Page 24 of Heartflame

For a moment, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. My mind was still caught in that moment of terror in the forest, still hearing the sound of the wards cracking, still feeling that awful sensation of being seen by something I couldn’t quite comprehend.

Aeron’s chest heaved beneath me, his breathing gradually slowing from ragged gasps to something more controlled. His arms remained locked around me, one still supporting my thighs, the other wrapped securely around my waist. I could feel the rapid thud of his heartbeat against my ribs, and it matched the frantic pace of my own.

“You’re okay,” he murmured into my hair, and I realized he wasn’t saying it to me so much as he was saying it to himself. “You’re safe. You’re safe now.”

I should have pulled away. Every rational part of my brain that wasn’t still running on pure adrenaline was screaming at me to untangle myself from him, to demand to know what the hell those things were, to process what had just happened. But I couldn’t seem to make my body cooperate. Instead, I just lay there against him, my hands still gripping his shoulders like he might disappear if I let go.

“What were those things?” I finally managed to ask, my voice coming out hoarse and shaky.

“I don’t know,” Aeron said, and there was nothing in his tone that suggested he was lying. His jaw tightened against the top of my head. “But whatever they are, they’re not getting anywhere near you again.”

The possessiveness in that statement should have irritated me. Under normal circumstances, it probably would have. But right now, with my heart still hammering and my hands still trembling, I found I didn’t have the energy to argue about it.

“I need to...” I started, then trailed off. What did I need to do? Report to someone? Find out if other students were safe? Tell Dean Thornfield what I’d seen?

“You need to stay here,” Aeron finished for me, and this time I did try to shift away. His arms tightened around me immediately, keeping me pinned against him. “No. I mean it, Red. You’re not going anywhere until we know what’s happening out there.”

“You can’t just keep me⁠—”

“A ward breach means we stay in our rooms,” he said, cutting me off. “Sorry this isn’t ideal for you, but that’s too damn bad. You’re staying here.”

I swallowed hard, trying to focus on something other than all that muscle flexing beneath me. “People need to know I’m safe. My roommate will be worried.”

“Lysander already knows,” Aeron said, and now there was definitely something possessive in his tone. “He saw me take off after you. He’ll figure it out.”

Great. Knowing Lysander, he was probably already spreading the word that I’d been “rescued” by the hot dragon guy. Perfect. Just what I needed.

I felt my irritation spike, which was almost a relief. Anger was better than the bone-deep terror that had gripped me in the forest. “So what, we’re just supposed to sit here and wait? We saw something out there, Aeron. We saw those people trying to breach the wards. That’s important information.”

“I know,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. “And we’ll report it. But not right now.”

“Why not?” I demanded, finally managing to push myself up enough to look at him. His golden eyes were still wild, still intense, but there was something else there too, a kind of grim determination that made him look older somehow. More dangerous.

“Because,” he said slowly, as if choosing his words very carefully, “we can’t just go getting everyone even more riled up. The security team will deal with it for now, then we can give our account later. There is literally nothing we could tell them that they aren’t seeing with their own eyes right now. So there’s no reason to get hysterical about it.”

I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m not being hysterical.”

“Sure,” he said, pushing himself up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to contact my grandfather.”

“The Elder?”

“Yes,” he nodded, walking over to his desk. He flipped open a box that contained a rather cheesy looking crystal ball. “He told me to check in with him if something goes wrong. He wants to make sure I’m safe.”

I watched as Aeron settled into the chair at his desk, cradling that ridiculous crystal ball like it was actually going to work. No communication device could pierce the wards anymore, not after the attacks over the past few years. There was so much security now that you could barely get a letter out through the teleportation circle. But he closed his eyes anyway, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then the ball began to glow with a soft, ethereal light.

“Grandfather,” Aeron said quietly, his voice taking on a formal tone I’d never heard from him before. It was strange, hearing him sound almost... respectful.

The light in the crystal ball intensified, and I could make out a shape forming inside it. To my great surprise, an older man’s face materialized, stern and angular, with the same golden eyes as Aeron but colder somehow. This had to be Elder Thaddeus Pyre.

I felt my stomach twist. Professor Blackwood had asked me to keep an eye on Aeron, and here he was, literally contacting the head of the Elder Council. This was exactly the kind of thing she’d wanted me to notice. But watching him do it made me feel like a spy, like I was betraying him somehow even though I didn’t owe him a goddamn thing.

“There’s been another ward breach,” Aeron said, keeping his voice level. “On the northern perimeter. I saw the figures attacking the ward, but not who they were. Campus security is handling it now.”

The Elder’s face was unreadable. “And you? Are you safe?”

“I’m fine,” Aeron replied. “I got to… I got to safety before anything could happen.”

I noticed he’d almost said something else. I got to Quill. He’d stopped himself just in time.