30. Aurora
AURORA
Too late, I realized what I’d done and tried to button back up again, but he was already bending over me and yanking open my collar. I felt fresh air circulating around my bruised throat as he pulled the fabric free and examined the dark marks on my pale skin.
“Who did this?” he demanded, glaring at me. “Tell me right now, Auri—who did this to you?”
“It…it was Larson,” I admitted. “But he did it while he was telling me he knew I was off limits.”
“So he told you he wasn’t going to hurt you while he was hurting you?” Ryse demanded. “While he choked you?”
The pupils of his golden dragon eyes narrowed to slits and his face went pale with rage as his big hands bunched into fists.
I shrank back from him instinctively—he was so angry.
And we were close enough still to the Terraces that I could feel the same emotion coming from M’alex.
The huge Midnight Gold-wing hadn’t taken off yet and I saw his golden eyes narrow in rage as the fury Ryse felt looped and echoed and reverberated between them until the enormous dragon threw back his head and roared.
It was an Earth-shattering sound, and it seemed to shake the whole mountain. I gasped and pulled away from Ryse. Putting my back against the stone wall to steady myself, I put out a hand to keep him away.
“Stop it—stop! This is why…why I didn’t tell you,” I panted. “I can’t expect you to fight my battles for me!”
“Who’s going to do it then—you?” he demanded. “Look at you, Auri, you’re tiny.”
I drew myself up to my full height—which admittedly wasn’t very tall, especially compared to his six-foot-six.
“I can take care of myself,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as him.
“Bullshit,” he said roughly and ran a hand through his hair. But at least he seemed to be calming down now. “He’s out of my Wing,” he said at last.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said earnestly. “Not over me—I’m nothing special. I don’t even have a dragon of my own.”
“No, it’s done.” Ryse shook his head with grim finality. “I told him not to touch you again and he touched you. He’s out. And he’s going to have a hell of a time finding another Wing Leader who’s willing to put up with him and his moody, disobedient dragon.”
I tried to reason with him again, but he only shook his head and said,
“Come on, Lysandra—we’ll be late for class.”
Then he strode off down the hallway leaving me to trot behind him and worry what might happen next.