Page 25 of Creatures of War

“What?” My eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

Coral laughed at my shocked reaction and walked away.

I reached for her, grabbing her wrist, but she quickly yanked out of my grip.

“Do not touch me, you dirty whore. It’s exactly as I said. You are truly all alone. No daddy, no dragons, no one.” Her eyes flicked to Aylia briefly. “At least no one who matters.”

Then, she turned and walked away, still laughing with her friend as they turned a corner.

“Rayna?” Aylia said softly. “Come on.”

I didn’t say anything as she dragged me back to my room. There might be merit in what Coral had said. All day, I felt like shit, like parts of me were missing. It’d explain the pain in my spine, the fuzziness in my head, and the heaviness in my body. Was it because the bond between us all had been broken? Was it so easy to do that?

Not even a day had passed.

I kept going over everything as Aylia helped me into bed and then against my protests, applied the cream to my back for me.

“The nurse was right, a scar won’t be left behind. This should all be healed by the morning if you get a good night’s rest,” she said.

“How can I rest when everything feels wrong?” I asked, my face buried in my pillow as I fought back tears.

“Rest has ways of fixing things. Take time to rest, to relax your mind and let your subconscious mind work through everything. Things will feel better in the morning.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t,” she said, going over to her desk. “But someone has to believe it will for the two of us. I’m good at believing in the impossible. Get some rest, Rayna. I’ll do your homework.”

It was like her words were magic because I quickly dozed off soon after that.

Chapter Fifteen

I buried my head in my pillow and groaned. The nurse had been right, my back really did heal, which only made me grouchy. It felt too much like the academy got away with something they shouldn’t have done.

Aylia sensed my mood and worked extra hard to make me smile. I appreciated it, even if there were moments where I got annoyed with her. But she seemed to sense that too and would go quiet before I snapped at her.

The next couple of days were quiet overall. Coral stayed away from me. We did our classes. People stayed clear of me. Coral truly destroyed any chance of me making friends.

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that sleep would take over. And when it did, I had a moment of complete confusion as I stared around me. I was outside in a cave. A small fire crackled in the middle. I swore I could feel its heat. I moved closer, holding my hands out to it, letting that heat soak in.

“I told you she would be here,” Landers’ familiar voice caught my attention, and I turned to face the opening of the cave.

Landers, Philit, and Zilon all stood there, looking absolutely delicious.

“Oh, this is definitely my favorite dream to date,” I whispered.

Landers snorted as he moved in closer until he was inches away from me. My back faced the fire, but with his intense heat in front of me, my back felt really cold.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a husky voice.

“I’m fine.”

“Bullshit,” Philit said, coming up behind Landers and glaring over his shoulder at me. “We heard the rumors on day one. They punished you. Someone said after they were done with you, that you were a bloody mess.”

“I promise; I’m okay.” I spread out my arms. “See.” I did a little spin.

Zilon sighed. “We’re in a dream state, so that means nothing. Even in here, our wings are unbound, despite them not being like that in the real world.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

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