Page 2 of The Bond That Burns

“All students will return to their dormitories at once.”

There was a moment of hesitation. I saw indecision on students’ faces. They wanted to be there, to see what happened next.

To my knowledge, our stern yet steady Headmaster Kim had never bellowed before. Now he did. “Perhaps you did not understand me the first time.Now!”

Students began to scamper out.

Kim marched forward towards Blake and I.

He was not alone. A group of older highbloods trailed behind him. I scanned their faces, my heart falling as I recognized Viktor Drakharrow, his red eyes gleaming as he looked at me with unmistakable greed. No, more than that. Triumph.

I half-expected him to grab me and snatch me from the courtyard that instant.

Then I recognized the woman walking beside him. She was petite, slender-framed, with straight, silver hair cut at chin-length. Her dark, angular eyes looked at me with some wariness, but also with intelligence and curiosity.

I knew her. I’d seen her portrait in the headmaster’s office. Natsumi Avari. Kage's mother. She was a member of Bloodwing’s Board of Directors.

I scanned the highbloods around her. There must have been a meeting of the board that night. That’s why so many were here.

Not too often that a board meeting was adjourned by a dragon, I'd bet.

I had only a vague idea of what a board of directors did. Helped to run Bloodwing somehow, I presumed. Was it a good thing that they were all here now, at this moment? Or a very bad one?

I decided having more witnesses to whatever Viktor Drakharrow was about to do couldn't be a bad thing. After all, Natsumi was House Avari. She wouldn’t just go along with whatever Viktor said.

I could feel highblood eyes on me. Sizing me up as if a wild animal had suddenly wandered into their midst.

There had been a time I’d wanted them all to look at me exactly as they were now doing. As if I were someone to be reckoned with. Someone to be feared.

But now I knew that having all of this highblood attention on me was the last thing anyone should ever wish for.

There was a clatter and the sound of a heavy door banging as the last of the students cleared out.

Headmaster Kim's face was grim as he reached us. He opened his mouth to speak.

“Incredible. Absolutely incredible.” It was Viktor. He walked past Kim, coming closer to me than I liked. His red eyes met mine.

He smiled slowly, his avarice palpable. I didn’t smile back.

“How did you summon the dragon?” he demanded, as if unable to wait a second longer to begin his interrogation.

I jumped. “I...” I started to say. But then everyone burst in.

“What exactly happened here?”

“What did you do?”

“How dare you!”

“Are you in control of it?”

“Where is it going? Where did you send it?”

“Can you command it? Tell it to return here at once.”

“The dragon belongs to House Avari.”

I looked at the speaker of those last words. No surprise that they had come from Natsumi.

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