I’d won.
And now he knew.
Now we both knew.
Killian jerked away from the kiss, shocking me when rage crossed his features. He grabbed my shoulders hard and pushed me away, making me stumble back to the bed as he shook his head, seemingly trying to clear it of some vile thought I’d put in there.
He snapped his fingers and ordered his wyvern to stay as he hurried to the doorway and didn’t look back.
“Killian,” I said, my voice trembling now from the shock of losing his warmth. “You know I was just a child when I did that…”
He thrust up one hand to silence me and I bit my lip. His body stiffened as if he was restraining himself from turning and strangling me. Finally, he relaxed his hand to his side.
“I have to go,” he said, his once velvety sensual voice turned hard as stone. “Jasmine will be here to collect you soon. Don’t go anywhere and don’t touch anything.” He shoved through the exit and slammed the door behind him.
I rushed to follow him, but heard a latch click and his heavy footsteps marched away. “Killian?” I shouted as I hit the door. It didn’t budge against my efforts. I fiddled with the handle, but it had been locked into place. “Killian!”
I looked back to the nest as my chest heaved, my lungs sucking in air like I was drowning. My skin burned from the energies we’d exchanged and I ran my fingers over my birthmark, finding it scalding hot, sending waves of power through my body enough that made me dizzy.
What had I done?
The wyvern was still sleeping through all of the excitement and I lifted the blanket to check on it.
Its once translucent wings were now a brilliant gold. It opened one eye to regard me, chirped in welcome, and then closed his eye again to go back to sleep.
To my relief, the bond didn’t seem to harm it. If anything, it had grown stronger.
I draped the blanket over him again and blinked a few times as guilty tears threatened to flow. I went to the window and spotted a multitude of students on the campus grounds, all of them spanning out like a broken wave as Killian stormed through them.
Golden waves of energy emanated from his footsteps and I had a feeling that whatever the consequences of this bond… I was going to pay the price for them very soon.
Welcome to Dragonrider Academy indeed.
I stared up at the ceiling as I slumped onto Killian’s bed, completely stunned by the revelations we’d both witnessed.
I’d done this to myself?
How had I even known that Dragonrider Academy had existed?
A small part of my soul must have always known. It was the goddess blood in my veins doing its best to protect me… but this wasn’t what I wanted. This was a mistake and I wanted to just curl up in a ball and let this whole nightmare pass over me until I woke up.
Pulling the bedsheets over my head, I enveloped myself in Killian’s scent. We were bonded now and my heart ached to be apart from him, not to be able to learn more about him and why we were meant to be together… why I had called him to me in the first place.
There was so much more to this. I could feel it underneath the surface. So many secrets just waiting to be resolved.
I’d been so alone all my life. Just me, my mom, and Solstice, when in all reality I’d had a whole line of strong and powerful women behind me.
Something about that made me feel better. Unfortunately, I had a feeling none of my ancestors were going to help me out right now. My only ally at Dragonrider Academy was furious with me, and I didn’t blame him. If something had manipulated me like that, I would have been out for blood. I could only hope that there was more to this, that our bond was real and he could grow to understand… to forgive me.
More so… that I could forgive myself.
A soft snore brought me out of my self-pity. I pulled down the sheet to peek at Topaz, Killian’s wyvern. The breathing didn’t sound quite right. Whatever boon from the initial wave of power was gone, and now he struggled again. I wished more than anything that I could help the poor creature regain his strength, but therein was the true problem, the reason I didn’t deserve Killian’s consideration or forgiveness.
I was too human. Useless on my own.
My heart twisted, boring a hole in my chest as I realized I’d let Killian and his wyvern down.
The one thing that he couldn’t deny is that there had been an almost otherworldly connection between us the moment our hands had touched. I might be more human than goddess, but there was a magical part of me that responded to Killian—and if I could connect with that, maybe I could fix the mess I’d made.
The door slammed open and I squeaked. A female stood in the entryway and curled her lip back on a sneer.
“Oh. Hi, Jasmine,” I said, trying to quell the tremor in my voice. Sure, she was epically terrifying, but whatever punishment she had ready for me, I deserved it.
She glowered at me with brilliant eyes the color of jade. I wasn’t sure if she was more upset that I’d beaten her in a duel—one she’d started—or if she knew what had just gone on with Killian. How close were those two, anyway?
“What’d you do to Killian?” she snapped, the protectiveness in her voice surprising me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied. If Killian didn’t tell her, then I certainly wasn’t going to be picking at that wound. She’d probably use me for target practice if she knew the whole truth, and even though I’d won a duel once, I didn’t want to try my luck a second time.
Then I
