Chapter 7: _ The Sylven Who Knew Too Much

"Raice," Tobin pressed his lips together in pity. "I saw him whisper to you before he walked up to the dais."

"It was nothing," I said quickly. "He’s just an arrogant jerk who didn’t mention he was royalty."

Tobin’s eyes went wide with genuine concern. "Maybe, but Raice Ignis-Dominus has a reputation. He gets obsessed with whatever his ability has revealed to him. If he ever answers a question you throw at him, it’s because you have already been under his radar. Raice doesn’t talk to anyone... at least, not anyhow."

He shook his head. "He tracks people down, honey. He investigates them. He doesn’t let go."

Oh, great. I thought the mother was the only sociopath. Turns out it runs in the blood.

"He doesn’t even know my name," I muttered, trying to convince myself more than him.

"I hope not," Tobin sighed. "Two years ago, a commoner girl caught his interest. He kept showing up wherever she went, asking her questions about her bloodline, probing into her past, and then, something happened. Nobody knows what but what we knew was that she got so paranoid, so terrified of what he was looking for, that she jumped off the eastern aqueduct. At least... that’s what the upperclassmen say. You know how rumors grow."

Cold dread washed down my spine. He sees things. I was a girl standing in the middle of a dragon academy with a completely bare shoulder and no dragon mark. I was the very definition of an anomaly.

I was about to blurt out the first thing that came to my mind when a thought hit me: if Tobin was a first-year just like me, how did he know so much?

I studied him properly for the first time. He looked harmless.

Too harmless, perhaps.

He was a first-year. So was I. We’d both arrived today, yet he seemed to know an awful lot about Raice, the academy, and the people who moved through it.

I almost asked how.

But suspicion was a dangerous thing to wear openly in a place like this.

"Why would he care about me?" I asked instead.

Tobin’s gaze flicked downward for a second, landing squarely on my bare right shoulder where my mark should have been.

Something flashed in his eyes. Normally, when people discovered what I was, I’d either receive haughty glances or pity. For Tobin, it was none of those. He seemed contemplative, but it was gone so fast I thought I’d imagined it. Then his friendly smile returned.

"That’s exactly why. A dragonless girl at Last Bastion is a curiosity. And curious nobles are dangerous. Join us, Elira. When we gather on the neutral grounds between classes, we keep each other safe."

I hesitated. I didn’t know this boy. I didn’t know his group. But I had no gold, no family, no dragon, no allies, and apparently a target painted squarely on my spine by both a jealous noble girl and a psychotic Fae prince.

It wasn’t friendship. It was a basic survival strategy.

"Fine," I said. "I’m in."

"Glad to hear it," Tobin smiled, extending his hand.

I reached out and took it. His skin was warm, slightly rough from woodland training. But as our palms met, he froze.

His grip tightened around my fingers for half a beat. His hazel eyes widened as if he had just touched a hot iron.

"Tobin?" I asked, trying to pull my hand back.

He snapped out of it instantly. His fingers released mine as he wore a relaxed expression again. "Sorry," he murmured, rubbing his own palm against his tunic. "Just a static spark from the warding stones."

"Right," I said slowly, backing away toward the Dragon Academy line. "I have to go. They’re calling our section."

"See you on the neutral grounds, Elira," he called out, waving warmly.

I turned and jogged toward the iron gates of the Dragon Academy, missing the way Tobin stood perfectly still in the middle of the surging crowd. He lifted his right palm, staring down at his skin as an ink-black pulse of energy rippled just beneath his flesh.

His friendly smile disappeared.

"So," Tobin whispered to the empty air. "There really is something inside her."