Page 17 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
Brisa reaches me first, carried on threads of Air. “That was rude, even for you,” she buzzes in my ear, trying to sound stern. But I still clearly hear the amusement in her voice.
Glorana immediately disagrees, “Calling efficiency ‘rude’ is a blatant misuse of the word. Bene has no time to squander on such trifles.”
“Thank you, Glorana,”I whisper to her on a thread of Mind before I rumble aloud, “Brisa, if you please? We are in a hurry.”
Purple strands of Air shimmer before me, weaving into a current we ride all the way over the mist-touched mountains ringing my home and down into the forested valley that protects the Living Waters at its center like the rib cage protects the heart.
The closer we draw to the source of all magic, the greater the dread writhing in my stomach grows.
For twelve years, I have avoided this holy site. I would happily avoid it for another twelve more. But I am a boy no longer. I cannot continue to ignore my responsibilities to Drakara. The time has finally come for me to dosomething.
Even if it means yielding my soul to the Shade already clawing at my heart, eager to lead me down the dark path.
Even if it means finally burying the dream that I might one day see Aurelia again.
Chapter 6
Aurelia
Fifteen Years Ago
The clock on the mantel chimed eight. I startled, accidentally stabbing my needle through my poor attempt to embroider a pixie, puncturing her wing.
Only eight o’clock? I still had four more hours before Bene came for me at midnight.
Assuming he kept his promise.
Assuming he could evenfindme here.
Miss Clara Barton, with her strawberry-blonde curls and sparkling blue eyes, leaned over to give me a nudge. “Just a few more hours until your birthday,” she whispered, coaxing a smile to my lips. “And I rather like the butterfly you’re stitching.”
I had only been at the Thornwick House for Young Ladies for a few days, but already Clara was becoming a fast friend.
Myonlyfriend, in fact.
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh. “It’s a pixie, actually.”
Clara giggled.
“Ladies,” Headmistress Whitcombe reprimanded us from her perch on the opposite side of the sitting room. “There is never any need to cackle like a hyena.”
Sighing, the stern-faced woman Mama had entrusted me to for the next year rose from her chair. “But it is time for us to transition to our devotionals, at any rate. And then we shall retire for the night.”
My heart fluttered wildly. This was my last opportunity to slip away from the other girls before Bene came.
I suddenly gripped my stomach and doubled over with a dramatic groan.
Clara stared at me.
Across the room, perfect Miss Selina Danbury rolled her eyes and whispered something to her friends, Rebecca and Phoebe. The three of them laughed.
Mistress Whitcombe thinned her lips and declared, “We will have silence, ladies!” before her attention returned to me. “Good heavens, child. Are you all right?”
“I feel ill, Headmistress,” I desperately lied. “Perhaps it was something I ate at dinner?” Wetting my lips, I chanced a look up into the woman’s piercing green eyes when I suggested, “Perhaps… perhaps I should spend the night in the infirmary?”
It was the only way I would be able to meet with Bene undetected. Selina and I shared a room, after all. And I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to report me when she saw a large, handsome dragon tapping at my window.
Pursing her lips, the headmistress waved me off. “To the infirmary with you, then. I will send Lucy along to look at you shortly. You will sleep there for the night.”
