Six more days and Elena would face me in that ring. I tried not to think what my dragon form was going to do to her. I just prayed that she would walk out of that ring on Saturday alive.
I forced it to the back of my mind as she was going to come tomorrow for orientation week. I would see her for an entire week and I could work on fixing the bond.
I couldn’t wait to show her I wasn’t that asshole that night at Longbottoms.
I also told Isaac to do everything in his power to get the pre-show gig at Saturday’s claiming. I needed that gig to show her just how important she was to me.
The door opened and Lucian walked in with his bag.
“Blake.” He didn’t look at me as he walked over to his bed and plopped his bag on it.
Oh, fuck. “What did you do?”
He laughed. “Nothing. She kicked my ass.”
“What?” Hope warmed my core. She kicked his ass.
“They put me in the ring with her. Micha is training her.”
“Micha Le Clerk!” My eyes grew. She was one of the Ancient’s guards. A ruthless Dragonian and rumors had it she would be the one to chase me when the darkness consumed me completely.
“Yeah. Elena is getting really fast.”
“Your dad really pulled strings on this, didn’t he?”
“Shows you how badly we want this girl to claim you. We can’t lose you, Blake.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“It’s just one more week. I think she is ready.”
“Yeah, I doubt that,” I mumbled.
“She isn’t that damsel anymore. You are going to see your ass.” Lucian opened his bag and packed away his clothes.
“I better.”
“Your abilities won’t hurt her, Blake. She is the right royal.”
I nodded. But my dragon form could still devour her.
He told me everything about their weekend. She faced me every single day in the simulator, or my beast. He still had a feeling that she didn’t know I was the Rubicon.
“No, she had to. With all the training and everything. Micha would’ve definitely told her. She is just angry. It’s why I can’t wait for her to come tomorrow, so that I can start fixing my fuckups.”
Lucian nodded. “About that, she is not coming?”
“What?” I could feel the hope in my core breaking into tiny pieces and disappear.
“Herbert says it’s too close to the claiming. They only have Micha for another week. He thinks it’s best that she uses that time to become better.”
“You got to be fucking kidding me?” I roared and lifted my pillow and muffled my screams into it. It felt as if I was going to burst. I needed her here.
“Calm down. I know.”
I pushed the pillow away and closed my eyes. They were fucking up what little we had left of the bond. They just didn’t know it.
“Everyone to the auditorium,” Master Longwei’s voice came through the system. The shift was going to happen tonight. Two extra floors with dorms were going to get added through magic. Elena would not be in one of them.
I walked with Lucian to the auditorium. Students streamed through the double doors that opened into tier seating and a gallery at the top.
I found George sitting in a row in the middle as Lucian rushed up the stairs to the upper gallery with Dean. I flopped down on the seat next to George and plopped into it.
My arms folded as I ground on my teeth. How long were they going to keep her away from me? What was Jako thinking? Fuck.
Master Longwei sat on a chair next to Eddie and Greg. My eyes skidded toward Irene. I shouldn’t have slept with her. If Elena was going to discover that, she would hate me even more.
The auditorium filled up as students murmured, grating more on my nerves.
Tabitha and her crew plopped down in the chairs next to me.
“Who pissed in your milk today?”
“Royals,” I mumbled.
She giggled, but kept her mouth shut.
Master Longwei got up and stood behind the lectern. “Silence!”
My toe tapped fast on the floor as my muscles jumped slightly.
“Just one more week and then Dragonia is going to break for summer. That means that next week is orientation. We beg of you to use the last two hours to grab your meals as next year’s first years will get comfortable with their surroundings. We are going to grand them an extra hour during dinner. On Saturday, one of the biggest claims in Paegeia’s history will take place inside the colosseum of Tith. You are all invited.”
Everyone hooted and cheered as George bumped me. A couple of students and professors applauded as I sulked in my chair with arms folded.
“I’m sure they can’t hide her much longer,” George mumbled.
“We are all very hyped about that,” Chong carried on.
The rumble came as he carried on speaking about orientation week.
My eyes closed as the amount of magic seeped through my skin. It radiated through my body and vibrated against my organs. It put me on edge, but for the next five minutes, I had to endure it.
Eventually, it stopped with a loud click.
“Please, make the newcomers feel welcome and keep the pranks limited this year.” He looked at George, and my lips twitched upward.
“Why does he always look at me? Fuck, I wonder if he knows you are standing behind everyone of them.”
We broke, and my room was now on the ninth floor. It felt so weird.
I struggled to sleep that night. She wasn’t coming. I got up and went to the roof.
