CHAPTER 28 - MEDRA

What are you doing? I hissed at my mother.

Giving him a taste of his own medicine. Come on, don't tell me you don't want to. He deserves it.

How are you even doing this? I didn't know you were capable of anything like this.

Neither did I, she replied, sounding amused. At least, not here. Not with them. And not from my... strange position.

She was using me. Wielding me as an instrument as she went after Blake. I should have been horrified, terrified, shocked.

I was all three. But I was also letting her do it.

If you were capable of this, why didn't you help me when I was trying to keep him out? I complained.

But she ignored me.

Interesting, she mused, a moment later. Very interesting.

What? What's interesting? I demanded.

Here. Take a look.

She shoved him at me. Yanked me into his head alongside her.

The world tilted.

I felt my mother tearing through Blake's mind like a careless hand rummaging through old chests in an attic. She wasn't being subtle. She wasn't being careful. She was just yanking up lids and diving in.

Images, thoughts, and emotions swirled around me.

Gleefully, Orcades shoved a wave of them at me.

Emotions. A torrent of rage. So hot and fierce it nearly knocked me off my feet.

But it wasn't just anger. It went deeper than that. I felt Blake's grief, his pain at being forced to kill Coregon. I felt the sickening mix of fury and betrayal.

Underneath all of that, something else lurked.

Blake's anger at me . It was strong. So intense.

Emotions slid away, slipping like sand through my fingers.

A new memory emerged.

The world softened. Blake's mind settled into calm like the sea after a storm. I blinked and suddenly I was there, standing alongside him on a beach.

He was younger. Maybe eighteen. His face was more open, more boyish. He lacked all of the hard edges I'd come to associate with him. His nose wasn't as crooked. It hadn't been broken yet.

He was smiling, actually smiling, as he chased a small girl through the shallow waves.

His sister. Aenia. She couldn't have been more than three or four. Her giggles rang through the air as Blake splashed water at her.

She darted away from him, only for Blake to scoop her up and twirl her around as she screamed in delight, her pale ringlets bouncing around her face.

I could feel it. His joy. His protectiveness.

Love poured off him for this little girl.

It hit me like a punch to the gut. I hadn't thought him capable of love. Not in any real way. But it was there, undeniable. Coursing through him like a current.

Before I could even begin to process what I'd seen, Orcades' voice cut through the warmth of the memory.

Found something better, darling. Come and look at this.

The beach scene dissolved. I was thrust into a new memory.

Blake was in the headmaster's office. He was standing in front of Kim's desk.

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 was lying .

"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 with something deeper, more primal. He wanted me. Not just my blood, but me .

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.