Chapter 21: _ Her Unwilling Protectors

I stopped dead in my tracks while a smirk split my face.

Slowly, I turned back to face him, my eyes narrowing. "I want something else too."

Ivar let out a bitter, bloody laugh. "Get me a damn healer first! I can feel my organs shutting down!"

"Promise me," I demanded, stepping back into his space and staring down into his eyes. "Swear on your wolf’s core that you will honor the pact."

Ivar spat a mouthful of blood onto my boot, grimacing in agony. "I swear it! I swear on my bloody core, you insane, psychotic Dragon Prince! Now call a healer before my heart stops!"

Instead of signaling Vaelor, I reached into the inner lining of my coat. I pulled out a small, metallic vial filled with a deep-crimson liquid.

"We don’t need a healer," I said quietly.

I crouched beside him, uncorked the vial, and shoved the lip past his bloody teeth, forcing the entire contents down his throat.

Ivar gagged, coughing violently as the liquid hit his system. For two seconds, nothing happened. Then, his eyes snapped wide open.

An audible crack echoed through the field as his snapped arm bone forcibly jerked back into alignment. Ivar let out a strangled roar of shock as his skin began to smoke. The deep gashes across his chest knitted together at a terrifying speed, the torn muscle and flesh fusing back as if time itself were being reversed.

His bloodless face flushed with a surging heat as his dormant wolf core roared to life, supercharged by the serum.

Within sixty seconds, the bleeding had stopped completely.

Ivar sat up abruptly, gasping for air, clutching his chest in absolute disbelief. He looked down at his unblemished hands, then up at me, his jaw slackened.

"What... what the hell was that?"

He stared at the empty vial in my hand and realization slowly dawned across his face. "That wasn’t magic. That was... raw stimulant. A core accelerator."

He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

"So this is how you’ve been doing it?" Ivar breathed, a stunned laugh escaping his lips. "This is how the refined Dragon Prince stays ahead of everyone else? You’re using banned alchemical stimulants? You’re on drugs?"

"My personal habits are none of your concern," I said coldly, crushing the glass vial in my gloved hand until it turned to dust, letting the powdered glass drift away in the wind. "Now. Are you ready to hear my proposition, or do I need to break your arm again?"

Ivar wiped the dried blood from his jaw. He stood up slowly, testing his newly healed limbs, though his eyes never left my face.

"I’m a man of my word, so speak. What does the dragon want?"

"While I’m tempted to ask what you were doing trailing the girl like a lowly stalker," I said, folding my arms over my chest, "I won’t bother. Whatever brainless mischief you and Zev are cooking up, it’s only a matter of time before it blows up in your faces and the whole Academy finds out anyway."

"Careful, Dragon Prince," Ivar purred, taking a step toward me. He tilted his head. "I might owe you a favor for saving my life, but don’t forget—I can still snap your dragon-riding bones if you push me. And more importantly?"

He gestured toward the crushed dust of the glass vial near my boots. "I hold a choice secret of yours now. Remus Dravaryn, the pristine golden heir... is a filthy drug addict."

"Think whatever you want, Wulfram. Everyone in this Bastion already knows you’re an untrustworthy, power-stealing liar. Go tell the High Council if you want. No one will believe a single word that comes out of your mouth."

"Is that so?" Ivar’s smile widened. "Are you entirely sure everyone hates me? Because your darling stepsister Veyra would definitely disagree with that statement. In fact, she loved every second of—"

Before he could finish the sentence, my hand shot out, claws elongating into razor-sharp red talons aimed directly at his throat.

Ivar ducked backward with a ringing laugh, holding his hands up in mock surrender even as his eyes gleamed with malicious satisfaction.

"Relax, Prince! Don’t lose your composure over a little fun," he taunted, dusting off his torn red coat. "Just tell me what the hell you want so I can fulfill this damn pact. I’d rather be anywhere in this realm than standing here breathing the same air as you."

I pulled my hand back, forcing my claws to retract into my gloves.

Suddenly, I felt entirely out of my depth. I shifted my weight, my gaze momentarily flicking away from his face toward the dark mouth of the Sunken Arch.

