Page 10

I spin in the air, in the chilling wind, and the ringing in my ears is so loud.

I can’t think. I can’t breathe, as time itself feels like it slows for a long second as I fall through the air.

I’m a witch, I know spells, and I don’t need anyone to save me—I never have.

I whisper the Latin words under my breath, the old Latin rolling off my tongue easily, just like the hundreds of times that I’ve memorized each spell again and again.

I’ve mastered the language so I could master the spells.

Icy cold magic flings around me, and I bounce off the floor, never quite touching it, almost like an invisible cushion.

It still takes the air out of my lungs from the impact, shaking my ribs, and a piercing scream echoes from my throat.

The burns on my legs seem to brush every inch of the ground as I collapse onto it, wincing.

I roll onto my back, looking up as a silver dragon flies across the sky, with the stars twinkling above him.

Vale. The fucking asshole who just tried to kill me.

I might be bonded to him for life, but I am going to get revenge, and I am going to make him pay for what he just did.

I don’t question how I know it’s him, how my soul seems to recognize his dragon and send the name into my mind.

Our bond is new, and our souls’—magic—connection will only grow stronger from what I’ve heard.

I grit my teeth, standing up, and dirt falls off me, but it doesn’t help. A cleaning spell. Another few words and the mud is gone, most of the visible ash is cleared from my skin, and I look a slight bit better. Not great, but I only have to get to my room.

I walk up to the castle, through an arched dark gray door, and the warmth of the building hits me instantly.

I sigh as I close the door behind me, taking a long breath even though I’m still shaking.

I still can’t believe that just happened.

Was it real? I’m not sure, but I lift my hands into the light, shining from the fire lanterns on the walls, and see the runes.

They are real; they aren’t my imagination, and I am bonded to four dragon shifters.

Not just four dragon shifters, but the last four in existence.

Kane was right in a way when he said I cursed them all, because our enemies are going to want me dead because my death would kill all four of them too.

That would it, the last real chance for the witches against the enchantress.

Dragons can win wars—they have done in our history.

The last enormous battle for the witches was just under a hundred years ago, and seventy dragons and their bonded went to war.

They all died in that battle, but the enchantress’s forces took a massive hit, and it was a victory for that alone, but the dragons lost too much.

There were no more bonds between witches and dragons recorded after that, and slowly, their race has begun to disappear due to the low birth rates for all shifters.

My lungs suddenly feel like they are too tight, like I can’t breathe fast enough.

I don’t want this. This is too much pressure. What have I done?

The corridor lights up brighter, the rays of it flashing into my eyes.

Under the light, I can make out the shape of a small creature.

It’s about the size of a cat and has cat ears that are pointed, but its body is longer, and its tail hangs to the floor.

I guess it wants me to go that way. The light dims away, back to normal, and the small creature is gone.

I push off the wall. The panic attack was just about gone, thanks to the shock of the light.

Maybe I can make friends with the small creatures here after all.

Well, I hope so. I turn down a long, winding corridor that spins and turns in several ways, like most of this academy.

“Take me to them,” I say out loud, hoping it helps.

“Take me to them so I can kill them,” I snap, because there is no way I’m staying silent for what Vale just did.

Attempted to kill a bonded? I know it’s against the law, and he can’t just get away with it.

They might be dragons, smug and arrogant, but I don’t think they can shift inside the academy, and they’re bonded to me now.

It was an accident; it wasn’t what I wanted to do, but our fates are entwined now by the goddess because of what happened out there.

It couldn’t be anything short of something our goddess wanted, and all of them seem like absolute assholes.

Why would the goddess want that for me? I don’t know, and when I eventually die, I can ask her.

I’m pretty sure Vale thought I wouldn’t die.

I’d just be severely hurt, but even then, that’s bad.

I’m going to have to watch my back around him continuously.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I step straight out of the corridor onto a stage with the headmaster standing alone, waiting in the middle.

