by G. Bailey
“Thorne? Snap out of it, whatever this is,” I tell him. He just growls at me, making me jump and try to move away, but his grip on my hand makes that impossible.
“You can’t tell anyone about this, no one, Isola. I mean it,” he says suddenly as he drops my hand. He seems to talk to his dragon before they fade away.
“Mine,” my dragon whispers in my mind, in such a silent whisper that I almost miss what she says.
“You can’t have every damn hot guy here, get over it already,” I whisper back and glance up as Thorne’s eyes turn back to normal.
“My dragon thinks this puts you in more danger,” he explains, like it makes up for his behaviour. It’s all confusing, when he shouldn't care, let alone his dragon.
“Korbin knows about my spirit, but no one else,” I tell him, and he walks around me, looking at the pod hanging from the blue tree.
“I’ve never seen a light one. No one has, not in years,” he says as he opens the door a little and stares inside. I move closer, leaning over his shoulder to see Bee sleeping on the base of the pod. She has a green leaf blanket covering her, and she is snoring lightly. She is super cute.
“She sleeps a lot,” I shrug as Thorne shuts the door.
“My grandmother used to tell me she talked to the tree spirits, and she used to leave sugary sweets out for them. She said they need sugar, it makes them happy and more active. Maybe she wasn’t crazy like everyone thought?” Thorne says. I walk over to the pile of snacks, picking up a chocolate bar and opening it as I walk back. I break off two pieces and gently place them inside the pod, before shutting the door.
“Thanks,” I say, feeling a little awkward after how he flipped out, and now is acting like nothing happened.
“No problem,” he replies, rubbing the back of his head.
“Would you like to help me eat all this? And maybe hang out?” I ask. Thorne looks at the food and then back to me, clearly undecided.
“I guess I could eat,” he shrugs. I climb onto my bed, moving the tray in the middle, as Thorne sits on the other side, putting his feet up. I watch as he pulls out a phone, a charged phone.
“Where did you get a charger? I can’t find a plug anywhere except the library, and they only have kindle chargers,” I ask him.
“In here,” he says, leaning up and opening a compartment in the headboard with a button that is shaped like a rose. Inside are three chargers, a row of different wires, and a spare iPhone that looks fully charged.
“Holy shit, I think I love you,” I say, sliding off my bed and going to my suitcase. I pull my phone out, and jump back to the bed to charge it.
“I think that’s the first time a girl has said she loves me,” Thorne comments, picking up a sandwich off the tray and opening it.
“I didn’t mean–” I say, and he laughs.
“–I’m joking, Issy, chill,” he says, and I pick up some crisps, and begin eating them.
“Tell me something random about yourself,” I ask Thorne, who finishes his sandwich and leans back on my bed.
“Why?” he asks me.
“I feel like we have only talked about our problems, and not what normal teenagers talk about,” I comment. I know something happened with his parents, but we aren’t close enough for me to have any right to ask him about it. I can see the shadows, the brokenness in his eyes, though he tries to hide it. I have a feeling Thorne has a lot of secrets hidden behind his hazel eyes.
“What do normal teenagers talk about? I don’t think I’ve ever been one,” he says.
“Okay, for starters, how old are you?” I ask.
“Twenty, and you’re eighteen tomorrow,” he says.
“Don’t tell anyone that, I don’t want to celebrate it. I never have liked my birthdays, to be honest with you,” I say.
“You secret is safe with me, but you might get a gift anyways,” he grins.
“Don’t,” I throw a crisp at him, and he catches it, throwing it into his mouth while he grins.
“Favourite music?” I ask.
“The River Song, I loved to hear it as a child,” he says, referring to the slow song that is played at mating ceremonies.
“I loved it too, but I can just about remember it,” I say. Automatically, I think back to the last mating ceremony held in the castle, the one where my father married my step mother.
“It must have been hard, to watch your father remarry so quickly,” he suggests, assuming when I must have last heard the song.
“I didn’t understand back then, honestly. I was confused to see him with another woman, and I hated my father for it. I hated him more when I was taken to Earth, and left alone for weeks until Jace was brought there,” I say, and Thorne doesn’t reply as we hear my phone buzz on. I lean up, pulling it down, but keeping it on charge as I unlock it.
“Jace,” I whisper, seeing the photo of us laughing at some party on the screensaver. Jace didn’t like photos, but we both had been drinking, and he let me take this one. He looks so happy, charming, and everything I remember Jace being. I suck in a breath when Thorne leans over, wiping a finger across my cheek. I didn’t even know I was crying.
“I was there, do you remember speaking to me? You asked me to make sure he had a dragon’s burial?” he asks me.
“That was you?” I ask, remembering the young guard whose face I couldn’t see, but he had given me that little time with Jace that I needed.
“Yes.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Don’t thank me, Isola, just remember that you’re not alone,” he says, nudging my shoulder.
“Neither are you,” I say, looking back at the photo of Jace, rubbing my finger over it. Despite how much I miss him, this picture seems to make it a tiny bit easier. It makes him seem more real, and not just a memory.
