Chapter 21
FLORENCE
The day had come much too soon. I felt trapped. Out of time. Sunlight spilled across the courtyard. I squinted, adjusting my stance, then pulled back and let the next arrow fly.
Whoosh. Thwack. It hit the target. Dead center, again. I smiled, and a hand slapped my lower back.
“Good work, lass.” Professor Stonefist’s voice was gruff. She stood beside me, stroking her beard. “Pretending the targets are highbloods, mayhaps?”
I looked down at her in surprise.“Well, maybe a few in particular.”
Her mouth twitched. “Not your betrothed, I hope. He seems decent enough, for one of them.”
“He does,” I agreed. “I’m … lucky.”
“Lucky, are you? Let’s see if your good fortune continues with your shooting.” She folded her arms over her chest and stalked back to the sidelines, being careful to stand in the shadows, avoiding the sun.
Stonefist had been evicted from her former classroom, forced into an older part of the school.
But after too many blightborn students had come down with coughs and other illnesses from the mildew and mold in the decrepit classroom she’d been moved to, the dwarven instructor had had enough.
She’d made a deal with Professor Sankara, arranging to use the outdoor training courtyard whenever it was free.
I didn’t think the headmistress knew about it, otherwise she probably would have put a stop to their little arrangement.
Meanwhile, Professor Stonefist’s original classroom sat empty, as far as anyone knew—the school had moved her for absolutely no reason. No reason except for the fact that she was a blightborn instructor teaching blightborn pupils.
Setting my jaw, I reached for another arrow.
The old training longbow felt natural in my hands, the string settling against the callus on my knuckle.
I’d quickly learned hand-to-hand combat was not my forte.
Even Medra’s patient coaching hadn’t changed that.
But when they’d put a bow in my hand? The world had faded away, narrowing to a clear steady line: my eye, the arrow, the target.
Whoosh. Thwack. Another arrow hit, slightly offcenter this time.
I frowned. Still, it wasn’t as if I was exactly an expert archer yet.
“Adjust your hips,” Professor Stonefist bellowed.
She reminded me of Nyxaris. I grimaced but nodded and did as she said, shifting my body, then wiping at the sheen of sweat off my forehead with the back of my arm.
I’d lost track of how long I’d been here.
I’d warmed up first with at least an hour of stretches and laps.
The old Florence hated running laps. The new Florence loathed laps with a passion but did them anyway.
The extra conditioning paid off when I rode Nyxaris.
My thighs no longer screamed in quite the same way by the time I dismounted.
Swoosh. Smack. My arrow flew wildly off target, and I grumbled.
I was distracted, and it was easy to figure out the reason.
Tonight was the engagement ball. The thought was at the edge of my mind, constantly intruding.
How had it arrived so quickly? Springrise term was nearly over.
My project for Professor Allenvale’s class was finished.
The essay needed a little more proofreading, and then I’d be turning it in.
If only I could spend the evening working on my essay or riding Nyxaris instead of attending this ball.
I smiled to myself: Things had certainly changed when I found myself looking forward to dragon riding more than I did to donning a silk dress.
The closer the ball came the more I wanted to run far, far away.
I felt like I was constantly choking on the weight of expectations.
Not just from being a dragon rider but from being their dragon rider.
After tonight, the Avaris would practically own me.
I’d seen how Viktor had treated Medra. Being linked to Kage would protect me from him—at least, that was the plan.
But were Lady Avari and her house really any better?
The Avaris would still expect things of me, want things of me.
And not just of me—of Nyxaris. They’d expect me to be able to deliver his obedience.
Right now the engagement was mostly for show—at least, that was what the Avaris had claimed. But after tonight, it was going to feel all too real. After Kage and I were officially betrothed, the next step would be an actual wedding. And if that happened …
I took a deep breath, trying not to imagine a passionless, awkward wedding night with a man I didn’t love and who didn’t love me.
Nyxaris was quiet in my mind, but I could sense his restlessness. Was he on the fence about this, too?
“Florence!”
I whirled around at the sound of Medra’s voice and saw her marching across the courtyard.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said, looking exasperated but amused.
“I’m not?”
“No, you said you’d meet me back at our room to get ready for the ball.”
I glanced up at the clock. Somehow time had flown by. I was half an hour late. “Oh my goodness. That’s right. I’m so sorry. But …” I bit my lip.
Medra put her hands on her hips. “But?”
“But I don’t want to go, Medra,” I groaned.“Please don’t make me.”
Her lips twitched. “Is it the gown, the dancing, the people, or the entire thing?”
“The entire thing. Definitely the entire thing.” I covered my face with my hands and moaned. “This was a terrible idea. All of it. I should never have said yes.”
She was quiet for a moment. Then, “I don’t like it either. You know that.”
“I know.”
“But you’re doing it for a good reason,” she reminded me. “A very rational, logical one. And this isn’t a bonding—not like what I was forced into that day in the Black Keep. You won’t be, you know, making a vow or exchanging blood or anything like that. It’s just a ball. Just a very … public …”
“Spectacle,” I finished. “Where I’ll be on display as Kage Tanaka’s future consort.And after tonight, most people will consider me bound to him.”
“Right,” she finished lamely. “See? So simple.” She shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Florence. I really am. But didn’t Nyxaris agree this was the best course of action?
” She stepped forward, lowering her voice.
“If he could protect you—fully and completely—from, you know, Viktor, then he would, right? You wouldn’t need Kage. ”
“Right,” I said hollowly. “But it seems that he can’t.”
Medra linked her arm through mine, and together we walked to the weapons rack where I put back my bow and quiver.
I glanced at her as we walked out of the courtyard.
What would my best friend say if she knew that night after night, a shadowy version of my dragon prowled into my mind and did unspeakably sinful things to my body.
I’d tried to dismiss it the first few times, but the dreams just kept coming.
Vivid, lush visions that left me tangled in my sheets, skin fever-hot and pulse humming fast. Eventually, I stopped wanting them to stop.
I went to bed each night, hoping to see Nyxaris.
He’d circle me, his hot breath skimming my neck, lowering his head to graze my skin, and then …
I could feel a flush creeping up my neck and forced my thoughts away.
The dreams had made one thing terribly clear: Whatever I was supposed to be trying to feel for Kage Tanaka just wasn’t there.
I felt nothing for him, nothing like what unfurled in my belly at night when Nyxaris’s voice coiled like smoke through my dreams, all velvet and flame.
If ridiculous dreams could stir me like that, what did it say about the loneliness that awaited me when I stood at Kage’s side, possibly for the rest of my life? Still, Medra was right: I’d made my choice, and it was too late to back out.
“You’re right,” I repeated out loud. “I promised Nyxaris I’d go through with this, and I won’t shame him tonight.”
A low growl rippled in my mind. Shame does not enter the equation.You will carry yourself with grace and dignity, as you always do. Are you prepared?
My guilt spiked. Had he sensed the images that were just simmering in my thoughts?
Almost. Medra’s here to help me get dressed.
His growl softened into a sigh. If I could spare you from this pageantry, I would. Forgive me.
I know. There’s no need to apologize, I said quickly.
Regret pulsed through our bond. For now, the Avari boy’s name is the best shield we may wield.
It’s all right, I answered, even as my throat tightened at the lie. I’ll be fine. I’ll manage. Just … stay close tonight.
Always. The word rumbled like thunder, Nyxaris’s voice warm and possessive.
Forcing my thoughts away from my dragon and back down to ground level, I followed Medra down the corridor, and together we headed to the tower.