Chapter Two
Bryn tamped down on her instinct to snark back and waved Jaxon into the room. He spotted Clint and Ivy and frowned.
“Bryn,” he said. “We need to talk.”
Nope. “We were heading down to breakfast. Whatever it is, it can wait until after I’ve had coffee and bacon.”
“No. It can’t.” When he spoke to her using his holier-than-thou my-father-is-Speaker-for-the-Directorate tone, she remembered why she had once shot a fireball at his head.
“Do you really want to come between me and my coffee?” Bryn asked.
“Fine. Then I’ll accompany you to the dining hall and we’ll eat breakfast together.” Jaxon said this like he was issuing a challenge.
She could see where this was going. He’d insist on joining them if she didn’t give him his way. At this point she’d rather hear him out than spend breakfast with him. “You have five minutes to speak your mind, and then you’ll go away so I can eat in peace with my friends. Deal?”
“Deal.” Jaxon glanced at Clint and Ivy. “Do you mind?”
“Do we mind what?” Clint asked, like he didn’t realize Jaxon wanted to speak with Bryn alone.
“Why don’t you guys go to the dining hall and save me a seat?” Bryn said, just to move them along.
“Sure. We’ll fly from your terrace.” Ivy grabbed her boyfriend and pulled him down the hall.
Once they were gone, Bryn said, “What’s on your mind?”
“I think you should change rooms.”
That wasn’t what she expected him to say. “I’d love to change rooms, but is that what my grandfather would want me to do?”
Jaxon’s gaze traveled toward the door where Rhianna used to live when she was Bryn’s roommate. “If it was just due to your knight, I’d agree, but I believe he’d understand why I’d wish for you to relocate.”
When he put it that way—more about Rhianna and his feelings than about her not wanting to be reminded of Valmont, it made sense. “If you put in the request rather than me, I’d be more than happy to move.”
“Thank you.” His upper-class Blue demeanor slipped. “Being back here at school…there are so many memories…it’s harder than I thought it would be.”
And now she felt like a total jerk for giving him crap. With a normal person, Bryn’s first instinct would be to hug him. She didn’t think Jaxon would be okay with that maneuver, though, so she settled for touching him on the shoulder. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
…
Bryn caught up with Clint and Ivy in the dining hall and explained Jaxon’s request.
Ivy opened her mouth to speak and then stopped, blinking her eyes furiously. “I can’t even talk about the attack without crying. God forbid if something had happened to Clint… I have no idea how Jaxon is holding himself together.”
“It’s our senior year,” Clint said. “And not to sound petty, but I never imagined death and destruction would be a part of my high school experience.”
Bryn stirred sugar into her cup of coffee while she thought about something. “My grandmother says our job is to remember the ones we lost while moving forward and trying to make the most of what and who we still have.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about what we have.” Clint pulled out his class schedule with a flourish.
“That’s not what I meant.” Bryn laughed. “But go on.”
“Give me yours so we can compare,” Clint said.
She and Ivy both passed over their class lists and watched as Clint lined them up on the table.
“We have Mr. Stanton for Advanced Elemental Science first hour. Ivy and I have History second hour. Bryn you have Beginning Quintessential Medicine.”
“I can’t wait to start learning Quintessential medicine for real.” Everything she’d done up to that point had been based on a small amount of training and a lot of instinct. The results hadn’t always been optimal.
“Third hour we have Basic Movement,” Clint said. “Next is lunch and then all of us end the day with Proper Decorum.”
“How many more forks can there possibly be?” Bryn asked.
“Maybe we’ll learn something exciting this year,” Ivy said. “Like how to fold napkins into origami swans.”
Bryn sipped her coffee and tried to be subtle about checking out her fellow students because her grandmother had been on her all summer about staring at people. The tables seemed emptier than normal. Orientation wasn’t until tomorrow, so some students might not arrive until then…still, it seemed like they were missing a third of the normal crowd.
“Why do you think we’re missing so many students?” There had been casualties among the students, but not this many.
“Some students finished their college degrees so they won’t be coming back,” Ivy said. “Plus Orientation officially starts tomorrow, so maybe some students aren’t coming until then.”