Chapter 16
Isola
“Not even one smile?” Dagan asks after he and Korbin dragged me out my room at four am. I rub my tired eyes, feeling particularly murderous this morning. It's my eighteenth birthday, and I’m out of bed at four am. That is not fair, not even one little bit.
“Its four in the fucking morning, no I’m not smiling,” I state, crossing my arms and carry on walking in-between them.
“Not a morning person then?” Korbin asks me, and I just groan.
“Breakfast?” I ask. Food will make this morning liveable.
“Your dragon will hunt, there isn’t any point of you having breakfast,” Dagan says.
“My dragon doesn’t hunt, or she never has before, at least,” I tell him. He laughs, before he looks at my face and realises how serious I’m being.
“Shit, you’re serious?” he asks.
“It’s not like she is a vegetarian or something, but she is never interested in hunting. Jace used to hunt, and bring it back for her while she watched,” I say.
“Makes sense that your dragon is a little stuck–“ Dagan goes to say, but a long growl from my dragon slips out, and he quickly rethinks it.
“You meant my dragon is lovely,” I tell him. He smirks, not replying, just rolling that lip piercing between his lips instead.
“So, what are we doing in training?” I ask them.
“Flying, we will start off with flying and see if you can control your dragon,” Korbin says as we get to a building outside the castle, where they've evidently been leading me. It’s open topped, and looks like an ancient arena with stone walls and stone seats.
“I have a little confession before we try this,” I say when we get to the middle of the arena and stop.
“What?” Dagan asks me, and Korbin gives me a curious look.
“I haven’t let my dragon out in…well months,” I admit, watching as they both give me matching looks of horror.
“You have no control over your dragon because you never let the poor creature out!” Dagan shouts at me, and I cross my arms, glaring back.
“I know, okay! I lived in the human world, where for years all I worried about was who would win
I’m a celebrity, get me out of here and when I last checked Facebook,” I say, completely avoiding the real issue with anything I could think of saying. I don’t want to admit why I stopped letting my dragon out, that the loss of control scared the living daylights out of me the last time.
“What is I’m a celebrity?” Korbin asks, stroking his beard with his hand like he seems to always do when he is thinking.
“A show where they put famous humans in the jungle and film them. One wins, becoming queen or king of the jungle,” I tell him. He looks over at Dagan, and then back to me.
“Do the others die? As this sounds like it could be an interesting show,” Dagan comments, and Korbin nods his agreement.
“No, they don’t die. What is wrong with you two?” I protest.
“Shame, as that would have been funny to watch,” Korbin says, and they both look at my disgusted face before they burst into laughter.
“Lighten up, princess, we have training to do,” Dagan says, walking off, and still laughing. Jackass.
“I will shift first, and then Dagan, and then you,” Korbin says, before walking a good distance away from me. I watch as he spreads his arms wide, a black mist covering his whole body. It gets bigger and bigger until a large black dragon slams its claws into the ground. Korbin’s dragon has big green eyes, and a long neck with dark red stripes down it. It spreads its large wings out, where I can see the red lines that spread down them.
“Amazing, so much red,” I comment, and Korbin’s dragon huffs a puff of smoke at me.
“I changed my mind, you shift first, princess, so I can watch in case something goes wrong,” Dagan says as Korbin flaps his wings and flies up into the sky. I have to cover my eyes with my arm from the dust he blows at us.
“Fine,” I say, taking my coat off and throwing it on the ground. I spread my arms out, whispering to my dragon.
“Will you fly with me and not take over?” I ask her, feeling her press against my mind. She doesn't answer me, instead just pushing for the change. I scream as I fall to my knees, fighting her with everything I have.
“Answer me, or I will not let you,” I demand. She roars, it comes out my mouth with a slight strangled feeling.
“Isola! What is going on?” I hear Dagan say, and a pair of warm hands lift my face. I blink my eyes open, feeling tears run down my face as my body shakes, fighting my dragon. As I fight part of who I am, because I can’t let this happen.
“I can’t do this, I can’t let her control me,” I scream out, and she finally roars once more before backing down a little.
“What happened?” he asks me as the shaking calms down, and I feel my dragon sliding back under my control.
“I don’t want to talk about it–” I say breathlessly.
“–Isola, I need to know in order to help you,” he demands, pulling my face so I have to look at him. I focus on his dark hair; how perfect it is and the opposite of his brother’s out of control hair. Dagan’s serious look makes him even more addictive to stare at, but it’s just the distraction I need to escape my head.
“Isola, tell me,” he demands once more, and something makes me want to tell him. I never even told Jace, because I was so ashamed. I’m an ice dragon, it’s part of me, and yet I was powerless back then. And I’ve been scared ever since. What kind of princess is scared of herself?
“She killed a human, an old man in the forest because she started to hunt him. I couldn’t stop her, she wouldn’t let me have any control back, and wouldn’t listen to me. The human was covered in blood from a cut on his head, he had fallen or something, and once she got the scent…”
“She wouldn’t stop, would she?” he asks, not saying the words.
“She didn’t eat him, but the shock of seeing a dragon gave him a heart attack. She wouldn’t let me shift back. I couldn’t call an ambulance, or help in any way. I just had to watch him as he died,” I say, remembering how it was a student at school’s grandparent. I had to watch them cry, when I knew I could have helped. I could have saved his life if I had gotten help there.