"The... um... Elira..." I started, clearing my throat before my voice could betray the sudden tension in my chest. "She walked down into the lower drainage sectors. It’s an unmonitored zone. She’s likely walking directly into a trap that will get her killed."

I looked back at him, forcing my tone into a flat command. "You’re going to go down there. And you’re going to save her."

Ivar stopped and blinked at me once. Twice.

"Wait..." his jaw slackened as he processed what I had just said. "That’s your wish? That’s what you want from me?"

"You swore an oath," I said coldly, crossing my arms to hide the slight tension in my hands. "Do not waste time."

He pointed a sharp finger at my face, a disbelieving laugh beginning to bubble up from his chest. "Hold on a damn minute. How the hell do you know she’s in danger down there? How do you even know she went into the drainage tunnels?"

I remained silent.

Ivar’s eyes widened with realization, and he let out a loud, booming bark of laughter. "No way. You were trailing her too! You were hovering up in the cloud cover stalking a first-year commoner! So much for calling me a lowly stalker, you absolute hypocrite!"

"Do not compare me to you, Wulfram," I snapped. "I was conducting an official investigation. You were creeping behind her like a parasite."

"Oh, spare me the royal propaganda!" Ivar scoffed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "You’re stalking the dragonless girl! The pristine Dragon Prince has a little crush on a trench rat!"

"Watch your mouth," I warned, my red slits thinning.

"And why on earth should I go save her anyway?" Ivar continued, brushing a streak of dried blood off his collar. "I have far better things to do with my afternoon than babysitting first-years. If a dragonless commoner proves dumb enough to wander into an unmonitored kill-zone, then let her meet her fate. It’s none of my damn business."

"It was your business enough that you stalked her all the way to the Sunken Arch!" I shot back.

"That was different! I had my reasons!" Ivar argued, narrowing his eyes at me.

He stepped closer, inspecting my expression with a probing gaze. "Why do you care so much about her survival anyway, Dravaryn? What is this girl to you?"

"My motivations are none of your concern," I gritted out through clenched teeth. "My business is my business."

"Well, as far as I’m concerned, that girl is a walking jinx," Ivar declared, throwing his arms up in the air. "I almost broke every bone in my body and bled to death in the dirt because I got distracted tracking her! She’s cursed! If someone down in those sewers slit her throat right now, they’d be doing the entire Academy a great public service! A powerless girl capable of putting a great, majestic Prince like me in such a state is a demonic plague–"

"Shut your mouth, Ivar!" I growled, stepping into his space until our chests nearly collided.

My pupils contracted into burning crimson slits, radiating dragon heat into the cold afternoon air. "I don’t give a damn about your self-absorbed gloating. You swore a blood oath on your wolf’s core. Honor the pact, or I will personally drag you back down into the dirt and watch your core implode."

Ivar glared at me, the air between us crackling as both our auras rose. He ground his teeth together so hard I could hear the enamel strain, realizing he had no way out.

"Fine!" Ivar snarled, shoving past my shoulder toward the heavy iron gate of the Sunken Arch. "I’ll go drag your little pet out of the sewers! But make no mistake, Dravaryn! I’ll find out whatever it is you’re hiding, and as for today... well, let’s say I won’t forget your audacity and disrespect."

He paused, turning his head back at me. "I’ll pay back every tiny bit... that’s another oath for you to mull over, fucking prick."

I watched his dark red coat vanish into the shadows of the underground corridor.

I let out a slow breath, turning toward Vaelor, who was waiting patiently at the edge of the field. I swung myself back into the saddle and gathered the leather reins.

Now she has protection, I thought, trying to calm the nervous pulse pounding against my ribs. Ivar is a bastard, but he’s a lethal one.

"Vaelor, take us back above the cloud cover," I commanded quietly through our mental bond. "We monitor from above!"

’You trust the wolf to protect her?’ Vaelor asked.

"No."

’Then why send him?’

I looked toward the Sunken Arch.

Because despite everything I knew about Ivar Wulfram...

I knew one thing.

He was far more likely to save her than I was.