I kept staring at the sky. Isaac hadn’t gotten back to me yet on whether we got the opening gig on Saturday. I needed that for her.
We’d been practicing Fix You for the past two weeks.
I needed at least that.
ELENA
I was inside the simulator again.
I kept staring at the Rubicon. His eyes were blood red and following me, but he didn’t move until I pressed the button.
My heart pounded every time I tried to get used to him.
“Elena!” Dad’s voice came through the speakers and I pressed the gel pads that were next to my head. The scene changed to the room of obstacles and I released myself from the mechanical that assisted my movements. The mechanical claws wouldn’t assist me inside the ring on Saturday. I’d have to rely on the rope I could take in with me, or until the Rubicon released my abilities.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m trying to process, Dad.”
He grinned as he stood on the third level, watching me. I huffed, not impressed with him. I couldn’t go to Dragonia because his paranoia was still there, just buried deep inside.
I wished I knew what really was his reason. Did it have to do with Blake? Was he a teacher at Dragonia?
“Micha will be here in twenty minutes. You need to get ready.”
I nodded and pressed the button against my temple, and the Rubicon appeared in front of me again. Just staring at me.
I practiced on him for the next fifteen minutes. Dad said it was all I would get. He needed to go down in fifteen minutes, otherwise it was a lost cause and I had to try another time.
The one in the simulator went down in eighteen minutes. I couldn’t get it under the fifteen minute mark and I stopped the sim.
Micha and Dad applauded.
I smiled. It wasn’t good enough.
“You are really getting better every time, Elena,” Micha said.
“Not good enough.”
“You have a week left. You’ll get there. Let’s go.”
After I took the suit off and placed it back in the steel cage, I rushed up the metal stairs. The dull sounds vibrated under my soles as I ran up the levels to them.
Dad gave me a one arm hug and a kiss on the temple before I followed Micha back to the training court.
It was the last week that I was training with her, and she was really great. I became faster with her. Today was weapon training and even though the swords had protectors over their blades, it still hurt like crap when she struck me with one.
Ben was always close by to heal me afterward.
“I’m sure that you must be sick and tired of healing my bruises.”
“See you later tonight, Elena.” Micha walked out of the training court.
Ben laughed. “Nope, still an honor. You came far. You are not that scared girl you were when we met months ago. So, what did you plan for your birthday?”
I laughed. “A big fat claiming.”
“No,” he said. “It’s this Saturday?”
I nodded. “Guess they are really anxious.”
“They are. We can’t lose the Rubicon this time.”
There were four before him. They all went evil, almost destroying Paegeia and parts of the world. They all died a gruesome death.
The last one my great, great, grandfather killed. He was the only one that ever killed a Rubicon by himself and that was how our blood line became the Monarchy of this world.
I went back to my room and wished that I could see what Dragonia was all about.
That night we trained with Emanual again. Micha called it visual training. Something that all beasties could do. The Chromatic were masters at this. They used the arena during a claim to their full advantage, and some were so good at it, that it felt as if you got transported to the desert or a volcano. This was what Lucian meant by discovering Arianna’s worst fear. If they know them, they would put you in that fear.
Emanual changed the entire arena into a swamp—something the Rubicon loved. I couldn’t see where he was. The water didn’t feel real as they leveled to my calves. But the rest, I would say I was inside a swamp.
Emanual was close by, I could feel him close, but I could never see him.
“Concentrate!” Micha said. “Show me the arena.”
I focused on the arena inside my head, as I kept mumbling the word that would change the fantasy back to reality. The walls of the arena seeped through the swamp. The pulse behind my eyes grew stronger as the Arena took the place of the swamp.
It immediately changed back to the arena without my doing.
“Emanual!”
“Her nose is bleeding, Micha. One day at a time. She is getting better at this.”
Ben’s warm hands cupped my cheek and the warmth mixed with the tingling sensation seeped through my nose and eased the pulse in my head.
“The Rubicon has healing too, right?”
Both of them laughed.
“Your beasty has everything, Elena.” Micha teased.
We finished around nine and I soaked for another hour in the bath with Epsom salt.
When was this going to stop hurting? On the other side, it didn’t take that long for your body to get used to exercise, but then again, this was like CrossFit on steroids.
I glanced down at my stomach. Ab-lines stared back at me. “Humph.” I definitely earned them. I lifted my arms and lean muscles and defined shoulders stared back at me.
I felt stronger and my balance was great. I just wished my head would climb on board, too. Or maybe my head was, and it was my heart that refused to let go.
I soaked for like twenty minutes and then took a shower afterward.