“Not to sound ungrateful to my grandparents for all that they’ve done, but I couldn’t wait to come back to school.” Bryn leaned in close and spoke in a quiet voice. “I spent every waking minute with Blues, and I had to constantly be on my best behavior, which was exhausting. I mean, why does anyone care if you put your elbows on the table?” To make a point Bryn put both her elbows on the table.
“You’re such a rebel,” Ivy said.
“I’ve been going on about myself,” Bryn said. “Tell me about your summer.”
“It was pretty good,” Clint said, “but it felt like there was a layer of sadness and disbelief floating in the air.”
Ivy sighed. “I keep feeling like I can’t relax or have fun because that would be disloyal to the dragons who are no longer with us.”
Bryn had heard the phrase survivor’s guilt but hadn’t really understood it until now. “During the battle, if I had been faster…” She blinked her eyes rapidly to hold back tears. “If I’d managed to intercept the second dragon attacking Jaxon, then Rhianna would still be here.”
“You can’t think like that,” Ivy said. “Rhianna did what she did out of love.”
Clint put his arm around Ivy’s shoulders. “I’d sacrifice myself to protect Ivy and she’d do the same for me. It was Rhianna’s choice.”
Bryn nodded because her throat felt too thick to speak. Several nights a week, since the attack on campus, her brain had replayed the battle. Over and over again she’d seen Rhianna fall from the sky. What Clint said was true. Rhianna had thrown herself between Jaxon and the second attacker because saving him meant more to her than her own life.
It was a sad realization that there was no one in the world who cared about her like that, and there probably never would be. She and Jaxon were legally bound together by a marriage contract, but she had no delusions about him ever truly caring for her—or she for him—as anything more than a friend.
“Let’s talk about something happier,” Ivy said. “We’re supposed to be celebrating the beginning of our senior year.”
“I’d love to do something fun,” Bryn said. “What are our options?”
“We could go to Dragon’s Bluff,” Ivy said. “And shop for cool stuff for your new room.”
Dragon’s Bluff was a town populated by humans descended from knights. The town had a symbiotic relationship with dragons and the Institute. They protected the dragon’s secret and in return their businesses prospered. But there was more to it than that. Every person in Dragon’s Bluff carried a latent magic spell in their blood. If they stepped up to defend a dragon, to protect them from a perceived threat, they were transformed into a knight and became magically bonded to that dragon. Valmont, a waiter in Dragon’s Bluff, had performed an act of chivalry and become Bryn’s knight. The magical dragon-knight bond she’d had with him had been wonderful, but then they’d fallen in love which had been awesome at first, until everything had gone to hell.
“I managed to avoid seeing Valmont all summer. I don’t think I’m ready to see him yet,” Bryn said. She may have broken their dragon-knight bond but that was only after he’d broken her heart.
“Are you over him?” Ivy asked.
“I don’t know.” Bryn played with her napkin while she thought about the question. Part of her life felt empty without him and she missed what they’d had together, but thinking of him no longer caused her physical pain. “I think I am.”
“If you saw him with another girl, how would you feel?” Clint asked.
“If you’d asked me that three months ago I would have wanted to roast him, but now I think it would just make me a little sad. I guess that’s an improvement.”
Clint sat up straight and muttered, “Incoming.”
Bryn turned and saw Zavien striding her way. He was no longer the spiky-haired rebel who’d impressed her so much when she’d first come to school. He wore his dark hair short, and his cheekbones were more pronounced than she remembered, as if he’d been ill and lost weight. Dark circles stood out under his eyes.
He approached their table, like he wasn’t sure if he was welcome. “Bryn, can we talk?”
It’s like someone had flipped her life into an alternate dimension. How many times had she wanted to speak to him and he’d blown her off? All of that seemed so long ago and childish now…and slightly embarrassing. He’d been her first crush, and the first guy who’d disappointed her, but all of that paled in comparison to the attack on campus.
“Have a seat,” Bryn said.
“I thought maybe we could go for a walk.” Zavien gestured toward the doors of the dining hall.
