I ignore him, looking forward, and Catherine does too. We’ve spoken about him in the library and decided, if he tries to speak to us, that we just ignore him. He huffs. “Fine, ignore me, stupid bitches. I’m sure your fat friend won’t get very far, and even if she does, what dragon would pick her?”
Catherine’s cheeks burn red, and I swirl on him. “What the fuck did you just say about her?”
He looks pleased with himself as he steps up to me, and I’m smart enough to suspect I wouldn’t win a fight if he decided to hurt me. I can’t stand that he just said that to her, though. I barely get to say a word before Daegan’s light is flashing above us, and Fritz smirks at me before stepping back. He looks over his shoulder, and the smirk drops away. I look at Catherine, seeing how upset she is, a fury burning in my chest. I hate people who put other people down just for how they look. It’s something that people do so easily, like looks can seriously judge a person. I’d happily choose to judge someone over how kind they are over how they look.
I clasp my hands into fists, barely controlling my anger. Daegan does a speech, but I don’t hear him through the ringing in my ears before he’s stepping aside. Catherine stays at my side as we jog forward, and Fritz does too, laughing to himself about his pathetic jokes. When we get straight in, Catherine and I head away from the bridge, but Fritz runs to stand in front of the steps. “I don’t think it’s fair you’re going down there, trying to get away. Go over the bridge.”
“Get out of our way,” I snap.
“I’ll just go—” Catherine whispers.
“Don’t you dare, Catherine. You are beautiful and kind, no matter what this fool calls you,” I tell her, rounding on Fritz. “You might be a bully who uses pathetic insults to get his own way, but I’m not letting you tell me what to do. I’ve faced people so much worse than you and survived. Move.”
“Ziven might have told me to back off, but I’m not doing that. He won’t see me kill you in here.” He steps forward. I glance at Catherine, who looks so scared. “I’ll kill you both and be done with it.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell Catherine, right before I shove her off the edge of the bridge, knowing she will land in the water and survive to get to the pillars. Her eyes are full of shock as she falls backwards, her feet slipping off the edge, and I wish I could have told her it’s safe, that the water will stop her fall. It’s better than dying up here. She is my friend, and I won’t lose another friend.
Her screams echo for a second, but I can’t focus on her as Fritz steps closer. “I’ll just go and get her next. You can’t stop me.”
I lift my head. “She’ll get to the pillars.” I’m not letting her die because Ziven sent this monster after me. I don’t believe that he told Fritz to back off; that has to be a lie. “I’m going down there, to the pillars. We don’t have to do this.”
“I’ve watched you pathetically fight,” he laughs, closing the gap between us. Everyone else has gone through the pillars, and it’s just us now. I glance across the bridge. I have one shot. Before he can see what I’m doing, I run straight for the bridge.
“Run, little Story. You can’t outpace me,” Fritz shouts at my back. I hear the dragon roar over Fritz’s shouts, and halfway across the bridge, a stone dragon crawls over it, right in front of me. Its stone wing slams between Fritz and me, crushing the ground. I turn, Fritz forgotten as I come face to face with a massive dragon. It opens its mouth, and I close my eyes, knowing it’s over for me. I scream as it roars, its breath so hot and loud that my ears pound until it stops roaring. Spit covers my body, mixed with ash, but it’s not fire. When I open my eyes, still shaking from head to toe, I look right into its eyes. Silver. It’s the same dragon I saw last time I was in the test, right at the end. It looks me dead in the eye, its teeth the size of me, and one bite—I would be gone.
It roars one more time before diving off the side of the bridge, not touching me. I’m left shaking and alone, Fritz long gone. Red light is shining from the pillars on the other side of the bridge, the third one in the line. I run down to it, touching the dragon, and suddenly I’m outside the front entrance to the Decidere. Confused, I glance down at my hand to see another dragon marking, and I frown, wondering what the hell that test was about. The stone door opens, flooding light into my face. I barely blink a few times before I’m in Daegan’s arms, and he kisses me in front of everyone.
I swear I hear a dragon roar so loud I’m surprised the world didn’t hear it.
Chapter Fifteen
Page Fifteen.
My new husband wants an heir, but the deities have not been kind to us. I can’t help but look at the rising sun, the sinking moon, and hope to escape the dawn.
“How is it possible we’re going into the sixth test next?” Catherine’s dreamy sigh echoes to me, and I look up from my book cart. “We are making history. Well, you more than me, being new and all.”
