Chapter 10
We met up with my family for lunch, all of us ravenous from the hunt, except Myve who was suspiciously absent.
Nazuss had mentioned the other students might’ve eaten before us or would after, as they weren’t a part of the hunt.
There were around half of the students inside the dining hall now, so he was likely right about that.
Maybe Myve would go on her hunt tomorrow?
I hoped she would do it soon, especially if it meant some alone time between her and Hans.
Nym was the last to sit down, having filled his plate to the brim. I smirked at him, getting ready to boast about how well Damon and I were doing, but one word from him had me zipping my lips shut.
“Six,” Nym said, not even bothering with eye contact as he broke my good mood.
“Six?!” Jamie exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Nym smirked as he glanced around our table lazily. “What?” he asked innocently. “Don’t tell me you haven’t found anything?”
I crossed my arms and glared at my cousin. “Three things,” I said, still proud over what we’d achieved in so little time.
“That’s cute,” Nym grinned, making Harpy giggle next to him.
“Damn,” Jamie muttered. “We only got one thing.”
That made us ease down on the teasing. For now.
“There’s still plenty of time to find more,” Nazuss assured them calmly, making all of us look at him funny. “What?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.
“You found more than one thing?” I asked. “But you’re doing it alone?”
Nazuss just rolled his eyes at me. “My bear is sniffing out treasure faster than you can track yours down, yet I’m not sitting here acting all tough for finding eleven treasures already.”
“Eleven?!” we all exclaimed in unison.
Nazuss just nodded while he ate, acting like it was no big deal.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Your mate will be pleased by all the prizes you’re getting.”
Nazuss smiled at that. “I hope so. It would suck if the prizes need to be used immediately, though.”
“You still have no idea who your mate is?” Casey asked in a kind tone.
Nazuss shook his head. “I was told to be patient, so that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
“But can you really trust Ulysis?” Jamie questioned. “I mean, yeah, he’s old and wise looking, but does he know your mate well enough to give out advice just from you looking at a rainbow goldfish?”
I snorted a laugh. I hadn’t been blessed with a meeting with Ulysis yet, but I knew it was coming. He’d told Jamie that every student would see him while here regardless of whether they had found their mate or not.
Damon leaned closer to me whispering so low I almost didn’t hear him. “We should shift as soon as possible and make a plan of action.”
I loved that he was into the competition as well.
I didn’t care if Nazuss won. I just wanted to beat Nym and Harpy now.
I couldn’t even say it was a dragon thing, considering I’d always been competitive in nature.
That was one of the biggest reasons why Nym and I often butted heads growing up.
It was a good thing our fathers taught us how to have fun with it, though.
Once we’d finished eating and were allowed to continue the hunt, Damon and I sped through the air, going for the end of the island.
It was the farthest away from the academy as we could go.
It was a risky move, but we felt confident that we could find things there the others hadn’t grabbed.
Nazuss had found a lot of treasures in the forest, and he couldn't move as fast as we could, meaning many of the treasures close by had likely already been found. We didn’t want to waste time in those areas, which was why we were now landing on our mountain, both shifting to our lion forms as soon as we hit solid ground.
I sniffed the grass, lingering a little longer as I smelled something floral.
It felt foreign here, like my lion knew this scent wasn’t supposed to naturally be here.
I followed the scent, having to jump up the mountain and scale it, knowing I could easily shift to my dragon if needed.
Damon was behind me, likely following the same trail as me.
We ended up near the top, feeling the thinning air around us as we spotted the bouquet of flowers placed neatly in the middle. We eyed one another before I nodded for him to touch it. He did and it disappeared making us sigh in relief. At least the trip here hadn’t been for nothing.
“We’ve found two each now,” I said scanning the area. “I don’t think there’s more on the mountain. That just seems excessive considering how far we had to climb.” We’d also flown for a bit when it proved too far to jump.
“Let’s fly around some more with you in your lion form,” Damon suggested. “We might find more that way.”
We ended up finding one more treasure before the dinner bell rang. We’d also traced a scent that proved to be a discarded robe from a student, the metal clasp on it had sent us running toward it just to end up disappointed. We’d touched it, just to be certain, but sadly not a disguised treasure.
Nym was looking smug as we joined them in the dining hall. Harpy was already sitting and eating with the others, but Nym was still finding stuff to add to his plate.
“You know you’re allowed to make more than one trip for food, right?” I teased as I passed him by the food.
“But that would mean leaving my mate behind and I hate doing that,” Nym said.
“He’s alone right now,” I pointed out, grabbing two chicken sticks that smelled heavenly sweet and garlicky.
“That’s different, he just finished grabbing his food before me,” Nym grumbled.
I decided to let it go and deem it a dragon thing.
Like many other things I couldn’t quite understand about my cousin, it was just easier to blame it on his dragon form.
Like the time I slept over at their palace and found small blue stones under his pillow: he’d been collecting them and had a huge fit when my “dirty hands” had touched them.
My hands had been very clean, or clean enough, thank you very much.
We ate in relative silence, all of us clearly exhausted from the hunt.
This time no one mentioned their numbers, and I was glad because that meant it would be more of a surprise tomorrow when Willa told us.
Nazuss didn’t seem as tired as us, just deep in thought as he ate his stew, lightly dipping his bread into the warm liquid while his eyes were distant.
I hoped my brother would find his fated mate soon.
Nazuss was the patient one of us siblings, but still.
We’d almost been at the academy for one year now.
I hoped for his sake that he met his fated before they were forced to share a room.
Willa then came into the dining hall, smiling proudly at us.
“I have to admit, I’m impressed! You’ve got until the bell rings to find the last treasures.
I’ll see you tomorrow after breakfast.” She then stepped aside and gestured for us to go on and finish the hunt.
We all filed outside the academy and like last time we all scattered in different directions.
Damon and I headed for one of the lakes this time, hoping to find something there.
We soon found ourselves next to the lake, both of us in our lion forms as we sniffed the air. There was something, I was sure of it, but my lion was not happy with water.
“Dragon form?” Damon suggested, his lion just as reluctant amine to step into the cold water. I also doubted we would be able to actually dive under the surface and find the treasure. Everything in me screamed no! at the thought.
I shifted to my dragon, declaring, “I’ll do it.” There was no way I was watching my lovely bunny get into the cold water if I could help it.
With great determination, I tiptoed into the water, likely looking awkward as hell as my dragon slowly made its way into the lake.
To my surprise, once under the cold water, I could actually see pretty well.
With my dragon eyes I could see in the dark; which also meant I could see clearly in places without sunlight.
I couldn’t smell down here, but my sight was enough to spot the glinting red stone.
I grabbed it and it disappeared. It looked like a ruby or something close to that.
I hurried back to my bunny, shaking the water off my scales like I was a dog. Damon huffed and nuzzled my neck affectionally, both of us in our dragon form now. “You braved the cold water for me,” Damon said fondly, still nuzzling me.
“I would do anything for you,” I grinned, showing off my dragon teeth. “Now let’s go find more treasures and maybe we’ll win lots of opportunities for me to ravish you.”