The room turns cold as the reminder of Ravensloe’s welcome speech rings awkwardly in the air. Who is the weakest Aviation recruit, I wonder? It’s certainly not Marquis – thank God. So is it Serena or Karim?
‘I don’t need to be someone else,’ Atlas says quietly. ‘And neither do any of you.’
I want to believe him, but Sophie’s right. There’s no future for Viv the criminal, the girl who betrayed her friend, the girl who broke the Peace Agreement. But for Viv who cracked the dragon code, ended the war and saved her family? There might still be some way forward for her.
‘I lied,’ Serena says suddenly, sinking down on to a pile of cushions on the floor. ‘I didn’t fail the Examination on purpose. I’m just stupid.’
‘You’re not stupid, Serena,’ Karim says.
‘I am. Because now, if I fail Aviation, I’ll be married to the Earl of Pembroke. A friend of my parents’, owner of the London offices used by the Promotion and Demotion Department.’ She grimaces in disgust. ‘He’s wanted me for years. And he made it clear that if I choose the Second Class over him, he’ll make sure I get demoted to Third.’
‘Oh, how the tables have turned,’ Sophie says curtly.
‘Shut up, Sophie,’ Marquis snaps.
Sophie gives him an injured look, then stands up abruptly and flounces off to bed. The rest of us sit in the common room, passing round the champagne and the cigarettes as we listen to the music echo eerily from the ballroom. Atlas broods by the fire and doesn’t speak again. He suddenly feels like a stranger. Karim falls asleep with his head in Marquis’s lap and slowly, once the bottle is empty, people wander off to the dormitories.
I curl up in an armchair with a shawl round me and kick off my shoes. My cheeks are hot and my head lolls heavily as I suppress a yawn.
‘Goodnight, then,’ Atlas mumbles. He’s speaking to everyone, but looking in my direction.
‘Goodnight,’ I say.
There’s no smile or gesture as he walks by, nothing to acknowledge that a few hours ago we almost kissed. Gideon suddenly comes to life, too, and staggers off in the direction of the boys’ dormitory. There’s only me, Marquis and a sleeping Karim left.
‘What’s his problem?’ Marquis says, nodding towards the spot where Atlas was.
I shrug. ‘Same problem as everyone else.’
‘But why’s he acting like it’s your fault?’
Is he?
‘I defended her earlier. Maybe that’s it.’
‘Wyvernmire?’
I nod. ‘I said she wanted the best for us, for Britannia, but now …’
I tell him about Canna and how Hollingsworth all but admitted to me that the government has taken control of the Academy.
Marquis grimaces. ‘It’s almost like Wyvernmire’s expecting Britannia’s dragons to turn on her, and wants to beat them at their own game.’
‘But why?’ I say. ‘She’s got Queen Ignacia, and therefore the majority of the dragons of Britannia, on her side.’
‘Do you think she’s just bluffing?’ Marquis says. ‘Trying to scare us so that we’ll work faster?’
I think of Wyvernmire as I’ve always seen her in the papers, the woman I believed to be firm but fair. Tonight shewas someone different. What if her shininess is just an act, like mine? What if she’s rotten on the inside, too?
‘I don’t—’
Karim stirs in his sleep and we both fall silent. Marquis strokes his short, shaved hair. In the light of the fire, I see his mouth tug into a smile.
‘You have real feelings for him,’ I say.
My cousin rolls his eyes. ‘I’ve known him for a month.’
‘You’ve never looked at any of them like that before.’
