At last my pounding heart started to slow, and I realized what I was doing—grabbing onto a complete stranger. Oh God and Goddess—what if it was one of the Professors? I would never live down the shame if I was clinging to Professor Leesbruck, the Flight Simulator instructor!
Pulling back, I looked into the face of my savior and saw Ryse Skoren staring back at me.
For a moment, I was frozen in place. For weeks I’d been keeping as much distance as possible between me and the enigmatic North Wing Leader. But now, here I was, with my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck, staring directly into his strange eyes.
And now I saw what was strange about them—they weren’t human.
They were pure, molten gold with a long vertical slit where the pupil ought to be.
“Dragon’s eyes,” I breathed, before I could stop myself.
And that wasn’t his only strange feature. The gold and purple jewels I’d seen from a distance, glittering around his temples and his high cheekbones weren’t jewels at all—they were tiny, fingernail-sized scales. They framed his inhuman eyes, glittering purple when he turned his head one way and gold when he turned it another.
The look on his face—which had been open and concerned—abruptly hardened and he put me down and pushed me away from him.
“Yes, I have drake eyes—they run in my bloodline. Are insults my reward for saving your ass again?” he demanded.
“I…I’m sorry,” I stammered, unsure how to undo the offense I had inadvertently given. I swiped at my eyes, which still stung with tears. “Forgive me—I have to go,” I said, just wanting to get away from him.
I turned to hurry away but Ryse Skoren wasn’t ready to let me leave.
“Not so fast, Lysandra,” he growled as one big hand settled on my shoulder and turned me back around.
“What is it? What do you want?” I demanded as he stared down at me.
“I want to get a good look at you. Here—lift your chin.”
One long finger hooked under my chin and tilted my face up, so I had no choice. He was at least six-foot-six, if not taller, so I had a long way to look to meet his strange, inhuman eyes. Still, I tried to hold his gaze without flinching.
“I’ve been wanting to get a good look at you. There’s something about you,” he said, frowning as he studied my face. “Something different from the other cadets.”
“I might say the same about you,” I snapped, my fear turning to defensiveness.
He frowned…then one corner of his mouth quirked up into a reluctant half-smile.
“True. Well then, do you want to tell me what you were doing on the Flight Simulator without any supervision? That’s dangerous when you’re so little.”
“I’m of age,” I said hotly. “And it’s because of my size that I was practicing. My feet won’t reach the stirrups on Woody’s saddle.”
His frown deepened.
“Can’t they adjust those?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” I shrugged and tried to sidle away again. “I really need to go…”
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me who you had controlling the simulator and who cut the net,” he said sternly.
I nibbled my lower lip in consternation. I didn’t want another reason for Chud Larson to hate me. Then again, he’d already tried to kill me, so I doubted reporting on him for the incident with the Flight Simulator would make things worse.
“I think it was Chud Larson,” I said at last, in a low voice.
“Chud?” Ryse raised an eyebrow at me. “Is this about the argument you two had when you kicked his chair during the Head Master’s first assembly?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not exactly…” I was reluctant to tell the whole truth. What if Ryse Skoren thought I was a coward too, just like Professor Griven had? I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want him to think that of me.
But the North Wing Leader wasn’t about to let me go until he knew the details of my feud with Larson.
“Tell me, Lysandra,” he said. “I want it all—come on, out with it.”
