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"Dragons."

"Wards?"

He looks down. "Untouched."

I grip the edge of the door. "So someone took him from inside Varethia." Rhyven doesn't answer. Which is an answer. I look down the empty corridor. "Do you think he's alive?"

A long silence. "I don't know."

For once I don't hate him for saying it. He should leave. I expect him to. Instead he remains. I look at him. "What?" I ask.

"Nothing."

"You're standing outside my room."

"I noticed."

"Why?"

He looks almost irritated by the question. "I said I'd tell you when we found something."

"You found nothing."

"Exactly."

I stare. That makes absolutely no sense and somehow perfect sense. "You should sleep."

"So should you."

"I wasn't flying across Varethia for six hours."

"Four."

"That's your correction?"

"Yes." I almost smile. Then his gaze moves past me. My bed. My room. My roommates asleep. Then back to me. Checking. I realize it suddenly. He's checking. That I'm here. Something tightens painfully inside my chest. "Rhyven." I say softly.

"What." His voice is restrained, brief.

"I'm fine." My voice is barely a whisper.

His jaw shifts. "I know."

But the bond says something else. Not words. Never words. Just a tension that doesn't belong to me. He knows logically. His body apparently hasn't received the message.

"Goodnight." I say softly.

He nods. "Goodnight." He turns. Walks away. The connection stretches behind him. I watch until he disappears around the corner. Then close the door.

At breakfast Monday morning Jonas's chair is empty. No one has moved his cup from Saturday. I don't know why that is the thing that gets me. Not the search parties. Not the dragons. Not the Council guards. The cup. Half a stain of coffee dried along the bottom. Waiting for someone who never came back. The dining hall is quiet. Caelen sits beside me. Nyra across from me. Cassian doesn't make a single joke. Then— The doors open. Professor Neris enters quickly. She crosses directly toward the Council table. Whispers something to the Headmaster. He stands. Rhyven does too. So does my father. Something inside me goes cold. The Headmaster looks toward the Chiefs. "Command room." Every one of them moves. I look at Rhyven. He looks at me. And suddenly— Fear. Sharp. Not mine. His. My breath catches. Because whatever Professor Neris just said Rhyven is afraid. Caelen goes too.

We find out seventeen minutes later. A bell rings. One strike. Then another. Then another. Professor Vayne enters the dining hall. His face is gray. "A resident of Bellmere was reported missing this morning." Silence. Bellmere. A village less than an hour from the Academy. Inside Varethia. Inside the wards.

Someone whispers, "Who?"

Professor Vayne swallows. "Elara Venn."

A baker. Forty-six years old. Mother of three. Last seen closing her shop last night. No blood. No struggle. No damaged wards. Nothing missing from her home. Except her. Jonas was a human. Twenty-two. Student. Elara is fae. Forty-six. Civilian. Different sex. Different age. Different species. Different location. No connection. No pattern.