I kneel beside him and use my magic to take the edge off of his pain.
He looks up at me. His eyebrows are squished together, and his lips are pursed. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t like to see anybody suffer.” I stand up and brush the dirt off my knees.
He rolls into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around his legs. “Nobody’s ever done anything like that for me before.”
“So, your controller—” I take a few steps away in case Mavros is ordered to attack me “—is a dragon?”
He nods almost imperceptibly.
“Malcolm?”
He looks at me like I’m an idiot.
“I knew that.” I shake my head and roll my eyes. “I just want to make sure you’re not playing me.” None of them seem likely, so I decide to throw their names out one by one. “Cash?”
He moves his chin toward his shoulder.
Since I trust her but haven’t read her aura yet, I ask, “Arianna?”
His head turns to his other shoulder. “You’re running out of time.” A muscle ticks in his jaw, and he clenches his hands so tightly that the veins in his arms bulge.
“Val?”
Mavros screams and clutches his head. When he looks up at me again, his eyes are the flaming irises of the panther. Wild and dangerous. “Wake up,” he snarls.
I jolted awake. Was Val the one controlling Mavros, or did his controller just figure out what was going on when I asked about Val?
“Everything okay?” Malcolm’s voice startled me.
I shrugged. “As okay as it ever is.” He seemed more relaxed than the last time I’d woken up. “Mavros quit calling?”
He looked at me knowingly. “Probably about the same time you started dreaming about him.”
“How’d you know?” I sat up and raked my hand through my hair.
“I looked in your head when he quit calling for you.” He leaned forward. “I got out as soon as I saw him there.”
I pulled my lip into my mouth to keep from saying something I’d regret. It felt like a violation of my privacy for him to look into my head while I was sleeping, but part of me understood why he’d done it. “So, why’d you get out?”
“If he’d have felt my presence in there, I doubt he would’ve told you whatever it was that he wanted.” He stood and walked to the window. “Also, since you didn’t give me permission, I didn’t want to linger.” He pointed outside. “He’s still here.”
“I learned it’s not you, Arianna, or Cash. When I asked about Val, he told me to wake up.”
Cody rubbed my back. “Think it’s Val?”
“Not really.” I lowered my head into my hands. “It could be, but I think it’s more likely that whoever is controlling him realized what was going on.”
“Doesn’t seem competent enough,” Cody said.
I nodded. “Yeah, but it could be an act.”
Malcolm laughed, low and deep. “Not with Val. I’ve known him for a long time. It’s not an act, but his incompetence could make it easy for somebody to manipulate him.” He turned away from the window. “So, do you ever sleep through the night?”
“No.” Cody lay back down, pulling me with him. “She doesn’t, so I don’t.”
I smiled at Malcolm. “Third time’s a charm.”
Chapter 15
Damon
Malcolm rested his head on the back of the chair. Even so, his eyes were open, and he was vigilant. “Aurelia will not tell me who the other four dragons are.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “She is not allowed to.”
“So how do we know if we can trust them?” I wandered to the window, wondering if I’d see Mavros in his human form gazing up at me.
Malcolm squeezed my shoulder, and I jumped. His footsteps had been silent on the carpet. When he didn’t laugh, I wondered how bad whatever he was about to say would be. “Last night, she called them to meet with her and the elders. They have been cleared. Their intentions are pure.”
I turned to him, pulling my hand through my hair. Just as I was about to ask him who he thought it might be, Cody said, “So who?”
“We’ll find out.” Malcolm shot me a sympathetic smile before looking over his shoulder at Cody. “The six of us are to meet with the elders while you’re in class.”
“No.” Cody shook his head and stood up. His hands were clenched at his side. “They’ll take her.”
Malcolm held his hands out in front of him. “We will escort Dacia to class before leaving. Then the other four will keep an eye on her. If anything goes wrong, yell for help.” He looked into my eyes. “You’ll be all right. The elders want to get this over with before whoever it is finds out there’s a witch-hunt.”
D
My regular guards walked with me to Creative Writing while the others went to Speech. Gray clouds covered the sun. I pulled my coat together and shivered. The Nephilim flocked behind us. With each passing day, they grew braver. They were more willing to aggravate the dragons. The one with the honey-colored ponytail walked alongside Val, edging closer until Malcolm growled.
“Sebastian.” Diana’s voice cut through the chilly air, and he backed away after throwing a snide grin my way.
Tye held the door to Stellaria Hall open, allowing me to lead the way into the classroom. As soon as I sat down, the dragons left. The Nephilim looked at each other. A couple of them edged closer to me, but Diana looked over her shoulder and shook her head. I wondered if she could sense my other guardians or if maybe she suspected it was a trap.
Even though they stayed back, I kept an eye on them. I didn’t trust them to keep away from me if they