I crashed on the bed and fell asleep.
Tuesday, it was an early breakfast and then three hours of training with Micha.
A break would follow, and then three hours of classes. Then it was me and the Rubicon in the simulator and another hour of training with Micha.
Saturday was ticking closer, and I felt no more ready than I had when I first came to Paegeia.
“You need to go to bed early tonight, Elena,” Micha said, halfway through training.
“Believe me, I know. You tap energy like a free source.”
She laughed. “It’s not what I mean. Pack, you are going to spend the last three days at Dragonia.”
I gasped as needles and pins rushed down my body. “What?”
A wide smile appeared on her lips. “You can thank me later.”
I shrieked and grabbed her neck, hugging her. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome. It’s time you meet kids your own age. But you are not rid of me. I’m afraid training is still going to happen.”
“You can train as long as you want.” I jumped on one spot.
“Go, I’m giving you a break to pack. Go to bed early. Tomorrow we leave around 4am.”
I nodded.
I struggled to sleep that evening, but eventually sleep won. I woke up around three in the morning and breakfast was waiting.
Queen Maggie hugged me. “You are going to love Dragonia, Elena.”
“Thank you for changing his mind.”
“Oh, you need to thank Micha. She was the nail on the coffin.”
I laughed.
We had a quick breakfast and Dad entered the kitchen, still in his pajamas. He looked worried.
“Seriously, you’ve been putting me through hell and on Saturday I’m claiming a beasty that is as big as a house. Now is not the time to worry.”
“I know, Bear. I just never thought the time would actually come.” He kissed me on my temple. “You ready?”
“Just waiting for Micha.”
“Okay.” Dad grabbed a plate and stacked it with flapjacks, cream, and berries. Micha entered halfway through breakfast.
“We need to get going,” she said.
“You don’t want to eat something?” Queen Maggie asked.
“I’ll eat something at Dragonia. I missed Pete’s food.”
Queen Maggie giggled. “Helmut sorted out the trip. You’ll be there in no time.”
Mia’s eyes grew as she stared at the queen. “She is not ready for the elevators.”
“Not the elevators. He got a transporter attached to the carriage. You can thank me later.”
“Oh, wow. Guess the royals do have their privileges.”
“Yes, I wish he thought about that sooner, then Elena’s life would’ve been less traumatized with getting back here.”
“Pfft.” I waved it away. “It is ancient news.”
Queen Maggie laughed. “You are so ready. I can’t wait to see that cocky shit fall.”
It was hugs and well wishes at the carriage. Dad hugged me the longest. “Stay safe, okay?”
“Dad, Micha is there. Believe me, I doubt anything will happen. You worry too much. Take a break, go fishing or something.”
The king and queen stood arm around each other. They were still so in love. Lucian was lucky to have such a great and loving family.
I climbed into the carriage. Black leather couches and holders for champagne, which were empty, sat across from each other. Tinted windows with soft blue curtains tugged behind hooks lined both sides and the back of the carriage.
Micha pulled the safety belt around her, and I did the same.
I looked one last time at my father. It wouldn’t help to wave. He couldn’t see me.
The two red dragons pulling the carriage started to run. The carriage jolted with each step they took. Then they bolted up, and the turbulence made my stomach dipped. I clutched to the handles next to me and prayed that it would stable soon.
A force kicked in, and it pushed me hard against the seat. The force vibrated through my body.
“Just close your eyes, we’ll be there in now time.” Micha’s tone was gentle. She didn’t feel what I felt.
I did what Micha said, and eventually, we slowed down. My heart thumped inside my chest and a nauseous feeling lined my gut. But not that bad that made me want to puke.
I stared out the carriage window. We flew over buildings and city lights twinkling from below. One or two cars drove down the streets and neon lights against some buildings shone brightly. Peageia was really beautiful.
The carriage landed without even descending and I looked behind me out of the back window.
My gaze snapped back to Micha. “How?”
Her lips curved. “The academy is in the air, Elena.”
“How?”
Her laughter bubbled out of her lips. “I don’t know. When you ascend, ask your father. He was the one with this vision.”
I kept forgetting the beauty around Saturday’s dark cloud. My real dad, King Albert, would appear. I was going to spend time with him.
If I ascend.
The gates opened, and the carriage pulled into a beautiful courtyard.
The beasties stopped in front of a statue. I looked out the window. Cobblestone paths lead to various buildings that stood around us.
An extensive building with a patio stood on our right. A woman with silver hair, wearing a white robe and slippers, walked out. She was stunning.
