I hadn’t understood what she meant when she told me all that, but I thought I was beginning to now. The struggle I’d had with my Drake when he wanted to come out and eat Nancy had been real and frightening. He was growing more attached to Kaitlyn every day—more protective and possessive of her by the hour.
I knew there were many stories in human mythology about dragons and their jealous protection of their hoards of gold and gems. In these tales, the dragon or wyrm or drake—whatever you wanted to call it—always amassed a great treasure and was willing to fight to the death to protect it.
The humans had part of that story right—the protective possessiveness… the rage that came over a Drake when their greatest treasure was threatened…their willingness to fight until their last breath to protect it—that was all true.
But the treasure a true Drake was willing to give his life to protect wasn’t a few golden trinkets or precious gems—it was the female he had chosen to bond with for the rest of his life. And that was how my Drake saw Kaitlyn—she was priceless, irreplaceable. A treasure worth fighting and dying for.
And yet, she didn’t even really know me and she still hadn’t even met my Drake at all. If I told her of these feelings inside me—of the longing and possessiveness…the desire to serve and protect and love her that filled me constantly, she might think I was crazy. She might even run in the other direction as far and as fast as she could.
So I had to take things easy—had to be slow and gentle and try to gain her trust again, which Nancy had done her best to destroy with her hateful words. After all, I didn’t want to frighten Kaitlyn off before I had a chance to woo her.
If I lost her, my Drake would never forgive me and I would lose a part of myself as well.
16
Kaitlyn
“Mmm, is that roast beef almost done? It smells amazing,” Megan remarked, coming out to sit beside me in the common room of the Norm Dorm. “I’m starved! Oh hi, Kaitlyn.” She smiled at me.
“Hi,” I said faintly and tried to smile back.
I was huddled at the far end of the couch nearest the fire, though I usually avoided getting too close to the blaze, wearing my plush blue bathrobe and long nightgown. This nighttime lounging uniform was what Emma and Megan and I all called our “jammy-britch” and it almost always made me feel better and cozier to put it on. But tonight I just wasn’t feeling like myself at all.
Maybe it was the cold I was getting, or maybe it was just the awful events of Home Ec, but I was feeling pretty low.
Be honest, Kaitlyn, a little voice in my head whispered, You know neither of those things are what’s bothering you.
Yes, if I was honest with myself, I knew the voice was right. What was really bothering me was the way I’d heard Ari and Nancy talking about me after lunch. Though I had told myself I was being foolish and that I was over it, I knew I wasn’t. The proof of that was in what I had done as soon as I came down to the Norm Dorm by myself while everyone else ate dinner up above in the Dining Hall.
I had gone directly to my wardrobe—a rickety wooden one with peeling paint which was what the Academy provided for us Norms. Opening it, I had reached to the very back and pulled out a white uniform shirt—one that was many times too big for me.
It was Ari’s shirt—one he had given me to wear after the awful incident in PE. He had put it on me himself, his hands gentle as he knelt before me and buttoned it up, hiding my scars which had been revealed by the PE shorts and t-shirt I had been forced to wear.
At the time I had been grateful, both for his protection from Sanchez out on the exercise field and for his consideration in helping me hide my shame. But now I knew it had all been a ruse—just a trick to make me think he liked me, doubtless so he and Nancy could do something awful to me in the future.
I had picked the shirt off the hanger, refusing to notice the warm, spicy scent of his skin which still clung to the white cotton fabric. I had no need of it anymore. In fact, I wondered why I had hung onto it for as long as I had.
Marching over to the laundry chute, I opened the metal drawer embedded in the stone wall of the dungeon and let the white shirt drop. It swirled down into the darkness like a ghost disappearing out of my life for good.
I only wished I could get rid of Ari as easily, I told myself as I closed the laundry chute drawer firmly. But I couldn’t help the sharp little pain in my heart as I turned away—couldn’t help wishing that Ari had turned out to be different from the other Drakes who had teased and tormented me…
“I’m so hungry!” Megan said again, drawing me out of my miserable thoughts. “I could eat a whole cow—seriously.”
She was dressed in her robe and slippers and gown as well and so were Emma and Avery. Griffin, who had just come down to join us a moment before, was the only one still in his school uniform. He was sitting in one of the over-stuffed leather chairs across from me, reading a book. Emma, also in her nightclothes, was studying for a test on the other couch.
The reason I was dressed so warmly and sitting much closer than usual to the fire, was simply because I couldn’t seem to get warm myself. I didn’t know what was wrong with me but inside my furry slippers, my toes
