Chapter 37: _ I Made a Mistake

Elira No-One

...

I was going to die in a silk dress.

My knees were still shaking from standing inches away from Raice Ignis-Dominus, but my heart was actively splintering over Remus.

It wasn’t him.

Eight years ago, that boy had promised me the world. But the cold, untouchable Dragon Prince who had just walked past me like I was a smear of carriage grease on a carpet? That wasn’t him.

He looked like him, but he looked through me.

Which meant I hadn’t just humiliated myself in front of the high nobility, I’d created a life-threatening disaster, gained new enemies, gave the Academies more topics to misjudge me over... for absolutely no reason.

The crowd shoved and jostled me as I stumbled back toward the fountain.

"Slut!"

"Attention-hungry trench rat!"

"Look at her!"

"Raice’ll kill you!"

There was no row I tried to wrench myself past that didn’t shove me like a sack of hay.

I wouldn’t blame them. I deserved it. I was stupid... too stupid.

"What in the nine hells was that?!" Miriel hissed the second I reached them, grabbing my shoulders. "Elira, why did you do that?!"

I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence. My throat was bone-dry. "We... we needed to do something dramatic to draw Tobin out," I lied terribly, my voice squeaking. "It was... the only thing I could think of."

Bren snorted. "That’s the dumbest, most self-sacrificing thing I’ve ever seen. But..." She rubbed her chin. "Useful to the plan, I suppose." She leaned in. "What did Raice say to you?"

A shiver ran down my spine. Raice. The trouble that was sitting and I’d still found a way to poke. It was as though I’d placed myself right on a silver platter for him to sink his claws into.

Ughhh... why on earth did you walk out, Elira?!

"He told me to wait for him. Said he’d find me." I gulped, replying to Bren.

"No way in hell is that happening," Miriel whispered, her face draining of color.

She glanced toward the thrones where Raice stood disheveled, hair wild, looking like he’d clawed his way out of a crypt. "Did you see how he walked in? Maybe the rumors about his sanity are true."

"Shut up," Bren hushed her sharply, darting a nervous look around. "Unless you want to end up on his hit list next, keep your mouth shut."

She turned to me, her eyes tight with determination. "Change of plans, Elira. We find Tobin right now, link up with Clement, and get you off this floor before that Fae freak comes looking for you."

Her words were meant to comfort me, but my stomach remained in a tangled knot. From what I’d heard, if Raice wanted to find me, he would.

Maybe that pompous Dragon girl was right... Maybe everyone was. I was a walking dead.

High Rector Maddox’s voice boomed across the hall, cutting through my panic as she announced the Heartstone Awakening.

"Who among you is brave enough to set the pace?" the Lion instructor called out to the crowd.

Before I could even process the prompt, Bren took a step forward into the clear aisle.

"What are you doing?!" I gasped, grabbing at her sleeve.

Bren offered a rogue smirk over her shoulder. "We needed to draw attention, right? Here goes attention."

"Ah! Look at the fire in this one!" the Headmistress of the Dragon Academy purred, her voice filled with faction pride as Bren climbed the dais. "Only the Dragon academy possesses such fearless initiative. Tell us, child, has your beast awakened?"

Great. So the initiates were not the only ones who turned everything—down to the air we breathe into competition. The headmistresses and headmasters too... maybe the whole bloody faculty members.

Last Bastion Academy... you continue to be a thorn in my flesh. I began to seriously reconsider the escape plan I’d let slip under all that Tobin troubles.

Best to get out while I still could.

"It has," Bren replied the woman, not flinching under the weight of two hundred noble scowls.

"Then let the Heartstone ignite it!" The Headmistress stepped forward, stopping Bren just as she reached into her tunic for a concealed blade. "Ah, no need for crude steel, little dragon."

The Headmistress drew a silver ceremonial dagger, slicing Bren’s palm with grace. "Behold, as the stone reveals her true worth!"

Miriel and I clutched each other’s hands, holding our breath. Please let her be strong, I prayed silently. Please don’t let them humiliate her.

Bren pressed her bleeding palm against the pulsing crystal.

Instantly, a harsh red light violently erupted from the stone, washing over the entire ballroom. Bren’s silver hair whipped around her face, turning a fiery red from root to tip.

The Dragon Headmistress gleamed, clapping her hands. "Behold! A gifted Redmere Dragon! A beast of the Second Tier!"

A wave of polite applause rippled through the hall. Bren grinned, letting out a breath as guards ushered her to an elevated honor section on the stage.

After that, the ceremony turned into a blur of flashing lights and rising metrics. Third-tier wolves, fourth-tier lions, another second-tier dragon.

And through all of it, I felt like I was being hunted.

I didn’t need to look up to know they were watching me. I could feel Raice’s violet gaze burning into the side of my neck. I could feel Prince Zev’s calculating eyes dissecting every breath I took. And worst of all, I could feel Prince Remus—even Prince Ajax, whom I didn’t give a damn about—fixing their focus directly on me.

I tried to ignore it. I tried to look at the chandeliers, the floor, the fountain... anything. But my eyes kept betraying me, stealing glances back at the thrones. Every single time I looked, I clashed eyes with one of them, sending a jolt of panic straight to my bladder that nearly made me pee my skirt.

I hated myself. I hated that I cared. I hated that I’d embarrassed myself before Remus, terrified of what Raice planned to do, and sickened by whatever twisted game Zev was playing in his head.

"Elira," Miriel whispered, nudging my arm. The crowd was thinning out. "We need to go up there. It’s almost over."

I froze. "Go ahead. I’ll... I’ll go after you."

I knew what was waiting for me up there. Another humiliation ritual. A blank stone. A dragonless fraud exposed in front of the entire realm.

If I was going to be humiliated, I might as well help the crowd save their best laugh for the last.

Miriel swallowed hard, picking at her fingernails as she stepped toward the stage. When her blood touched the stone, it flickered with a...