“That wouldn’t be appropriate,” Bryn said. Was it wrong that she enjoyed throwing that statement in his face? He’d said it to her often enough.
“That’s a nice bit of irony,” Zavien said.
“I think so,” Bryn said.
He sat and stared at her for a moment. “I don’t have the words to say how sorry I am about Nola. I want you to know that I had no idea she was involved with any of that madness.”
Even though he’d turned out to be a huge disappointment as a friend and more than that, she knew he’d never meant to hurt her. “I know.”
He continued talking. “She always acted like she had another agenda, but I had no idea she could be so—”
“Psychotic?” Ivy offered.
“That’s one way to put it,” Zavien acknowledged.
“I know you don’t condone violence and that you worked for peaceful change through your petitions,” Bryn said. “If you’d known anyone’s life was at stake you would have turned Nola in.”
“I would have.” He sighed and reached up to rub the back of his neck. “I don’t understand how she hid so much from me. When they questioned me after the attack they asked if I knew that Nola was behind the attack on the theater building. I had no idea. She was so distraught over all the destruction. I never would have guessed she was faking all that emotion.”
“She majored in theater,” Clint said. “Apparently, she was one hell of an actress.”
“Maybe that was it,” Zavien said. “Anyway, I just needed you to know.” He tapped his fingers on the table.
“Did they find out how deeply she was involved with the Rebels?” Bryn asked.
“She was one of their inside spies on campus. No one has confirmed this, but I think she’s the one who poisoned you.”
Anger boiled up inside of Bryn. She wanted to unleash a torrent of fire and ice against Nola, but that would do little good. Nola was dead, and the plan to kill Bryn had failed, but thinking about the crazy dark-haired Barbie made fire crawl up the back of Bryn’s throat. A wisp of smoke drifted from Bryn’s nostrils as she exhaled. She took a moment to compose herself. “I wondered about that.”
“I have something I wanted to give you…sort of as a peace offering.”
“Okay.”
He reached into his book bag and pulled out a black folder. “I made it awhile ago, but I still hope it makes you smile.”
Now she was curious. She opened the folder. There was a pamphlet inside. On the front in elegant script it said:
Bryn’s Primer
Inside the pamphlet there were sketches of dragons from each Clan and a list of their traits and their breath weapon.
Red Dragons—Breathes fire. Strongest, with slightly scary tempers
Black Dragons—Breathes lightning. Most artistic, with a penchant for tattoos
Green Dragons—Breathes wind. Smartest, lacking in sense of humor
Orange Dragons—Breathes sonic waves. Plant whisperers who can kick your ass
Blue Dragons—Breathes ice. Elite lawmakers, chronic snottiness, fastest second fastest fliers
Red/Blue Hybrid Dragon—Breathes fire & ice, kick-ass chick, fastest flyer
Bryn grinned. “I love it. When did you make this?”
“A few weeks after you came to school, which seems like a lifetime ago,” he said. “After everything that has happened, I know I don’t deserve this, but is there any way we can be friends again?” Vulnerability shone in his dark brown eyes.
There were so many answers she could give him and none of them were simple. “You were a good friend to me when I first came to school and didn’t know anyone. I appreciate that because I would have been lost without you, and you literally saved my life after I was poisoned…but then you turned into an asshat. If it was up to me, I might agree to give our friendship another chance, but as an official member of the Blue Clan and Ephram Sinclair’s granddaughter, I’m not sure I can.”
Zavien gave the lop-sided grin she used to love. “I’ll respect that answer for now, but if you ever change your mind, or you need someone to talk to, I’ll be around.” And with that, he stood and headed toward the dining hall door.
“Well, that was interesting,” Ivy said.
“That’s one word for it,” Bryn leaned closer to her friends. “I wasn’t wrong, was I…about not wanting to be friends with him?”
“No,” Clint said. “He did some shady things to you and he was involved with someone who tried to kill you and destroy life as we know it.”
“Ahh, when you put it that way, I don’t feel bad.” She closed the folder so no one else could see it because not everyone would find it as amusing as she did.