Chapter 33 #2
Bryce, at least, paused and stared at me.
“Miss Miro,” he said, “the duke has come to take your dragon until we can prove he is safe to remain here.” His tone was businesslike, unapologetic, but at least he’d said until.
I knew what the duke would do to Myth: he would try to provoke him to flame.
Even if he wasn’t certain my dragon was the one he’d been hunting all these months, the second he had Myth in his possession, he’d test him for his flame.
There was no reason for him not to, especially now that Myth’s heritage was in question, as was my own.
If the duke took Myth, I might never see him again.
A small moan slipped from my lips. In the vaulted lair, the duke’s shined shoes clacked on the stone like gunfire.
I wanted to yank them all back, prevent them from taking Myth, but acting like that would likely get me expelled and might suggest to the duke that I knew about Myth’s flame.
If I thought Myth was perfectly safe, I wouldn’t fight this.
Vaughan had hinted that he was open to the concept of bottomsiders bonding—which was more than I could have hoped for when I started here in the fall.
If I stayed calm, and Myth passed whatever tests the duke had in store, we still had a chance.
“Sir, how long will he be gone? Will I be able to visit him where you’re taking him?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice even.
The duke turned to me, an icy scowl on his otherwise handsome face.
He was Rush, only older. “This animal should never have been allowed a place here. It is an appalling oversight that reveals much greater issues regarding this school’s governance.
” He directed these words at the headmaster.
“You have put every other dragon and student in harm’s way.
This creature will be executed, Miss Mireaux. ”
I choked on my breath. “But sir, he…”
The duke knew.
He knew what Myth could do.
“Only if he fails the test,” Bryce assured me, his eyes on the duke.
“This girl is a liar, Thurgood. I’ll have a word with you and Vaughan after we establish the safety of this campus once more.”
Bryce harumphed but didn’t object. “In all my years, we’ve never had a student attempt to bring an unbonded dragon into this lair. I doubt that is the case now, Duke.”
A presence over my shoulder startled me. Shep had followed us and hung back near the lair’s entrance. Several other students had gathered there, as well.
Great, an audience.
“If you would, son,” said the duke to Rush, indicating the heavy door to Myth’s den.
“No, please.” The words were as automatic as the beat of my heart in my chest. I pressed my knuckle to my mouth as the duke turned satisfied, cat-like eyes on me, confirming my fears.
He knew without a doubt that my dragon was wild.
Maybe he’d heard about what had happened last night.
He likely had eyes and ears all over the city.
Rush leaned back, pulling the heavy door open with a grating sound as it slid on its steel tracks.
No, no, no!
“Get him,” ordered the duke, clearly not wanting to put himself in the line of Myth’s fire. “And put this on him.” He held out his hand, a jangling metal apparatus dangling from his grip.
A muzzle.
“Take it, girl,” he barked.
I accepted the weight of the muzzle in my hands and turned toward the open door. Myth waited inside, the flecks of gold on his scales catching the pale light streaming in from the window above him.
This was it.
I was leading my dragon to the slaughter.
As I crossed into Myth’s den, I shot Rush a wild-eyed look. His blue eyes followed me, perfectly unreadable, as always. The metal in my hands pricked Myth’s attention right away. He scampered backward, slinking along the back wall of his vaulted space. He was running from me.
My heart cracked in two.
“Myth,” I called, voice thick with emotion. If I’d never come here, never dreamed of changing the world, Myth would have lived. We could have learned to ride all by ourselves, no books or teachers or rules. We could have been happy.
He stopped fluttering about and remained still, allowing me to approach. Even now, he trusted me. Afraid and confused, surely reading the agony inside me, he trusted me.
“I’m so sorry, boy,” I whispered as I stepped up to him.
For a moment, I leaned up against him, relishing the way his massive lungs drew air, his side rising and falling beneath me.
This was my only chance to ride. If he died, I would never bond again.
The metal clanged against the floor as it fell from my hand.
I fisted my fingers and clutched at Myth, fighting back tears.
“Get in there and end this pathetic wallowing,” the duke roared.
Footsteps hurried into the stall. Scraping metal as someone picked up the muzzle.
“Come on, stop acting like he’s already dead,” Rush muttered, voice barely audible. I stepped back. He held the muzzle up, but Myth jerked his head away. Then louder, “Make your dragon obey.”
His own father had sent him in here, into the presence of a dragon he fully believed to have his flame. Rush glanced over at me, and in his expression, I could see apology, fear. Then, at my arching brows, he gave the slightest shake of his head. He hadn’t told his father.
Myth accepted the muzzle more easily than I wished he had. I almost wanted him to fight, to break away from this lair and fly to his freedom. But he would never go without me. And I was pinning metal hooks in place over his snout. I was trapping him. Sending him to his death.
My fingers started to shake so badly I couldn’t fasten the final hook.
Rush stepped around and did it for me. Over his uplifted arm, he whispered, “My father assumes we aren’t friends.”
I snorted in frustration, wiping my nose with the back of my hand.
“He doesn’t know we know his secret. Keep it that way.” He finished securing the muzzle and stepped away quickly.
“Lead him out,” shouted Bryce.
But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t be the one to send him away. “Myth, I…” But there was nothing to say. I had done this to him. It was my fault.
“Son,” barked the duke.
Rush coaxed Myth forward with both hands. Myth obeyed. He turned his bright eyes on me, and I nodded, stepping forward to place my hand on his side. I walked with him out of the den, into the sunlit hall. A dozen more students had gathered, including Vanya. She rushed to my side.
“If this dragon is found to be unbonded, he will be executed,” the duke announced to the assembled onlookers. Several gasps from the crowd. A few darted behind their friends.
“And if not? What about the bond test?” I said, barely able to contain my roiling emotions. I had to act like I wasn’t worried, but I wasn’t like Rush. I wore my emotions on my sleeve.
The duke sniffed. “I doubt there will be a need for that.”
“What!” I lunged for Myth. “You can’t deny me the bond test!”
“Someone restrain her,” drawled the duke.
“You can’t just take someone’s dragon,” I shouted, digging myself a deeper hole with each outburst.
“When you violate our society’s rules, designed to keep humans and dragons safe, I can. Now, will someone please restrain this foul woman? Son?”
Rush’s arms wrapped around me from behind, pinning me to him. I struggled against him, needing to touch Myth one more time, but he was too strong.
“Your Grace,” began Headmaster Vaughan, who’d remained frustratingly silent so far, “we are investigating her family tree, but I would like to administer the bond test in addition.”
The duke scowled. “Fine. If she turns out to be godborn, I’ll consider it. Now, take him.”
I bucked and twisted as Bryce led Myth out of the lair.
“Let him go,” Rush whispered against my hair, which had fallen loose and was now sticking to my lips. I stilled, letting my weight sag against him. He held me up, tightly. “Let. Him. Go.”
As his words faded from my mind, my dragon faded from view, walking beside Duke Covington, who held the chain like he was leading away a monster.