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"Wrong!" Kaelis answers. The dragon's wings are high. Tail stiff. Head angled.

I know this one. "Warning!" I shout.

"Why?"

"Weight is back. He's creating distance."

"Response?"

"Don't advance."

"Good." The student beside me takes one step forward anyway. The dragon snaps his jaws. The student nearly falls backward.

Kaelis sighs. "And that is why Vaelith is alive." I grin.

Rhyven, standing near the perimeter, says: "Temporarily."

I turn. "Your faith in me is touching."

"Move." Charming.

Theryn's absence sits beneath every dragon lesson now. Nobody says it. We don't need to. Every Rider stays closer to their dragon. Every student watches the tree line. Every time a dragon suddenly lifts its head everyone freezes. Nothing happens. Again. Again. Nothing.

Vyrael hasn't left Eddy for long. That might be the strangest part. Rhyven still trains with him. Still flies patrol. But when he doesn't need Vyrael, the ancient dragon returns to the protected grounds. To Eddy.

Sometimes I see Eddy sitting beneath one of his wings. Waiting. Always waiting. Theryn's bond hasn't returned. But it hasn't broken either. Hope has become cruel.

After dragon-pressure training, I check the afternoon roster. My name isn't where it should be. I scan again.

South Three — Vaelith / Ren / Toren No. I was assigned Western Five. I know I was.

I find Rhyven near the equipment table. "Corvell."

He doesn't look up. "Vaelith."

"Why am I on South Three?"

"Because that's your assignment."

"It wasn't yesterday."

"No."

"Who changed it?"

"I did." Of course.

"Why."

"Better visibility."

I fold my arms. "Western Five is perfectly visible."

"It has two blind corners."

"It had two blind corners last week."

Rhyven finally looks at me. "Last week they hadn't taken a dragon." There it is. I stare. He stares back. Entirely reasonable. Entirely infuriating.