Chapter 2

I’m not sure what gave me the bright idea to pretend to be a student in a foreign realm where I didn’t know anything about anything, but it felt right.

Plus, I had faerie wings, pointy ears, and whatever magic had brought me here had traded my blade for a musical instrument.

I was going to have to fake it to make it here.

“That must have been quite the bump on the head,” the male named Kai said as he steadied me by my arm. He’d given me his name after a short introduction about himself being a third-year student. He said he’d been off-grounds to investigate a disturbance.

To investigate me.

“Yup,” I agreed as I pressed the stupidly soft handkerchief he’d provided to the small cut. Given the wound’s location, it had still bled profusely. I really hoped he didn’t want his cloth back.

My healing powers didn’t seem to be working even though I’d gotten rid of the anchor that had been keeping my spirit locked to my body in the Shadow Realm. The device had interfered with a lot of things, but it had kept me alive, so there was that.

I had shattered it, which in all reality should have killed me, since I had still been in the Shadow Realm, but now I was here.

I wonder what’s keeping me from healing now?

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Kai asked. His wings seemed to disappear into his uniform, even though he didn’t have any holes in his back that I could see. I pondered that as he gently guided me onto a cobblestone path that pleasantly crunched under our feet.

Well, I had been wearing boots a moment ago, not these ridiculous lace-up sandals, I thought, frowning down at them.

“It was… dark,” I answered honestly.

That wasn’t a lie. The Shadow Realm had been terrifyingly devoid of light. It had held the kind of darkness that sucked one in and never let anything out.

A shiver ran up my spine, making me clench my jaw until my teeth hurt.

Kai peered at me for a moment, then grinned until dimples appeared on his cheeks, making him look even more stupidly attractive.

As pretty as he was, though, my appreciation was more like admiring a well-crafted statue in a museum than anything romantic.

My heart belonged to Killian and I very much wanted to make sure that he was still alive.

A bubbling sense of panic threatened to make my heart stutter, but a calming wave rushed over me—courtesy of Solstice.

I glanced up and gave her my silent thanks. Even if I had some serious realm whiplash, she seemed confident that we’d work this out.

At least that made one of us.

Stay out of sight, girl, I whispered to her and sensed when she drifted higher into the safety of the clouds.

Dragons did not seem to be the norm in these parts, and if I wanted to blend in, a massive dragon was probably a dead giveaway.

“All the ruins are dark,” Kai supplied with a frown that didn’t seem to fit on his face. “That’s why we never, ever go there. It’s a good place to trip, hit your head, and forget who you are.”

He said that as if he had experience with that exact scenario.

Before I could ask, he plucked a flute from the inside of his uniform and popped it into his mouth. It looked remarkably like mine, but whereas I had no idea how to hold a tune, he certainly knew how to use it. He placed his fingers with expert precision and gently blew into it, startling me when the most incredible melody came from it.

I blinked at him as the air around us shimmered until a new path appeared on the other side—as well as a new student.

She was breathtakingly gorgeous. Her bright purple hair fell around her face in ringlets and her long, delicate ears poked through the strands. A little ring of baby’s breath circled her head and her uniform was as frilly as it was functional. Purple silk stripes lined the seams of a fitted top, as well as a skirt that matched her hair with strong bands on the bottom at her thighs. Strapped sandals wound up her attractive calves, looking much better on her than me.

Purple, glittery wings wafted behind her, fluttering softly.

“Ah, Violet,” Kai said with a smile, lowering his flute. “I was just about to bring this little troublemaker to the Healer’s Hut before calling the Maestro. Would you like to join us? It’s your first day too, after all.”

The gorgeous female named Violet seemed… familiar. Her purple eyes sparkled with heat, brightening as she drew closer to me. Everything about her was elegant, lithe, and gorgeous. The air seemed to simmer around her as if there was fire running along her skin. When I tried to focus on it, it vanished.

The silver bracelet on her wrist drew my attention, and my eyes dropped.

It was one that had multiple empty divots and a single amethyst gem.

Just like mine.

“Hello, Vivienne,” she said brightly, making my stomach flip.

She knew who I was.

And as my eyes rounded, I realized who she was, too.

Somehow, this was the Lost Dragon Queen. She could take on a human form just like Lily could.

And I knew in the pit of my stomach that she was the reason we had wound up here.

She had brought me to a new realm and completely changed my appearance down to the genetic level.

The question was, was she a good dragon?

Or not?