Micha opened the door. She climbed out on her side, and I opened mine and exited the carriage.
The woman with the silver hair stared at me. In the lights on top of the carriage, her light gray eyes carried dark spots. They had some sort of calming effect on me.
I had to pull my gaze from her and look at the ground.
“Elena, this is Master Longwei,” Micha said, and I walked around the carriage.
A man around his fifties, with raven hair and long hooded shaped eyes, ending in sharp angles, smiled. He wore a red and golden robe with parts of his pants sticking at the bottom. A pair of comfortable slippers hugged his feet.
He left out his hand, and I shook it.
“Welcome to Dragonia, Princess.” He had a slight accent.
“Elena, please,” I begged, and he nodded.
“This is Constance. She is the doctor on the premises,” Micha said, and I turned around and faced the tall and skinny woman with her abnormal gray eyes. She was like Ben. A Swallow Annex.
The doctor touched my hand with her warm one. Her smile was friendly and her oval face looked nearly porcelain. I struggled to look away from her.
“Follow me,” Master Longwei said, and I picked up my bag and put the strap over my shoulder. “If you told me earlier she was coming, I would’ve made a different sleeping arrangement for her.”
“Oh, believe me, she isn’t your typical princess, Master Longwei. She doesn’t mind.”
“I got that. Helmut spoke to me, made it clear.”
Made what clear?
“Yeah, I think it’s stupid, but hey, what do I know.”
We walked on the cobblestone and came face to face with the hulking castle rising on the horizon. The dark gray stone walls looked weathered. A sixteen-century ambience hung around the castle. Three towers soared into the sky and connected the main building. A zillion arch windows stacked in rows around two of the towers. The third tower had ivy crawling up the walls.
The academy definitely looked elite, the kind that probably had board members. My eyes scanned everywhere, trying to take in the beauty, and they locked onto a giant gate that we entered. The metal vines curling around the beams moved. Metal flowers blossomed, and I narrowed my eyes. They were definitely metal. I still couldn’t believe that we were in the air, or how we stayed up in the air. My father did that?
We entered the academy and walked past a reception that had dimmed lights lighting up the place. It was vacant, as it was still early in the morning.
We hurried down a long passage. The narrowed hall held that old dusty smell often found in basements. A golden statue of a dragon with its head bowed stood sentry at the end of the passage.
We walked into a spacious lobby, with two sets of staircases leading to what I assumed were separate wings of the castle. Paintings of beasts and armored statues covered the wall.
We ran up the staircase to the left and came to a sudden stop in front of a wooden door. A woman embracing a dragon engraved on it. He pushed it open and another set of stairs waited on the other side of the door.
We walked up one set, and four doors stood around us. He opened a door that walked down a hallway. More room doors on both sides of the wall passed us. It reminded me of a hotel corridor, but had a castle feel to it.
He unlocked the one door, and it was so dark. A small lantern in his hand lit up the way. There were three students in beds and he took me to the open bed.
I put down my bags and followed Micha back out. We had training.
“She is not resting?”
“She can rest as much as she wants after Saturday,” Micha answered.
“Poor soul.”
I suppressed my laughter. She handed her bag to Master Longwei.
“You still remember where my office is. Just find me afterward. I’ll be waiting,” he said and bowed.
Micha bowed back. I felt like bowing too, but she grabbed my arm before I could and I flew behind her down the hallway again, back the way we came.
“This place is enormous,” I said as Micha pushed the one door open.
“You will get familiarized with it during the next three days. It’s why I told your dad that it’s crucial to let you come, Elena.”
“Thanks for that, he is paranoid.”
“I saw that too.” We skidded down the steps and finally ran down the stairs that led to the lobby. I scanned the statues and paintings again. I really like this place a lot.
She stopped at two wooden oak doors and pried the one opened. We slipped through.
Hallways and more staircases leading to an upper level appeared on the other side of the door.
Micha walked past the staircase and I followed her into the open grounds. We walked past plenty of tables outside on the left and on the right a dark hallway appeared with plenty of closed doors, which I assumed were class rooms.
Micha waved toward the tables. “The dining hall or cafeteria, as we used to call it back in the day. It was my home away from home.” She twirled with her hands in the air. I smiled as I watched her twirl care free to wherever she was leading me.
I looked at the closed doors.
“Breakfast is served at six to seven during orientation. It’s the only week that you need to make sure that you get your breakfast at that time. Dragonia is packed during orientation week.”
I nodded.
We were on another path that walked next to the building, which was the cafeteria, and to another door by a long sleek gray wall.
She opened the door and loads of stone steps ran down to open ground.
