I glanced up at the look on her face, wondering if this was her idea of being my servant. “So, are you here to help me? Because of the duel… and all.”
Her eyes narrowed and I swear the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. “Beginner’s luck,” she snapped, then she rummaged through the dresser and plucked out some clothes. She threw them at my face. “Put those on,” she growled. “Unless you want to run around in your bikini all day, that is, and distract more of our knights from their classes.”
Ignoring her, I pulled on the outfit over my bathing suit. It was dry already and I wasn’t interested in asking Jasmine if she had any underwear for me.
She waited until I pulled on the polo shirt and smoothed the pleated skirt. It felt like it was missing something until Jasmine shoved an Academy pin at me. I took it, but managed to prick my finger in the process. “Ouch!” I said with a wince. Jasmine rolled her eyes.
I stared at the bead of dark-red blood that welled up from my skin. It stung—which meant that this wasn’t a nightmare.
This was real, and I needed to get my act together.
Sticking my thumb in my mouth, I fumbled with the pin until she impatiently yanked it from me and jabbed it through my collar.
“Seriously, are you scared of a little blood?” Jasmine scoffed. “What kind of dragonrider did Killian think you’d be?”
It wasn’t fair, I knew that. Killian had been manipulated into thinking that I was going to be the perfect dragonrider for the Academy, that everything was going to work out and I don’t know, we’d fly off into the sunset or something.
Instead… he’d gotten me, the freak-show with just enough goddess blood in her veins to get her into trouble.
As Jasmine rambled on to herself every reason she could think of I didn’t deserve to be here, I couldn’t help but agree with her. Everything weighed on me like a ton of bricks and a ringing began echoing in my ears. The room rushed in on me… becoming too small and too stale.
I needed to get out. I needed some fresh air.
No, not just fresh air, I needed to get out of this place. Everything felt wrong. I hadn’t noticed it before how the ground slightly vibrated and something felt… off.
A thought occurred to me. Perhaps if I left the Academy it would be enough to break the riderbond before it was too late. Maybe there was a chance to undo the mess I’d made. My father’s killer might still be out there, but Killian didn’t deserve this. I couldn’t trade his future and his wyvern’s life for my own selfishness.
If I could fix this… I should.
The second Jasmine turned, I rushed past her and she shouted after me, but I kept going.
My feet slapped against the stone floor as I bolted, not taking the time to find shoes to wear. I didn’t wait to see if Jasmine was rushing after me.
I ran.
I stumbled past the students who shouted after me, as if they knew I was a fraud. They didn’t want me here. Nobody wanted me here.
I kept going until I hit the burning sand and I didn’t look back.
M y lungs burned and I gulped in hot air until I reached the Academy’s ornate wrought-iron gate that ran around the far edge of the campus. One glance over my shoulder made me dizzy as I took in the swirling dragons… but Jasmine and her massive wyvern weren’t among them. Surely I wasn’t fast enough to outrun her. Maybe she’d let me go.
Of course she’d let me go. She didn’t want me here.
Determined, I turned back to the gate and gave it a light shake.
Locked, okay. No big deal.
Goddess blood or not, I didn’t have super strength. It’d come in handy when I’d fought Jasmine, though, so maybe there was some way I could activate it again.
I backed up a few steps and evaluated my target.
Okay, you got this. Just think of Superman… draw your strength from the ground… and… go!
I launched, hurling myself at the gate and slammed into it with all my weight.
Then fell onto the ground with an undignified thump.
“Ouch,” I murmured as I rubbed my shoulder that had collided with the immovable bars.
Groaning, I got to my feet and chewed my lip. So, I wasn’t going to pummel down the gate like a superhero. Maybe I was looking at this the wrong way. I shook my hands and glanced up at the top of the gate. It had to tower at least twenty feet, but if I wasn’t entirely human, maybe I could jump over it?
“Worth a shot,” I mumbled, and backed up a few steps before I launched myself, this time upward instead of forward.
While it was a pretty good jump, I still didn’t get farther than a few feet off the ground and I clipped my chin on the bars as I slammed into them.
Hitting the ground again, I rubbed the knot forming under my skin. At this rate I was going nowhere fast.
A whoosh of air rushed all around me, sending sand and dust particles clogging my nose. I coughed and sputtered as a voice came from behind me.
“What in the realms are you doing?” Jasmine asked.
I turned just in time to see her dragon crouching, eyeing me with a mischievous gleam. I realized that this time Killian wasn’t here to keep me from being a snack.
“I’m trying to leave,” I said, as if that wasn’t obvious. “Nobody wants me here.”
Her hand fell to the scabbard at her hip, her fingers flexing over the hilt of her blade. “You’re right about that much, and coming out here with no witnesses was a stupid mistake.”
Fear washed over me, sending that buzz in my ears on overdrive. The mark on my
