He tilted his head dramatically. “I should ask you the same thing.” The parcel peeking out from behind his back looked about the size and shape of a book.
“Come to the basement for some reading?” I asked, eyeing the package.
He tucked the package farther behind his back.
“Oh, I see. You want to keep it a secret that you can read.”
“Hey, shovel girl, you forget that I know your secret.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid.
He chuckled. “Fairfax’s niece. Nice try.”
My lips pressed together briefly. He knew I wasn’t Fairfax’s niece, fine. It was better than knowing the truth about Myth. But I needed to attempt to play my role here. “You started that rumor about me? You’re much more intelligent than they give you credit for.”
A quiet chuckle escaped his lips as he started backing away, the package carefully concealed behind him. “Go to bed, Miro. You look tired.”
That was odd.
He looked like he didn’t want to be followed, so, naturally, I went after him.
But by the time I reached the corner where he’d disappeared, he was nowhere in sight. There were no doors down here, but he couldn’t have crossed the entire hall that fast. He’d simply vanished. At the end of the corridor, a narrow stairwell led back to the upper floors. My footsteps clunked on the old wood as I ascended, mimicking the pounding of my heart. I had to know if Myth was okay. Wandering the school wasn’t helping. I could send a telegram to Fairfax; he’d reply quickly, I hoped.
Around the next corner, I nearly ran into Vanya.
“There you are! You weren’t in our room, so I got worried.”
“Sorry.” I couldn’t think of what else to say. “I wanted to send a telegram.” At this point, I’d have to sneak out in the morning and send it.
“You seemed upset about the wild dragon. We’re safe now, Ari. It’s gone.”
That soured my stomach even more. “Did…did they give any more details about him?”
“It wasn’t a he; it was a she.”
My face lit up. “Oh.” The word trembled on my lips. I wanted to sink right to the floor and weep for joy, but I forced my relief into what I hoped was a casual curiosity. “I saw Covington sneaking around back there. He all but admitted to creating the rumor about me.”
Vanya shook her head, and I turned back toward the common room with her. “Insecure people are the only ones who make up rumors about others,” she said. “If the son of a duke with the best chance of winning this year’s student race is insecure enough for that, then he’s even less worth your time than the rest of them.”
We wandered, arm in arm, back through the halls, and my mind, while relieved over Myth, snagged on the words about Covington having the best chance of winning this year’s race. If I was going to uphold my end of Fairfax’s bargain, I needed to find outhowhe was going to win.
The rest of the week,we learned what Bryce called the basics. We learned how to properly saddle a dragon—each of us taking turns with Bryce’s dragon or Professor Indigo’s. We learned how to meticulously clean a leather dragon saddle, and while I wasrubbing one down one afternoon, all I could think about was climbing up in a saddle for the first time.
“You said you’ve never ridden, right?”
My head snapped up from where I was oiling a saddle. It took me a moment to realize Clarence was talking to me. He was stationed beside me, rather haphazardly slopping oil onto the leather and wiping it away. We’d been assigned saddles that belonged to upperclassmen, and Bryce informed us that the owner of the saddle would be getting a report on who had cleaned theirs. I had been assigned to clean Shep’s, which was far better than cleaning Luther’s, but I still felt the pressure to do it right.
“I haven’t,” I admitted, turning back to my task.
“Well, my father would never let me ride either, until I bonded to Theo.”
I looked back over my shoulder. “That’s your dragon’s name?”
“Yeah. What about yours?”
“Myth,” I said, unable to contain my smile. Being asked what my dragon’s name was had a lovely ring to it.
“Oh, I like that.” He offered me a small smile. “Like they were once mythological creatures and all.”
