“Those are brave words from the girl whose father is injail.”
Signey’s face darkened. “Name the time, and we’ll be there to turn your dignity to ashes.”
“Midnight. Tonight.”
“Done. You and your lackeys can go drown yourselves now.”
Marius gave Elara one last ferocious smile, and then he and his group filed out. Elara sank back into her chair, the adrenaline from the confrontation draining so quickly that she felt light-headed.
“What in Irie’s name is an incendio and why did you just sign me up for one?” she asked.
Signey returned to her own chair, setting the book down in front of her. “It’s a battle to settle disputes between Riders. Marius is a remorseless bully. If you give in to him, you’ll paint yourself as an easy target to everyone else.”
“I’m already an easy target to everyone else!” Elara dropped her forehead against the wooden table, wishing she could rub the last few minutes from her mind. “And now I have to fight someone in something I know nothing about? Great. Just what I needed. Thanks.”
“You’ll be fine, Elara.”
She opened her eyes to see Jesper and Torrey had arrived. Torrey had her blazer thrown over her right shoulder like a cape, revealing the line of dragonscale bracelets around her left wrist. Jesper placed a hand on the back of Elara’s chair, but, unlike Marius, it felt more comforting than threatening. Especially paired with the concerned scowl he was wearing on a face that didn’t seem built for anything but smiles.
“A newborn could take Marius in an incendio. He’s all talk,” Jesper continued. “And this will be a great experience for you.”
“Zephyra told us what he said about San Irie. And,” Torrey said, lowering her voice, “what he called you. None of that was okay. Youhaveto knock him on his ass for that.”
“I want to knock him around myself,” said Jesper. When he stepped away, his hands were fisted in clear frustration. “He was smart to catch you alone, because the things I’d do to him…”
Elara wondered if she was in the middle of an extended dream sequence, one that had perhaps begun the night she’d snuck out of her parents’ house. The way the den was staring at her, it was almost as if they supported her over their countryman. They had been nothing but nice to her all this time, but this was different. This was a line drawn in the sand. This was a deliberate choice. This was… this was unexpected.
“Is this a trick?” she had to ask. “Are you all pushing me into an ‘incendio’ so Marius Lynwood… I don’t know, sets me on fire, and then Signey can get a better co-Rider?”
Torrey laughed.“What?”
Elara raised her eyebrows. She saw Torrey and Jesper exchange glances as if they couldn’t decide who should answer her. Faintly, she remembered Signey revealing that they could all communicate with one another and their dragons. She hadn’t learned to do that yet, hadn’t particularly wanted to, and this was the first time it had ever frustrated her to be out of the loop.
“Look,” Jesper responded. His voice had lowered to a whisper, his eyes darting around the mostly empty library. “Not everyone in Langley was in favor of the war. The fact that it happened, the tactics we employed, the continued propaganda against San Irie…Someof us see that for how horrible it is. Obviously, there are plenty of people like Marius at this school, who buy into Langlishsuperiority and all that, but you don’t have to worry about that with us. It’s weird that you’re Iryan and a Rider, but we don’t look down on you or your country.”
Elara blinked slowly. Her gaze cut to Signey.“Are you sure you don’t want to tell him what we’re doing?”
“I will literally kill you.”Outside their bond, Signey shrugged. “I don’t hate you because you’re Iryan. I hate you because you’re incompetent.”
“Good to know,” Elara deadpanned in response to both.
Torrey grabbed a chair and flipped it around so she could sit on it backward. She folded her arms atop it, using them as a chin rest. “We’re here for you, all right? We’re den, no matter where we or our families come from. And we’ll be there at the incendio to support you, too.”
They were serious. She could see it. She couldfeelit.
And she was spying on them.
Elara was dangerously close to a hysterical laugh. She choked it back. “All right, I guess since you already volunteered me, then I’m doing it. Tell me exactly how this incendio works so I don’t embarrass you.”
And as her den began to talk over themselves to give her the history of the incendio, tell her about several they had witnessed, and recall in colorful detail ones they had participated in, Elara felt a rush of affection through the bond, wrapping around her like a mother’s hug. She sent a smile back to Zephyra, ever-watchful Zephyra, who she now knew had called her den to encourage her without Elara even having to ask.
If this was what a bond was supposed to be like, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
FARON
DESPITE HER DESPERATION,FARON WAS STILL A POOR STUDENT.A month of fruitless lessons passed, and, for once, it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. Gael Soto had wanted to start with commanding dragon souls, something she had already done, but it seemed that energy and fear had more to do with her success that night at the Summit than capability. She thought about dragons during meals, as she fell asleep, when she took morning walks along the beach, and she was no closer to summoning the soul of one than she was to crowning herself queen.