“Have you talked to your dragon? Told her that’s why you don’t trust her anymore? That what she did was wrong,” Dagan says gently. He sits on the floor in front of me as he lets me go. I almost miss his touch when its gone, and I have to shake myself from that thought.
“How would I know if I tell her it was wrong that she’d believe me? How do I trust that she listens to me? What if I let her take over, and she never lets me back?” I ask all these questions quickly, and then look away from Dagan’s almost sympathetic face.
“I was training once when I was younger, and I read something in a study book on the relationship between us and our dragons,” he pauses, “want to hear?” he asks, and I nod.
“Some people believe their dragon is like a demon that possesses their body, that they are two separate beings that live inside one person, but we know that isn’t true,” he comments.
“How?” I ask.
“They are us, and we are them. Dragon or person, animal or human, it doesn’t matter. They are a part of us, and we have to protect them as much as they protect us, or we lose everything that makes us good,” he says.
“You’re quite wise, for like,” I pause, “Wait, how old are you?” I ask.
“Twenty-two, and you get wise in this world or you die stupid,” he grins, jumping up and offering me a hand. I slide my hand into his, letting him help me up.
“I remember you,” I say, feeling his hand tighten around mine, and he pulls me close to him, a light growl coming from his chest.
“I don’t owe you anything, don’t expect a thank you,” he warns me, already back to the asshole I’ve gotten used to.
“I don’t want a thank you,” I say, pulling away from him, but he doesn’t let me go. Instead, he places his hand on my hip, pulling me closer to him.
“Yes, you do. Why else would you bring it up?” he asks me, still in a growly voice, though it’s not as threatening.
“I said it because I wanted you to know, not because I expected anything from you, Dagan,” I say, breathing as heavily as he is, both of us just staring at each other. Anger flits through me, as much as I think its controlling him. Korbin’s loud roar shakes us apart with a jolt. Dagan lets me go and walks away, running his hands through his hair. He opens his arms wide suddenly, and black smoke fills the space where he was as he shifts into a massive dragon. He is much bigger than Korbin’s, with long red wings and black spikes on its back. It turns to look at me with its bright red eyes, before turning around and flying up in the air. I hold a hand over my eyes as I look up to see Korbin and Dagan circling around in the sky.
“Let me fly with them, I miss my wings and being free,” my dragon whispers into my head with such sadness that I almost feel sorry for her.
“What you did, with the human, was wrong. You cannot ban me, as much as I should have never banned you,” I admit. It was wrong not to sort this with her, not to let her inside my head. I know I should have done this much sooner.
“The human could have hurt you,” she whispers, but I hear the guilt.
“No, he couldn’t have, and you didn’t trust me to make that decision. Promise me that will never happen again, that we work together, or this is all pointless,” I ask her, feeling her sorrow in my mind, but she doesn’t reply to me.
“We need to be strong to get revenge, to stay alive, and I’m not strong without you,” I whisper.
“You are strong as you are me, but I promise to listen, to work with you. Now fly with mine,” she insists, almost begging.
“Not mine, but alright we can fly,” I reply.
“Mine,” she states forcefully this time, and I shake my head.
“You can’t collect hot guys like treasures, it doesn’t work like that,” I tell her.
“Why not?” she almost sounds like she is laughing in my head, and it makes me smile.
“Let’s just shift,” I say, needing to get her mind off the guys and o
nto something else. Her desire to have them, it’s overwhelming me. I stand up, widening my arms and letting her take over. White smoke appears in front of me, blocking me from seeing anything as I relax, my body feeling like it’s burning before she takes over. It’s surreal watching my dragon run forward, stretching her long light blue wings out, which are covered in ice, and taking off into the sky, as fast as a bullet.
“Free,” she says as she goes further up into the sky and into the direction she can smell Dagan and Korbin’s dragons. They are flying around each other, flames coming off their wings as they flap them in the air and they both turn towards me. My dragon lets out a long roar, icy breeze shooting out her mouth, but it’s not to harm them. They don’t feel like danger to me. Dagan’s dragon flies around me in a circle, before shooting off towards the mountains. I follow, feeling Korbin’s dragon at my side, the wind pushing against my wings.
“Together,” my dragon whispers, but I don’t know if she means me and her together, or her and the dragons she keeps claiming as hers.
Chapter 17
Isola
“You did well today, perfect even. Next week we will be training with swords, the week after flying, and so on,” Dagan tells me as I pull my coat on. I look up at the dark skies, see the clouds and know it’s going to rain soon. I raise my arms up and stretch, feeling all my muscles groaning.
“I forgot how tired shifting makes you,” I reply.
“I like it,” Korbin says, basically looking like he could go for a run or something. Weirdo.
“Want to have some fun and meet some of the students? It is your birthday, and you shouldn’t be stuck in your room alone,” Dagan asks me suddenly.
“How did you know?” I ask him, but Korbin answers.
“It’s our job to know everything about you, to keep you safe,” Korbin says, but he doesn’t look at me as he says it.
