30. CHAPTER 30
ZANE
Current Events was a required course for all cadets, which meant Auri should be here—second row from the top, halfway toward the west aisle.
Her spot was empty. I told myself she was only late.
She’d stroll in, hair still damp from a too-long shower, muttering about oversleeping. Except… she didn’t.
The room filled in around me, the low rumble of voices bouncing off the circular tiers. Still no sign of her. My gut tightened. I reached for our mental bond but hit a solid wall. I closed my eyes, focusing on breaking it down. She never shut me out this hard. It was as if the wall were empty.
By the time Professor Melamora started droning about shifting trade routes in the Northern Range, I was leaning forward on my elbows, scanning the tiers. Auri’s squad was there—Sadie, Akira, Micah, Lorenzo, Jackson—all present. She wasn’t.
Something cold settled in my chest. I pushed up from my seat, ignoring Melamora’s startled pause.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, not bothering to wait for permission.
I tried to reach her again. Closed my eyes and really focused.
Usually, I could feel her, sense her, but this time…
nothing. My heart was beating double, now.
When I arrived at the Riders’ wing, my heart pounded.
Her door was closed but unlocked. Inside, the bed was unmade, and a dagger lay on the blanket.
There was no sign she had prepared for morning drill.
Her boots still sat there. Her window was wide open—perhaps not unusual in summer, but it was fall and had been freezing overnight.
Plus, she was on too many people’s hit lists, thanks to her father, to leave it open .
I didn’t need more proof. Something was wrong. Bad wrong.
Corson came out of Current Events with the other Riders’ Wing Commanders. “She’s gone,” I said.
That got his attention. They all froze mid-stride, eyes flicking between us.
Corson straightened slowly, his expression controlled in that commander’s way that always made my teeth grind. “Zane—”
“No, listen to me. Auriella Blackcreek is missing. She wasn’t in Current Events. Her bed was disturbed. Boots are still there. Dagger left. Shutters busted. She’s been gone since sometime after lights-out.”
He studied me for a beat too long. “And you’re certain she didn’t simply—”
“Don’t.” My voice dropped, low and lethal. “You know her. She wouldn’t wander off without her blade. Someone took her.”
His jaw clenched. “I’ll order a sweep—”
“A sweep?” I stepped in, inches away. “We should already be beyond the gates. Riders in the air, trackers on the ground. Every minute you wait—”
“Protocol, Braegon,” he snapped, steel in his tone now. “We lock the perimeter first. Then we search.”
“I don’t give a damn about protocol.” My hands curled into fists at my sides. “We’re burning daylight. If this is about who her father is—not to mention she IS the fucking general’s daughter—”
“This is about doing it right,” he said, though his gaze flickered, barely.
That told me enough.
I turned on my heel before I could say something that would get me permanent latrine duty and began sorting through who I trusted enough to join me, off the books. If Corson wanted to play it slow, fine. I’d find my way.
By the time I left the strategy hall, I knew who I could count on, not just people who were capable, but people who would move now, without questions or hesitation.
Lili was the first. I caught her before she headed into the sparring gym, twin daggers strapped to her hips. “She’s gone,” I said .
Her brow furrowed. “Auri?”
I nodded once. That was all it took. She didn’t ask about Corson or demand details. She simply fell into step beside me.
We found Alex in the Alpha Wing Hall. He tensed the instant he saw us together. “What’s this?”
“Auri’s missing,” Lili said.
His jaw worked, but he didn’t waste time pretending not to care. “Where?”
“Don’t know yet,” I said. “We’re going to find her.”
Eli and Oliver were in the courtyard, mid-banter with some other Drusearons. I caught Eli’s gaze and tipped my head. He joined without a word, Oliver right behind him.
Once we were clear of any ears, I spoke straight. “Corson’s locking the perimeter and waiting on a sweep. That’s too slow. We’re going now.”
Eli’s mouth curved in a sharp grin. “Finally. Some fun.”
Oliver frowned, but there was steel in his eyes. “We do this quietly. If they catch us—”
“They won’t,” I said.
We gathered gear in minutes—blades, light packs, enough water for a long day. Lili produced smoke flares from gods knew where. “If we find her and need a quick pick up,” she said.
We moved to the flight field, Lili and Alex already summoning their dragons.
“Where first?” Alex asked.
“Tracks,” I said. “If they took her on foot, we’ll find a sign near the Alpha side.
