Chapter 33

Aelia

"Just breathe, princess. You are a powerful Light Fae and your new pet must believe it if he's chosen you." Reign's voice slithered across the shell of my ear, only this time, instead of the icy shadows, his warm breath sent goose bumps spilling down my bare shoulder. He suddenly stood beside me, his eyes locked on the baby dragon staggering to its feet.

"Raysa's tits," Belmore hissed, toting his squawking gryphon in his arms. "The Kin was claimed by a dragon? How is that possible? There hasn't been one at the academy in ages."

The rest of Flare team, who had meandered beyond the confines of the tent to begin bonding with their skyriders, all reappeared, filling the pavilion to gawk at my hatchling. They weren't the only ones. I couldn't keep my eyes off the scraggly little brown dragonette.

It scrambled forward on wobbly legs, its talons seemingly too big for its body while its leathery russet wings were tiny. It was no bigger than a wild dog and twice as mangy looking.

Belmore released a belly laugh. "Now I understand why Raysa chose this dragon for Aelia. It's clearly a dud. I doubt it'll ever be able to fly with those wings."

Ariadne giggled, hanging on his shoulder with her hippogriff at her feet.

"Oh, shut it," Rue snarled. "It's just a baby."

"He," I murmured.

"What?" Belmore barked, fixing his cold eyes on me, then my dragon.

"His name is Solanthus, the Sun Chaser." The name popped out of its own accord, as if someone had plucked it from my brain and placed it on the tip of my tongue.

I crept forward, slowly so as to not startle the little thing. Warm golden eyes found mine, and a tiny screech erupted between pointy fangs. "Hello, Solanthus," I crooned and reached out my hand. "That's quite a name for such a little guy. I think I'll call you Sol for short."

His oversized head was tipped with an array of jagged horns, so I opted for the soft skin under his chin. Solanthus lifted his head appreciatively, and a soft purring sound rumbled his throat.

"You like that?"

More purring.

"Open your thoughts to him, Aelia." Reign appeared once again at my side. "You should be able to speak to each other through your mental link."

Right. Squeezing my eyes closed, I cleared my mind and imagined a stream of light rushing between my new little friend and me. Solanthus? Can you hear me?

A presence filled a small, dark corner of my thoughts, but somehow, I couldn't quite latch onto it. Solanthus, are you there?

Blast it! Why couldn't anything come easily for me?

Snapping my lids wide open, I stared at the bumbling dragonette. He stumbled along the grass, swatting at a swarm of beezus. "Oh, Sol…" I crouched beside him and giggled as he snapped at the flying insects.

My looming instructor dropped down beside me, his unreadable gaze flickering between the dragonette and me. "Has the bond been formed?" he whispered.

"No," I huffed out. "I can't hear a thing."

His lips pursed as he regarded me. "It must be whatever is blocking your powers."

That again. In his grand effort to put space between us, he'd never explained more on his theory.

"By the goddess, I cannot believe my eyes." A booming voice drowned out all mental musings and I scrambled to my feet as the Royal Guardians filed into the pavilion.

King Elian towered over me, luminous turquoise eyes alight in awe as he ogled my dragon. An unexpected streak of protectiveness zipped through my chest, and I stepped closer to Sol, blocking the royal's view.

The king's light brows puckered as he regarded me, his scrutinizing gaze drawing over every inch of me, finally settling on my rounded ears. Even behind that practiced mask, I caught the flicker of surprise.

Headmaster Draven stepped out from behind the king's lustrous shadow, eyes wider than the midday sun. "Raysa be damned," he mumbled.

"This is the girl? The Kin you spoke of?" King Elian eyed me with barely veiled contempt.

"Yes, Your Ethereal Highness."

An endless moment later, he released me from his careful scrutiny and turned to the headmaster. "When was the last time a dragon appeared among the hatchlings?" The king's ominous whisper reached my rounded ears.

"It's been decades. Though I heard there was one across the river at Arcanum Citadel in the last decade." The headmaster's pale green eyes flitted to Reign before returning to rest on the royal.

"It's an odd-looking beast with those frail wings and enormous talons, but perhaps he'll grow into his body."

"Undoubtedly, Your Highness." Draven's sharp gaze scanned over Sol, and it took all my restraint to keep from shouting at the male to stop.

"Do you have a professor equipped to train a student on a dragon?"

"Well of course?—"

"I'll do it." Reign stepped forward, his expression carved from stone. His shadow wings emerged, adding to the professor's already impressive height.

"You?" King Elian's light brow arched, a platinum rainbow nearly reaching his hairline. "Is this not the banished Shadow Fae?" His lip curled in disgust as if Reign were unworthy to step within his sun-blessed gaze.

