Page 182 of The Fifth Heir

Everyone moved at once.

Sebastian reached for the rune lamp. Leander gathered the evidence from the table, while Rafe opened the outer door and called for the academy guard.

“Not the infirmary,” I said.

Torren looked at me. “The healer said to report heat or pressure.”

“She also said to move me to the terrace if I begin shifting.”

The pain reached my elbow.

My hand curled around Torren’s.

“Terrace,” he ordered.

He lifted me before I could object.

I gripped his shoulder with my uninjured arm. “I can walk.”

“You aren’t.”

“Torren.”

“Save your strength.”

The others cleared the path.

He carried me through the study and onto the training terrace. Cold night air struck my face. The open stone platform gave me room to shift if the transparent scale truly signaled a dragon ready to emerge.

Torren set me on my feet near the center.

“Everyone back,” he said.

Rafe remained beside the door. “We’re not leaving.”

“I said back, not gone.”

Leander moved several yards away. Sebastian joined him but kept the rune lamp aimed toward my wrist.

The concentrated beam caught the scale.

Color spread across my arm.

The pain followed it.

I gasped and folded forward.

Torren caught my waist. “Where?”

“Arm. Shoulder.”

“The injured one?”

“Both.”

Pressure formed beneath my shoulder blades.

Fear replaced everything else.