Shadow figures and woods stood in the distance.
A spotlight shone from a building in front of us, and the path led toward it.
Tall pillars sat next to the entrance.
“Dragonia’s training court. It’s called the Parthenon Dome, and down there,” she pointed to the far left, “is the colosseum.” I could only make out an enormous structure in the shadows. We reached the smaller, domed building with a glass roof.
The pillars weren’t pillars but two huge stone dragons that guarded the entrance. A low grumble came from the one, and I jumped slightly as I stared at it. Scales moved and its stone head bowed down to mine and it took a big sniff.
“Grimdoe, stop it,” Micha said, and laughed. She laid her hands on his body and spoke Latin, and the statue moved back into its original place. “Even the statues know when royalty is near.”
We walked into the building, and she put on the lights.
It was an enormous area that looked a lot like the training courts at the castle. Bleachers lined the one side, and mats covered the floor. Weapons lined the walls. Some of them were bigger than me. How did anyone in their right mind wield them?
We walked to the middle of the room and did our morning Tai Chi, followed by a few laps of running to warm my muscles. Then the fighting began.
Daylight seeped through the windows and glass roof. Micha looked at her watch and threw a bottle of water in my direction. I gulped half of the content down.
“Go eat. I’ll see you this afternoon, okay?”
I nodded. “Thanks again for making this possible.”
“You deserve it.”
I walked back and went to the cafeteria. Everyone stared at me. I hated looking like King Albert.
The tables inside the cafeteria had big fluffy pillows lined up on either side instead of chairs. Chinese balloon lanterns floated from the ceiling. The sun streamed through the windows, lighting up the cafeteria. The buffet line sat in the front and I walked past the tables, with students sitting on the fully pillows. Fresh fruit, milk, root beer, and other major soda brands, with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, cereals, granola, and yogurt, made my choice difficult.
“Oh, we have a new face. Welcome to Dragonia,” the man with a round stomach and a chef uniform standing behind the buffet line said.
“Thank you.”
I dished up a bowl of oats and blueberries. I grabbed a glass of OJ and sat on the nearest open seat.
I plopped into the pillow and dug into my breakfast.
A hyena laugh pierced through the dining hall. I looked up and my eyes landed on a crowded table. The laughter belonged to a girl with long auburn hair and hazel eyes. Everyone laughed at her jokes and hung on the words that escaped a full pair of lips I’d ever seen, meant positively. She was stunning, and she carried the same aura as the doctor. I struggled to look away from her.
I carried on eating my breakfast. The laughter and chatter coming from the tables made me slightly envious, because I was late. Everyone has already made friends. I was the odd one out.
After breakfast, I dropped my plate and empty glass at the drop off section and went to my room. I remembered the number and opened the door. Four gigantic poster beds, two on the right wall, faced another two positioned across the room. White lace hung from the top of the beds, cascading down wooden beams and pooled onto the floor.
The carpet had plain, dark brown lush shag that my training shoes almost disappeared. A fancy chandelier cast a majestic glow.
There was nobody inside except the three unmade beds and clothes strewn everywhere over the beds and floor.
Makeup scattered on the nightstands. My bed was the only one still neatly made, and a radio clock stood close to the bedside lamp. My schedule sat in an envelope on my bed. A welcoming letter was with my schedule. I didn’t have time to read it and opened my bag and grabbed clothes.
The shower felt great and there was a tinge of a scent mixed with the water, just like at the palace.
When I got out, the three girls were back and getting ready for the day.
“Oh, you must be the new girl. I’m Ashley.” The blonde with bangs covering her eyebrows came forward. Her hair reached just above her shoulders, and her frame was curvy. She shook my hand.
“Vivienne,” a girl with black hair and dark eyes with ivory skin laid on her bed, said.
“Sarah,” the girl with red hair and freckles that dusted her skin, spoke. They all were fairly average built. I doubt with the training we get, the pounds struggled to hold on.
“Dragon or Dragonian? Your eyes are exceptionally green. Are you a Green Vapor?” Ashley asked.
“No, I’m a Dragonian. Elena.”
“Oh, welcome.” She let go of my hand and went over to her bed. “What happened? I mean you are two days late.”
“Formalities I guess and a paranoid father.”
She giggled. I walked to my bed and dried my hair. My hair dryer irritated the living crap out of them, as they had to yell to each other. When I finished, they kept talking about a girl named Sammy. And how they have to get closer to her.
Blake had a sister named Sammy. He told me she was my age. Was it her? Around nine, the bell rang for class and we all headed out, ready to start the day.