"It is, Your Highness, but as I've mentioned before, Professor Darkthorn has proven to be quite useful over the years."

"What makes you capable of training a female Kin, nonetheless, on a dragon?"

Reign's piercing gaze chased to mine for an instant before he gritted his teeth, the tendon in his jaw fluttering at his tell. The incessant shadows circling his form grew denser, and he pivoted his attention back to the king. From within the looming midnight cloud, he leveled the royal with an icy glare. "Only the fact that I trained my own."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head at the admission. Why would he give up a secret he held so close to his heart?

"You did what?" Draven hissed.

The hint of a smile threatened across my lips. Apparently, the headmaster didn't know his lapdog as well as he thought.

"How could you not mention that… for years?" The headmaster's glare was palpable, and yet Reign kept his expression neutral.

"It was of no importance until now." His head swiveled toward Sol and that streak of overprotectiveness blossomed, inflating my chest.

"Does this dragon still live?" King Elian's hateful demeanor completely changed toward the Shadow Fae.

I held my breath as Reign's broad shoulders slowly lifted. "I do not know. I have not seen the beast since I was banished from the Court of Umbral Shadows."

Not a twitch, not a single tell. The male was an expert liar. I'd have to remind myself of that important fact going forward.

"But the bond?" Draven questioned.

"It was broken by the mark of the banished."

King Elian's thin lips pressed into a tight line. "It's a shame…" He turned to the headmaster, a vein fluttering across the porcelain skin of his brow. "Have any of the other Light Fae professors mastered dragonmanship?"

"In theory, yes. Many were alive during the war, but none have bonded with a dragon."

"Then I suppose the professor is right. He should be the one to train the girl." The king's curious gaze razed over me once again, and each and every hair on my body stood at attention. There was something about the male… "And I'd like to be kept apprised of the situation, Draven. A dragon would give the Royal Guardians a tremendous advantage over our enemy across the river."

"But I thought we were at peace, Your Highness." The words spilled out before I could stop them. A curtain of silence descended over the tent as Reign and the headmaster's glares bored into the side of my face.

"There is no such thing as peace, initiate. If you'd grown up at Court instead of in the wilderness of Feywood, you'd understand that. We must be constantly on guard against our foes."

A rebuttal sat perched on my tongue, specifically about the terrible creatures of the Wilds at our doorstep, but I was rather fond of my head, and I preferred for it to remain attached to my neck. So, I bit back the retort, earning a sigh of relief from my professor.

"Come, Your Ethereal Highness, there are a number of promising students I would still like to present."

The king nodded and the Royal Guardians fell into line around him. As the headmaster led the royal away, faint murmurs drifted across the confines of the tent. The rest of the squad surrounded Sol and me, a circle of curious gazes following every twitch. Reign still stood beside me, his ever-looming presence oddly comforting now despite yesterday's brutal rejection.

I'd seen him with Phantom first-hand, witnessed their bond. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed him. I had no idea how to train a dragon. And though Sol didn't look like much at the moment, in only a week he would be an enormous, flying, fire-breathing dragon.

The little dragonette peered up at me, golden irises blazing around narrowed pupils, and let out a tiny roar.

My heart just about melted into a puddle. I may not have been able to mystically bond with the creature yet, but I felt a connection all the same.

"Are you hungry, Sol?" A long, reptilian tongue snaked out and wagged between a row of tiny, sharp teeth. "Well then, we'll have to get you some food, won't we?"

Reign's shoulder bumped mine, and those icy tendrils of night drifted over my skin. When had he gotten so close? Good goddess, I needed to put a bell on him.

Sol inched closer to Reign and sniffed at his black boots. A growl vibrated the hatchling's throat and he bared his teeth.

"Don't you dare," Reign snapped.

The dragon's eyes lifted to mine, and he flashed what I could have sworn was a smile, before he chomped down on the toe of my professor's shiny boot.

Reign let out a satisfying yelp followed by a string of curses that had the rest of Flare Squad swiveling in our direction. "That mangy little?—"

"Watch your tongue, professor," I snapped. "You're talking about my bonded skyrider."

He rolled his eyes and lifted his boot to assess the damage. A row of teeth marks was imprinted into the front of his boot, and I simply couldn't restrain the laugh from tittering out.

"Oh, you think this is funny, princess?" he whisper-hissed.

"Just a bit."

He wagged a finger at Sol. "Do that again and I'll see to it that you don't eat for a week."

The little dragon curled into a ball at my feet, growling his displeasure.

"Don't listen to him, Sol, I'd never let that happen." I patted his horned head, careful to avoid the nastier spikes. His eyelids drifted closed moments later.

"So much for keeping our distance, professor," I muttered at the male bathed in shadows.

"Mmm, yes. It appears as if we're stuck together for the foreseeable future."