Page 18

T he next class can’t be embarrassing, right?

Wini walks with me after history class ends, which was about two hours long, which I have judged by looking at the various clocks we passed in the corridors.

Maz left after an hour, so did Kane, but Vale didn’t.

He answered all the questions before I could even put my hand up.

We’re walking through a corridor now that has rows of bookcases on either side but no books in them, just empty, dusty bookcases.

I can smell the dust, and I wonder what was on these shelves to begin with.

Between every five or so bookcases are some triangle-shaped windows casting light onto the floor that we walk across.

“So, what exactly is training?” I question. All I’ve been told by the tutor is that the rest of our afternoons are always the same—training.

“We’ll spend the majority of our days training for various things, but all in this next class, from what I’ve heard,” she explains.

“I think they call it training because it covers a wide load of subjects. I haven’t seen our formal schedule yet—I believe we will get them tomorrow—but I think our morning classes change from healing to history and such, but our afternoon is always training. My brother’s is like that.”

“Okay, sounds easy enough.” Which is a lie because it definitely doesn’t.

My bonds are ahead of me, walking together as a tight group, one I am definitely not invited into.

Everyone else is side by side with their bonds, walking together in alliance and talking.

Getting to know each other, even if it is tense.

Mine want nothing to do with me. Even Aster is right next to Wini, staying on the other side of her.

But there’s just me. I’m the only one who seems to have bonds that want nothing to do with their bonded. I hate that it hurts.

Eventually the corridor widens into a huge stadium.

It’s tall, vaulted gray walls are so high up I can just about see the roof.

The room is massive, big enough for the dragons to shift without breaking anything and still leave a lot of space for everyone else.

There are two huge doors at the end that are open, leading straight into the forest.

Our tutor, I presume, stands in the middle.

He’s a rounded man with no hair, and he is wearing a thick black cloak that covers his front except for his belly, which pushes the limit of his shirt buttons.

His legs are quite stubby and he’s overall quite short, but there’s a sternness to his face that suggests he’s not kind at all.

His dark eyes seem to assess us one by one as we come in.

His voice is deep and outright scary as he yells, “Everyone stand with your bonded. Or a group of bonded,” he adds as an afterthought.

I see all four of them standing over at the furthest point away from the group, and Kane looks at me with disdain as I walk over. I stand next to Maz, who grins down at me. A low growl echoes out of Vale’s throat, and Maz looks away from me. Bully.

“Welcome, everyone, to training. I am your tutor and you will call me Den. This class will be different than any you have attended before. In every lesson you come to me, I will train you how to connect to your body, to win in a fight where magic is not there and your bonded are busy. Sometimes you will train with your bonds. Sometimes you will train in combat and defense. Other times, I will expect you to learn to shield. Overall, every lesson here that you learn will be good for you. It will teach you. Today we’re going to start with bonding.

I think it’s important that you make a bond with whatever animal you’ve bonded with and you go into the forest behind to strengthen that bond.

You run with them, ride on their back, whatever it is.

But I expect you to spend the next hour moving—not sitting—moving throughout that forest until you’re covered head to toe in sweat.

Until you’re tired and you’re desperate to come in to have food. ”

No one says a word, and an uncomfortable silence echoes.

Tutor Den continues, “As there are considerably big dragons here, they should go first.” He looks at me.

“Juniper Daygan you can choose one to shift. The others can fly around with you. From what I understand, that was how the Dragon Riders of before did it.”

“We are not to be ridden,” Kane says coldly. “By anyone.”

Vale walks away to get a chair. He drags it across the stadium, the sound of the chair screeching across the floor, echoing. Everyone is watching and my other bonded just pretend Vale isn’t making a point. Putting on a show. He sits on it backwards and looks straight at me with a taunting smirk.

“Crawl to me, here in front of everyone, and I’ll shift.” He curls a finger at me as my cheeks brighten. “Be a good girl.”

Everyone stares. Then laughs. I want to die.

Vale laughs so loud it echoes around the stadium.

The only saving grace is my other bonds don’t laugh, and neither does Wini nor Aster.

The laughing doesn’t stop, and my entire face feels like it is burning.

It just goes on and on. My chest hurts when all three of my other bonded go and stand behind Vale—a show of support for him.

They are happy for me to burn. Maz won’t look at me.

Black is unreadable, and Kane was looking at Vale with a locked jaw.

I don’t know why it hurts more that Maz chose to side with Vale when he is being a bully.

They aren’t going to shift for me. I’m not saying please to them or begging. Fuck that.

Tutor Den comes over. He looks at my dragons. “If you refuse, both of you lose points.”

I grit my teeth, knowing I can’t be losing points or I’ll drop down the board.

Vale tenses, but he doesn’t get up to shift.

He doesn’t change his mind. His jaw is set, his mind made up.

I can almost see it now—my name is slipping down into a low percentage because my dragons won’t help me in this class at all.

They don’t need to kill me. Bloodstone Academy, just by me being here and them doing nothing, is going to do that for them.

Tutor Den looks at me with a flash of sympathy before moving away, going to the others.

One by one, they shift for their bonded.

Great bears, one enormous snake, several wolves.

I hopelessly watch as Aster shifts into a huge, white, fluffy wolf, and Wini climbs onto his back like they just know how to do that. He runs right out into the forest.

That should have been me, not this. My heart pounds so loud in my chest as I feel myself taking a step back, and another step.

I don’t know when I turn and walk straight out as the world blurs until all I can think about is them laughing at me, of my name being at the bottom of the board.

I don’t even register myself leaving. I have never walked out of a class, but I can’t just stand there while they do that.

“Wait!” Maz shouts behind me, and I pick up speed. “Dammit, you’re fast. Come on.”

I stop and spin, making him dig his boots into the academy floor to stop himself from crashing into me.

“Look, you can flirt with me as much as you want, but you know it’s forbidden for us to have sex, so what is the point?

I’m not going to sleep with you. I don’t know what game you’re playing, trying to be my friend and then turning around and siding with those insane fuckers in there.

You realize what happens if I get to the lower part of the board, right? Death.”

“Same thing happens to us if we get to the lower part of the board.” He hesitates. “There’s a reason why we can’t have dragon riders anymore.”

“Why?” I snap.

“I’m not allowed to say,” he murmurs low.

“If we were to side with you, any of us, even me, it would change things. Things that cannot be changed back. I did not side with them because I do not want to be your friend. I do want to sleep with you, I’ll admit to that.

But, goddess, hear my words, you’re gorgeous. What did you expect?”

I shake my head at him. His glasses fall slightly down his nose, and I step closer to push them up. “What’s with the glasses?”

His shoulders drop just a bit. “I’m going to get some food and we can talk about it.

I guess we’re going to be bonded for life, and I might as well tell you before some other nosy fucker does.

It’s not a secret; it’s more of a legendary tale in my clan.

Even if we only keep the story for a little while longer. ”

“Do you want it to be a little while? I mean, you’re the last dragons in existence. Surely you want to live and have more dragon babies,” I question as we begin to walk.

“With who? There are no female dragons left.” He shrugs.

“Without a female dragon, a half dragon at least, there’s no future for our kind.

It doesn’t work like that for dragons. We can rarely breed with witches, and it would rarely happen.

I don’t know a record of a halfling in our history.

We’ve accepted that we’re just the last. We have no plans to make a future generation, and maybe there shouldn’t be. ”

I want to ask more about that, but we come out to a sprawling cafeteria, and it’s full of people.

Dozens of students are spread out across the cafeteria, where there are three long serving counters with glass displays and piles of trays to slide across the counter on the other side.

It is fully staffed—with shifters, I think—but they are older and wearing all green.