If not…” I let the rest hang. If not, we had no choice but to start guessing—and there wasn't time for that.
The campus was already alive with sound—dragon wings beating overhead, instructors shouting commands, the metallic ring of gear checks. Perfect cover.
The flight fields were a chaotic mess. Cadets ran drills with their bonded fliers, taking off in staggered intervals, looping in tight arcs before landing hard and fast. From the ground, it was a cacophony of noise and motion. From above, a swarm that no one could track individually .
Lili had Veyra saddled and waiting in the shadows off the Alpha side of the flight field. Alex’s Korven crouched beside her, restless, smoke curling from his nostrils.
“We slot in right after Corzine’s group launches,” Lili murmured, keeping her voice low. “Their formation breaks south for wind training. We peel off before anyone clocks us.”
Eli adjusted the strap on his pack. “What if the watchtower spots us?”
“They won’t,” Alex said. “We’re ghosts until we’re out of range.”
We timed it perfectly. Corzine’s squad took to the air in a spray of dust and wingbeats, and we launched right behind them. Eli, Oliver, and I flew under the dragons, masked by their shadow.
We stayed tight in formation until the towers were only dots on the horizon. Then Lili signaled—two sharp hand motions—and both dragons banked hard east. The drills behind us continued, their noise covering our escape.
Once the campus disappeared into a haze, we dropped lower, skimming treetops. The smell of damp earth rose in waves. I scanned the ground for any sign of her.
A few miles out, Eli pointed toward a break in the canopy. Something fluttered on a low branch—a strip of dark fabric. I leaned down, catching it as Veyra eased closer. It was a torn strip of black cotton. Auri’s.
“She’s out here,” I said, my voice tight.
No one argued. We turned the dragons toward the forest’s edge and pushed harder, the hunt officially begun.
The cloth was our first sign. We hunted and searched all the grounds.
Eli tracked it to an animal den, and Auri wasn’t there.
Every hour that passed, my chest felt tighter.
Like my heart was on the verge of disintegrating.
There were pieces of her clothing all over. We spent the entire day flying over the forest, searching the ground. I could smell traces of her everywhere, like they were toying with us.
“We need to call it a night and find a place to camp,” Lili said.
I knew that was what we had to do, but I didn’t want to do that. I will kill every fucking person for this. If she didn’t live, I wouldn’t either .
“I know…”
We found a clearing where we all rested for several hours until the sun started to rise. I dozed off a couple of times. Sleep would not happen for me. My mind wandered too much to settle into sleep. Every snapped twig in the woods left me jerking my head. My head throbbed in pain.
****
We scoured the underbrush, followed broken twigs and bent grass, until the trails tangled into one another.
We searched the ground, while the dragons flew overhead.
The sun burned overhead. Sweat stung the cut on my ribs, soaking my shirt.
Every time I reached for our bond and found nothing, it got harder to breathe.
By midafternoon, tempers frayed. Eli cursed the useless trails. Alex snapped at him, and Lili shoved between them before it came to blows. My own patience was gone—I could feel myself one second from ripping into all of them.
A glint of iron caught my eye between the trees—ventilation grates set into the side of a rocky hill.
“That’s not a hunter’s camp,” I said. “Too well hidden.”
“Dungeon entrance,” Alex said, drawing his short blade. “There’s an old supply hold under these woods. Mostly abandoned, but… if someone wanted to disappear with her, this is the place.”
We approached on foot, crouched low. The fall air was cold enough to fog my breath, but underneath was something else—damp air rising from below, laced with the acrid tang of torch smoke.
Eli found the entrance, a half-collapsed stone arch swallowed in ivy, a rusted iron gate hanging open on freshly oiled hinges. The entrance was a jagged mouth of stone and iron. Two guards sat outside around a low fire, dice scattered on a barrel.
Lili motioned, silent. Her dagger flew, burying in one man’s throat. He gurgled, hands scrabbling, before slumping forward. Alex stepped from the shadows, blade punching into the other’s gut. Both fell without a sound .
The arch glowed faintly with wards. Alex pressed his palm against the stone, fire crackling under his skin. The wards cracked and bled light before shattering.
The dungeon was a foul rush of damp air and old blood.
Inside, the passage sloped downward, and outside light faded quick.
We moved in silence, boots crunching on loose stone.
Faint echoes drifted up from the depths—footsteps, low voices.
At the bottom, the smell of stagnant water and old stone pressed close.
Across the corridor, behind thick iron bars, was a narrow cell.