I never thought about that, about the fact just being in the Decidere will put me in any history book. The idea is thrilling as much as it is daunting. I might die and just be a name listed, or I could be a rider. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m riding on luck and about to run out.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t say that! You aren’t just lucky, you’re amazing, and that’s why you’re doing so well.” I want to ask her a million questions about whether the test was different or not for her this time. Catherine instantly forgave me when she came out of the test only an hour or so after me. She landed in the water, but she didn’t pass out like I did. She understood that there was water down there and remembered quick enough to turn and dive. Apparently, she’s quite a good swimmer. Though I don’t really know how or where she managed to learn to swim in this place.
She said that her fifth test was difficult, and that’s all we ever discuss on the most important thing in our lives right now. I hate the fact we can’t talk about them, because I’m still confused about so much. I didn’t have a test. Nothing happened when I touched the stone, not like it usually does, and yet I still got the mark.
I glance at my arms now, how different they look from only a few weeks ago. From the middle of my wrists, all the way over my hands are small dragon marks slowly moving around. They are beautiful, alive and something of my own. I’ve never liked marks on my skin because every one came from pain. I don’t think I ever will learn to like the bites, but I do like these. Marks that I chose, I earned. I don’t know why, but that is slightly different.
Catherine is humming to herself as she puts her selection of books away. “Your family must be proud,” I tell her. I’ve met her mum and her father. They’re both like Catherine. Somehow bright, so alive and joyous. Fae just aren’t those things outside of here.
“Well, yes, but…my sister, she’s…” She seems to be thinking of the best way to phrase her next words. “Well, I don’t expect she thought that I’d get this far. I think she thought I’d end up dying, far from being a rider and being one of the few to get this far in the Decidere. She is competitive and I’ve always let her win at everything.”
“Well, you’re not doing that this time. You’re standing on your own two feet.” I grin at her. “I’m learning to do that, too.”
“My mother did say something I wanted to ask you about,” she says, lowering her voice. “People are talking about you and the king. He has never, publicly at least, had a girlfriend. But people have seen you kissing now.”
I don’t know what to say exactly. “What did you want to ask?”
“Are you dating? Is it serious?” she asks. “I’m just nosy and I’ve never had a relationship before, so I’m living through you if you tell me anything. You don’t have—”
“Okay, stop, stop,” I gently interrupt before she full-on nervously rants. “We’ve kissed a few times. He takes me on dates, but I wouldn’t call it serious. He surprised me by kissing me in front of everyone yesterday.”
She pauses, looking over at me. “That was a claiming, done on purpose. If it’s not serious for you, I think it is for him.” She might be right, more reason than ever to talk with Daegan about us. “My mother said King Ziven looked furious when you came out. I can’t believe he still hopes you die in there. She said she’d never seen him so angry.”
I wince. I kind of hoped he was getting past the hating me thing, but it seems not. I’m having a hard time completely hating him, but we will never be friends. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Of course,” she quickly answers, her cheeks burning red. “Er, tell me something about the outside world? Nothing about the vampyres.” She shivers. She can’t hide the fear in her eyes when I talk about them. “But tell me anything I don’t know.”
We have talked about a lot, and she likely knows more about the outside than even Daegan, who regularly asks me a million questions. “I…I don’t know. I know that you’re trapped in here, that you don’t leave, but it was similar to me. My life has been pretty sheltered too. I never got to explore the world. I only heard things because of my master.” I haven’t told her about the prince. I can’t get the words out when I do. Telling anyone here that I was close, more than close, to the royal family who conquered their world would end with me dead. “My mum, I think she protected me from the darkness of the world far more than I ever knew.”
“I hope I get to meet her.” Her beaming smile makes my heart warm. “What’s she like?”
There’s only one word I’d use to describe my mother. “Brave. Everything I’m not.”
“You don’t think you’re brave?” she quietly asks.
My laugh is hollow. “No, I’m definitely not.” I pick up the new pile of books, the last that need to be sorted before the end of my day. Catherine keeps up with me as we wheel our carts through the thickness of the library, past several of the workers who I’ve gotten to know. All of them smile at me now, and I’m less of a stranger to them. The smell of the dusty books is relaxing, calming, and the tenseness leaves my shoulders after a while.
“I think you’re brave,” she eventually tells me when we both stop at the shelves I need. It’s so dark back here—only a dim oil lantern is burning from a nearby desk—making it harder to find the shelf I need. I shake my head at her. I don’t know where she got the idea from, but me, brave? No, brave is not something I think I am. Though I do wish that I was. Catherine hands me a few biscuits, even though food isn’t allowed in the library, and winks at me. “Our secret.”
