Chapter 39: _ What is She?

The floor shuddered so violently I nearly face-planted into the Dragon instructor’s boots.

I expected a dull thud. A pathetic puff of gray smoke. Maybe a tiny spark to signal that the universe’s biggest loser had officially failed her magic exam.

Instead, the Heartstone exploded with light.

And... it was not just one color. Every color.

First came the crimson of a First-Tier Dragon. Then a blinding blaze of Lion gold, followed immediately by the emerald shimmer of the Wolves, the sapphire of the Tigers, and the silver of the Fae.

And then, because the crystal apparently lacked all self-restraint, it began cycling through them all at once.

The stage, meant to be a sacred ritual hall, looked like a high-end tavern after three barrels of fermented honey wine.

"Gods above," the Dragon instructor wheezed, stumbling backward and covering his eyes. "What did you do?!"

"I didn’t do anything!" I yelled over the deafening hum vibrating through my teeth. "I just touched it! You’re the one who dragged my hand onto the bloody rock!"

"Is it broken?!" the Tiger instructor shouted, charging the dais with his hand raised. "Did the gutter-rat break the Heartstone?!"

"The Heartstone doesn’t break!" the Fae Headmistress shrieked, her white hair instantly frizzing from the magical static radiating through the air.

She poked the blinding crystal with her long fingernail. "It’s an ancient relic forged in the core of the realm! It doesn’t just malfunction like an overcooked meat pie!"

"Well, it’s doing a marvelous impression of one!" the Lion instructor bellowed, throwing his arms up to shield his face as a surge of violet sparks blasted off the pedestal.

Panic spread through the hall like wildfire. Up on the honor stage, Bren stood frozen, her mouth hanging open so wide a rogue beetle could have nested in her throat. Next to her, Miriel stared at me with a jaw that was almost resting on her chest.

Down on the floor, two hundred noble initiates erupted into frenzy.

"Is she a First Tier?"

"No, she’s a Fourth Tier!"

"She’s every tier! How can a dragonless trash-bag be every tier?!"

"It’s a jinx! Her cursed human blood broke the holy artifact!"

Great. Wonderful. I hadn’t just embarrassed myself... I’d somehow managed to ruin the academy’s thousand-year-old magic battery. Leave it to Elira No-One to walk into a room, bleed on a rock, and cause a realm-wide infrastructure crisis.

My eyes panicked-searched the royal thrones.

Prince Zev was leaning back with an insufferably smug grin plastered across his face, looking for all the world as if he’d personally arranged this entire theatrical disaster for his own entertainment.

Prince Remus looked completely conflicted. His eyes were wide, his brow furrowed so deeply it looked painful. It was as if his brain was trying to reconcile the markless girl he’d ignored five minutes ago with the human firework currently blinding the faculty.

And Raice...

Raice was staring directly through the blinding strobe light at me. His violet eyes weren’t shocked. They were predatory, and deadly. I could read the meaning behind the chilling look. It screamed: I know what you are.

Everyone else was looking at the impossible thing standing on the stage.

The creepy Prince was looking at me like he had been waiting for it.

"Clear the dais!" the Dragon Headmistress shrieked, swatting at the air as the crystal let out another loud CRACK. "Faculty staff, construct a containment ward! Check her lineage records! Check the ward stones! Check everything!"

"Is she dangerous?!" someone yelled from the crowd.

"She’s a menace!" another noble shouted.

That was my cue.

I’ve never been good at handling attention. Give me three drunk town guards throwing rocks at my head, and I can dodge and weave all day. Put me in front of two hundred screaming aristocrats debating whether I’m a messiah or a biohazard, and my brain completely shuts down.

I didn’t wait for High Rector Maddox to order my execution. I didn’t wait for the guards to grab me.

I tucked my elbows in and sprinted off the dais.

"Hey! Stop her!" an instructor roared behind me. "Initiate No-One, halt!"

I didn’t halt. I ran faster.

I shoved past a cluster of stunned wolf-shifters, sprinted right past the towering fountain, and burst through the arched exit leading into the outer corridors. The muffled shouting of the ballroom faded behind me, replaced by the sound of my own ragged breathing.

I didn’t stop until I rounded three separate corners, ducked down a service hallway, and squeezed myself into a dark, shadowy alcove behind a stone pillar.

My chest heaved. My hands were shaking so violently I had to curl them into tight fists against my silk skirt.

What is wrong with me? I thought, sliding down the cold stone wall until my knees hit my chest. What am I?

I wasn’t a dragon. I didn’t have a mark. I was a nobody from Stonewick who ate turnip broth and patched her own tunic. Magic didn’t belong to me. So why did that cursed rock light up like a festival bonfire the second my blood hit it?

A hot tear spilled over my lash line. Then another.

Before I could stop it, a shuddering sob escaped my throat. All the humiliation, the terror, the blinding light, Remus’s cold eyes, Raice’s terrifying smile, Zev’s weird smiles... they all hit me all at once. I buried my face in my knees, trying to strangle the sounds coming out of my mouth.

Crunch.

My breath hitched.

The sound of uneven footsteps echoed down the stone hallway.

Crunch. Drag. Crunch.

I froze, pressing my back flat against the wall of the alcove, barely daring to breathe.

A shadow fell across the archway. A tall, broad-shouldered figure stumbled into the torchlight of the corridor, swaying slightly on his feet.

It was Raice.

He looked completely out of his mind. His hair that had been messy before was now a disaster, hanging wild over his face. His violet eyes were blown out, dark and glossy, staring intently at the blank stone wall opposite him.

"Shut up," Raice muttered to the empty air, slapping the side of his own head with the heel of his palm. "I said shut up. Not now."

Oh gods. He really is insane.

I forgot my own troubles for a moment there. My heart started to pound.

The person who had promised to find me had indeed found me. To what end? To kill me? For talking to him?

Tch. Hypocritical of me to act like I didn’t know it was for talking trash about him and his mother.

There was absolutely no one here. He could kill me and my corpse would only be discovered two moons later.

I tried to shrink further into the shadows, but as I shifted my weight, my slippers scraped against a loose pebble.

SCREECH.

Raice’s head snapped toward my alcove instantly. His violet eyes locked onto mine through the gloom.

Oh no. Fuck my luck.