He shook his head. “No, I won’t. I haven’t done what I wanted yet.” He ushered me back toward the roof where our classmates slept. From behind me, he said, “I want to try something different.”
Too unsteady to turn around as we edged along the roofline, I hissed over my shoulder, “Try what?”
“I don’t have to answer your questions.”
I stepped back onto the flat part of the roof where our classmates slept and spun to face him, jabbing my finger at him. “You can’t keep pretending like whatever you’re doing with my dragon is none of my business. If you don’t tell me what you’re up to, I’ll tell Myth to never flame for you again.”
He coughed a little and glanced down, amused, at my finger, as if daring me to be bold enough to actually touch him. “Fine. But if you were smart, you’d trust me when I say getting involved in this is not wise.”
I jammed my finger against him. “I don’t trust you. Not one bit. And you decided I was getting involved the moment you decided to pester my dragon.”
To my surprise, he pressed his eyes shut. “You’re getting too loud, Arivelle.”
I’d never heard him use my first name. It rattled me. My hand fell to my side. In a furious whisper, I said, “Is this better?”
He opened his eyes again. “I have an idea of how to better test Myth’s flame. But we can’t do it here.”
“Oh, really? Where exactly can we go to get my dragon to flame without getting caught?”
“My family’s townhouse.”
“Excellent idea. Let’s take him to the man who’s been hunting him for months.”
Covington sighed. “The townhouse is empty this time of year. No one will see us.”
“Oh.” I shivered in the cold breeze.
“The next night race is in a month. We can go then.”
I nodded, ready to be back under my blanket. “So, you mean you won’t force me to stay awake for a whole month? How generous.”
He cocked a sly grin at me. “Don’t get too excited, Miro. I still want to practice getting him to flame.”
“You willnotwake me up again. For at least a week.”
Covington’s brows rose. “Is that so?”
I crossed my arms. Another shiver rattled my bones.
“Fine. We’ll take a break. I need to do some more research anyway. But in a month, we’ll need to know he can do it when we ask him to.”
“We? I’m not your partner here.”
He leaned forward, the wind dusting his hair across his forehead. “You were the one just begging for answers. Seems like maybe you need to figure out what you want.”
My scoff was lost on the breeze as Covington moved me aside with both hands and marched back to his pallet on the roof.
Falling asleep again took entirely too long as I lay awake screaming in my head for Myth to stop using his flame, certain he couldn’t hear me and afraid someone besides Covington had seen him. I might have made a terrible mistake bringing Myth here.
CHAPTER 18
“We have reason to believe another wild dragon was spotted over the grounds last night,” announced Headmaster Vaughan at an all-school assembly called in the Great Hall the following morning.
My heart pinched, and I found Covington in the crowd. He was staring straight ahead.
“The Hunt arrived an hour ago, and already the grounds have been cleared. No sign remains of the creature. But, as a precaution, all flying lessons have been cancelled for the day.” Moans from the student body rose toward the high ceiling. “We believe the dragon has already moved on, deeper into the mountains, but the Hunt will maintain a presence here until we are comfortable that this wild dragon is no longer a threat.”
This time, Covington’s eyes cut to mine, briefly, the slightest shake of his head explanation enough. Our next trip to the lair to test Myth would have to wait until the Hunt was gone.
