“Yeah. Elena is getting really fast.”
“Your dad really pulled strings on this, didn’t he?”
“Shows you how badly we want this girl to claim you. We can’t lose you.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“It’s just one more week. I think she is ready.”
“Yeah, I doubt that,” I mumbled.
“She isn’t that damsel anymore. You are going to see your ass.” Lucian opened his bag and packed away his clothes.
“I better.”
“Your abilities won’t hurt her. She is the right royal.”
I nodded. But my dragon form could still devour her.
He told me everything about their weekend. She faced me every single day in the simulator, or my beast. He still had a feeling that she didn’t know I was the Rubicon.
“No, she had to. With all the training and everything. Micha would’ve definitely told her. She is just angry. It’s why I can’t wait for her to come tomorrow, so that I can start fixing my fuckups.”
Lucian nodded. “About that, she is not coming?”
“What?” I could feel the hope in my core breaking into tiny pieces and disappear.
“Herbert says it’s too close to the claiming. They only have Micha for another week. He thinks it’s best that she uses that time to become better.”
“You got to be fucking kidding me?” I lifted my pillow and muffled my screams into it. It felt as if I was going to burst. I needed her here.
“Calm down. I know.”
I pushed the pillow away and closed my eyes. They were fucking up what little we had left of the bond. They just didn’t know it.
“Everyone to the auditorium,” Master Longwei’s voice came through the system. The shift was going to happen tonight. Two extra floors with dorms were going to get added through magic. Elena would not be in one of them.
I walked with Lucian to the auditorium. Students streamed through the double doors that opened into tier seating and a gallery at the top.
I found George sitting in a row in the middle as Lucian rushed up the stairs to the upper gallery with Dean. I flopped down on the seat next to George and plopped into it.
My arms folded as I ground on my teeth. How long were they going to keep her away from me? What was Jako thinking? Fuck.
Master Longwei sat on a chair next to Eddie and Greg. My eyes skidded toward Irene. I shouldn’t have slept with her. If Elena was going to discover that, she would hate me even more.
The auditorium filled up as students murmured, grating more on my nerves.
Tabitha and her crew plopped down in the chairs next to me.
“Who pissed in your milk today?”
“Royals,” I mumbled.
She giggled, but kept her mouth shut.
Master Longwei got up and stood behind the lectern. “Silence!”
My toe tapped fast on the floor as my muscles jumped slightly.