Thick curtains mark the one wall, and I can hear people chatting, laughing, and their feet tapping the floor as they walk around.

The headmaster waves me over, but my eyes go to the board behind him on the wall.

It’s a chalkboard, all black, with the Latin for our heroes written across the top.

The rest of it is a chart and a list of names.

I count fourteen names, and right at the bottom, being written in white chalk as I watch, is my name.

The other names have a box next to them and a rune inside, all of them different. Their bonded.

“Welcome, Juniper Daygan. I have gotten your name right?” I nod and he smiles. “Well, come closer then, Juniper. As you can see, your name has been added to the leaderboard, and when I confirm your rune and your bonded, that will be marked on there, too.”

“Leaderboard?” I look at Mentor Parker, confused.

He seems like he has answered this question a few—or fourteen—times before.

“This is our leaderboard. You earn points throughout your years at the academy. Everything from your lessons to your tests and training earns a point. You name it, you get a point for it. We expect you to care for the weapons given to you and bring the right weapons to your classes. Points are subtracted for missing items. The leaderboard keeps count, and you can check it whenever you wish. Currently, it’s at random.

Earning the points will begin tomorrow morning with your first class.

The more tests you do, the more spells you practice, the higher you will get on the board.

Everyone accepted to Bloodstone is competitive enough to be at the top of their classes, you included, and this helps keep that competitive spirit alive. ”

“What happens at the end?” I clear my throat. “Are there rewards for being at the top?”

“You benefit with the reward of life and the honour of fighting in the war for your people.” His voice is dull. Bored.

“Life?” I blink in confusion.

“Well, this academy, as you well know, gets rid of the weak. Weak are not needed in battle or wars. You need to be in the top seventy percent of this, and if you’re not.

” He goes quiet and draws an invisible line across his throat.

My stomach hurts. “You will be donated to the afterlife as a gift to the goddess. May she rebirth you as a stronger witch. Your bonded also will join your classes, and they have their own leaderboard, which they do get rewards for.”

Holy shit. “Why? I thought once we bonded, we were safe and?—”

“Don’t for a second believe you’re safe at Bloodstone, Miss Juniper Daygan.

You’re not.” I think he is warning me, but it comes across as a threat.

Like he is certain of the fact I am not safe here.

“Now, everyone’s waiting to hear who you bonded to.

” He waves at the curtain wall. “The celebrations are just behind there, but I need to know who you bonded with before you can join them. The castle wouldn’t have let you back in if you’d not bonded.

You need to say the name out loud. What’s their name and race? ”

My heart’s racing. My voice seems to echo around the castle as I say the four names. “Mazikeen Lycidas, Kane Ardian, Black Ashveil and Valeron Drexan. They are dragons and they are my bonded.” Whether they want to be or not.

Gasps burst out from behind the curtain, whispers, some shouts of disbelief, and it goes on and on as the headmaster just stares.

I don’t blame them. He frowns, his eyebrows tightening.

“Four. You bonded with four dragons? Lies come with hefty punishments, miss Daygan. Are you quite sure?” He steps closer and roughly grabs my wrists. “Show me your hands.”

I do, showing my palms and hating how he is gripping my wrists tight enough to bruise. The marks on my palms are clear as daylight. “I’m not a liar, and I don’t know anyone who would be foolish enough to lie about that.”

For a long moment, he just stares at my hands, stares like it might change the markings there. If there was a chance that worked, I’d stare myself. I’m already wishing this didn’t happen, that anything else happened, but it’s real and I have to accept it.

“It’s true. By the goddess, in her holy name, it is true,” Mentor Parker says. “You have bonded to four dragons and survived.”

I look up at the board as four runes appear next to my name, all the same as the runes on my hands.

I’m the only one in the whole row of fourteen that has more than one rune next to their name.

I see Winifred’s name and a wolf marking next to hers near the top of the board.

She survived then, and I’m glad she did.