Ryse stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked down at me for a long moment. Then a look of determination came over his face.
“That’s not going to happen. Come on.”
He turned and headed in the other direction while I trotted to keep up with him.
“Where…where are we going?” I panted.
But Ryse didn’t answer. His dragon eyes were narrowed, his jaw was clenched, and he just kept walking.
All I could do was try to keep up, though I had no idea where we were going.
23
AURORA
As I followed Ryse Skoren down the stairs, the Great Bell began tolling for breakfast. The sound sent a shock through my body. How had so much happened in such a short amount of time?
I had no answers but as the familiar scents of breakfast drifted to my nose, I began to have a bad feeling about where we were headed.
“Wait, where are we going? What are you going to do?” I asked, still running to keep up.
Ryse still didn’t answer. He headed right into the Mess Hall and bypassed the line to go straight to his usual table.
I saw with deep unease that Chud Larson was already seated with a tray in front of him. He must have come directly from the Flight Simulator to the Mess Hall to avoid any suspicion.
He saw Ryse coming and frowned when he saw me right behind him.
“Hey, Skoren, what—” he began
Before he could finish, Ryse grabbed him by the front of his uniform and yanked him to his feet.
“Listen to me,” he ground out, glaring Larson in the face. “I know what you did. If you don’t want to be kicked off my Wing, you’ll put a leash on your temper and leave this little First-year alone.”
I could feel myself shrinking in embarrassment as my face flooded with heat. Little First-year? Is that how he saw me? Also, it felt like everyone in the whole Mess Hall was staring at us.
Chud’s face went red…then purple.
“You can’t do that!” he snarled. “You can’t kick me off the North Wing!”
“Watch me,” Ryse said stonily. “I’m the Wing Leader—it’s my choice if I don’t want a cheating, murderous asshole flying with me.”
Chud’s face got even darker.
“What…you…you can’t…” he sputtered, clearly so angry he could barely talk.
“Keep it in mind,” Ryse said and shoved him back down in his chair. “I’ll be watching you,” he added. “If you want to stay in my Wing, you’ll fucking behave!”
The whole Mess Hall really was watching us now. The usual noisy chatter had stopped so Ryse Skoren’s last words were heard by everyone there. As he stalked away to get in the breakfast line, most of the eyes followed him…but a fair number landed on me.
All around me, I could hear the cadets starting to murmur. They were wondering what the fight was about and why Ryse Skoren, who was practically royalty at the Academy, was causing a scene over a skinny little First-year like me.
I have to admit, I wondered the same thing myself. Why did Ryse feel like he had to protect me? Also, I couldn’t help wondering if the threat he’d made to Chud Larson would have any effect. If the angry upperclassman was determined to hurt me, would he care enough about staying in the North Wing to stop?
I didn’t know and, for better or worse, the scene was over, and the damage was done.
Slowly, I went to get a tray of my own, though my appetite was completely gone. When I settled at my usual table, Jorn-o, Leaper, Toady, and Bugs all stared at me.
“All right, what was that about?” Jorn-o asked, breaking the silence.
