going to tell me I need to tell the others about Blaze, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Briony, if we’re going to keep you safe, they need to know everything.”

We spend a little more time walking up and down the long skeleton’s frame. Briony’s as interested in the dragon’s anatomy as she is hearing about the tales from the old days of dragons and lumomancers.

Then, when we’re both struggling to keep our eyes open, we retrace our steps and return to our tower. She hovers at the entrance to Beaufort’s door.

“Thank you, Thorne. That was by far the best date I’ve ever been on.”

“You clearly haven’t been on enough dates,” I mutter. Something we need to rectify.

“Well, I doubt anything could beat that.” She smiles at me and then her gaze drops to my mouth. I can't help mirroring the action, watching as she pinches her pretty pink lip between her teeth.

The magic crackles in my body. I concentrate with all my might in reining it in because all it wants to do is envelop her, to devour her completely.

“We’re going to find a way around this, Thorne,” she whispers to me. “I promise you, we will.”