Page 132 of On Wings of Blood

He’d just come from the arena. He must have been summoned right after. He was bleeding from his side where Coregon had stabbed him, but he was trying to ignore the pain.

He was speaking calmly but there was tension in his voice. He was telling the headmaster that he had started our fight. That he had provoked me, goaded me into attacking him.

He waslying.

“If you have to punish anyone,” he said, his voice steady but tired. “Punish me, Headmaster Kim. It was my fault, not Pendragon’s.”

“You don't get along with your consort,” Kim said, his eyes watchful.

“No, sir, I do not. She’s not a highblood. Nor does she show the proper deference. That doesn’t mean I think you should do what you’ve proposed.”

“A consort who attacks an archon is a serious matter, young man,” Kim said. “Consorts have been executed for much less.”

My heart hammered. Kim had wanted to execute me?

“She didn't attack me. It was the other way around,” Blake insisted. “It was an inappropriate loss of control on my part. I assure you, it won’t happen again.”

The headmaster waved a hand dismissively. “You may punish your consorts for their lack of respect however you see fit. Such is your right. However, we discourage doing so in such a public way. It upsets the blightborn students. I’m sure you understand.”

“I understand, sir,” Blake said.

“Very well, Drakharrow. If you are certain...”

But I didn’t get a chance to hear the rest of what Kim was saying. My mother was already moving on, pushing me into yet another memory.

We were back in the arena. Blake stood down in the center of the floor, looking up at the crowd. I saw myself there, sitting beside Regan.

Blake’s eyes lingered on me.

My pulse quickened. I could feel what he felt as he looked at me.

I felt his hunger. One that went beyond a craving for blood, though I felt his thirst for that, too. This was mingled withsomething deeper, more primal. He wanted me. Not just my blood, butme.

The need... It was tangled with something else. Something sorrowful, something hollow.

And then, before I could start to understand it all, the connection snapped.

I opened my eyes. Professor Rodriguez’s office swam back into focus.

Blake stood across from me, his chest heaving. His eyes were wide with fury and shock.

For a moment, we just stared at each other, neither of us speaking.

“Aenia,” he spat finally. “What did you see?”

I stared at him. That wasn’t what I’d expected him to ask about.

“I saw you on the beach,” I said slowly, not even completely sure why I was answering him. I didn’t owe him this. I didn’t owe him anything. Not after what he’d just done. “You were playing together. She was laughing.”

He studied my face, as if searching for any sign I might be lying.

Then, he was gone.

The door slammed shut behind him.

I was in Rodriguez’s office. And I was alone.

CHAPTER 29 - MEDRA

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