My cover here relied entirely on my ability to hold it all together through the training program.
Of course, once I graduated, I’d be out there. In the realms, and vulnerable if exposed. But I’d cross that bridge when, and if, I got there.
The light through the window indicated that dawn wasn’t far off. I rose and stared out at it, my eyes rising to the sky. Then I turned, strode through the room, yanked open the door, and stared out into the hall.
Empty.
Perfect. No sign of the Dire.
When in doubt, Dragons went up.
As I stalked down the hall, I practiced the deep breathing that usually cleared my mind and prepared my body for whatever I might ask of it.
This last week had given me time to recover some of my former control. But now, my fool heart refused to slow down.
That single dream had threatened to sabotage my hard work. Unbidden, my mind whirled with images that had broken loose from where I’d caged them.
The mental barriers I erected suppressed many things—the faces and voices of my past, the result of choices not my own. But now, what broke free were images more recent. And female.
Not just images. Memories that now returned with a vengeance. I growled as I shoved them back where they belonged. Behind mental bars and buried as deep as I could manage.
I couldn’t let Xumi win.
I pushed open the door to the stairwell, and climbed. My wings were already bursting through my shoulders as I reached the top landing and stepped out among the roof spires. The cool breeze that blew my spiked hair off my face was laden with the scents of the nearby lake and forest, and I inhaled, hoping to push away the mental fog. The pain of transformation helped me to focus.
The wing bones emerged, tiny and frail, from their hiding place between my shoulder blades, but I pushed them to expand rapidly until they were full-sized with the tough, flexible membrane stretching between them. Talons first, wings second. In a pinch, my talons could defend me until my wings carried me up. The remainder of my dragon form could then emerge once I gained a safety margin.
It was a lesson learned hard and well, based on witnessing others who hadn’t learned it nearly fast enough. My training was based on three simple rules—first, be cautious. Second—know your target. And third—be damned lethal.
That I’d survived to adulthood proved I’d managed all three.
Standing on the roof of the academy, I had the rare luxury of waiting until I was fully transformed before launching into the air. I sensed the young guards at the academy entrance watching me as I swooped low over the meadow before climbing with powerful wing beats toward the clouds.
The wind danced over my scales like a lover’s hands, soothing away my rage and frustration. I climbed through the low cloud layer, letting the vapor trail off my wings as I spun, forming lazy spirals that gleamed in the first rays of the rising sun.
Hard to believe, up here, that anything else existed.
Except for the woman.
My teeth ground together as I banked toward the sunrise and acknowledged that Fate liked to kick me in the balls. I knew that, but she kept insisting on reminding me.
I’d expected life at the academy to be a challenge—I was hardly what you’d consider a team player. From the first moment I’d glimpsed that woman walking up the path, I’d known I was in big trouble. Just a glance had sent a lightning-like bolt straight through me.
And now, once again, she’d invaded my dreams.
Shards.
I should leave. Take my chances with the underlord in a world that was vicious, but familiar.
Because I had no idea what to do about any of this.
I could handle the bastard alpha and the strange-talking Dire. It was the woman, and the corresponding ache in my soul, that scared the blazes out of me.
12
Anna
When the bell rang, I almost fell out of bed.
