The Dragon Queen's Heir [book one]

12

SHEETS, TOSSED ABOUT EVERYWHERE. Drawers, open for all to see. Clothes, tossed out of the closet and strewn all over the floors. My eyes widen as I take a cautious step froward, closing my door behind me. Who in Nightshorne did this? I walk forward until I'm in the center of the mess, my gaze sweeping the room to see if anything of worth was stolen.

Blowing out a long breath through my mouth, I decide this mess can wait until morning and collapse on my bed. Unfortunately, despite my earlier exhaustion, the day's events make it impossible for me to clear my mind and fall asleep, so I cycle through memories of home—good memories—until my thoughts slow down and my consciousness descends into darkness.

~

My eyes drift open, the warmth of a fireplace enveloping my body like a blanket. After the day I've had, it soothe my nerves and helps me relax, the smell of fresh-baked bread reaching my nose from somewhere far away. "Mm," I say, rolling over onto my other side. "Mikki, when did you get here?"

"You drool when you sleep."

The cold voice snaps me awake, and I sit up so fast my vision swims for a few seconds before clearing and focusing in on a young woman. She lounges in a chair that could have come straight from my palace, running a lock of pitch-black hair between two fingers as her gaze runs me up and down. "Not bad," she muses, her black-painted lips coming up into a smirk.

This isn't my room. Beside me, a fireplace roars, and I find I'm laying on an expensive couch that's almost more comfortable than my own bed. "Who are you?" I ask, clenching my fist so hard half-moons are probably appearing on my palms. "Where am I?"

The woman chuckles. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you're worried about." She pauses for a moment. My heart hammers in my ears, my palms sweating as my brain struggles to comprehend what in Nightshorne is happening. Last I knew, I was lying safely in my bed, but here, now, this isn't safe. I feel it in my gut, the wrongness around me that grates my nerves and makes me want to run as far away as possible.

"Don't worry," the woman says, as if she can read my thoughts. I don't doubt it. "You're still at the cursed Academy, lying safely in your sheets. I've just directed your dreams toward me so we can have a little chat. Tell me, Ciana, how is your relationship with the headmaster?"

The way my false name rolls off her tongue makes me shiver. She has to know who I really am. But if she does, why not call me by my real name? "It's fine," I finally say, narrowing my eyes. "Why do you ask? Are you some kind of spy?"

The woman pouts. "Honestly, I'm hurt you don't recognize me. Have they really avoided me so much you don't even know when you're in the presence of the woman bonded to the dragon king? The one that got the impossible white at her Selecting?" Something tickles at the back of my mind at her words, and I gasp, pieces of a metaphorical puzzle clicking into place.

"You're her. The last female dragon rider," I breathe, watching as the woman's eyes light up. "The headmaster mentioned you."

This time the woman's laugh is full-out, a smug sound that fills the whole room and makes me squirm in my seat. "Oh, I'm sure he did. I left quite a number on that school." She takes a deep breath, letting it out as a chuckle before continuing. "What has he told you? That I'm the ferocious Milay, the heartless monster that was so selfish she decided to take out her anger on Nightshorne Dragon Academy?"

"No," I say, wiping my hands on my leggings. "He hasn't said much about you, actually, and when he has, it was mostly about before you, well—"

Milay raises her eyebrows. "Destroyed the school? I'm actually not surprised. He's too infuriatingly decent to focus on my wrongs. He's probably still trying to think of ways to get me running back to the Academy begging for his forgiveness without compromising his precious reputation." She scoffs. "Pathetic."

A flicker of anger sparks in my chest. "And why are you so quick to judge him? It's not like you're a perfect angel, Milay."

"Oh, someone's getting sassy." Milay stands and crosses the room to sit next to me on the couch. Without warning, she presses two fingers to my temple, murmuring something under her breath. Her eyes flash, and for a second, they're gray, but the moment passes quickly, her eyes returning to their normal deep brown. "Clever disguise," she finally says after running her finger along my jawline. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to take off that bracelet, would you?"

I glance down at my wrist, having completely forgotten about my stone. She knows. "No. I won't," I say, standing and forcing Milay to drop her hands onto her lap. "You don't know who I am, do you? And that's the only thing protecting me right now."

Milay narrows her eyes. "I have an idea." Then she's standing next to me, her mouth by my ear. "You'd better be careful, Ciana Ashdon. Watch your back. Not everyone is as they seem."

Something about her has me opening my mouth to let another retort come loose, but Milay quickly stops me, placing a finger on my lip. "And don't call me Milay. The name's April." She steps back, her eyes boring into mine as if expecting something. After a moment, she sighs, waving a hand in front of her face and saying something under her breath, and soon, I'm staring at the ceiling of my dorm.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake," a breathless Mikki says, running up to my bed and entering my field of view. I groan and sit up, only remembering the previous night after seeing Mikki grasping a white trash bag in her fist. "Sorry I wasn't here last night," she says. "I had something I had to do."

Not everyone is as they seem. Could Mikki have been the one that turned my room into a disaster? Yesterday, I would have dismissed the idea, but now I can't help but wonder, especially after my dream or whatever the heck that was.

"Ashlyn, are you okay?" Mikki asks, reaching out to press the back of her hand to my forehead. "You look horrible."

That's it. I can deal with nightmares. I can deal with strange visions leading me to bond with a dragon. But I can't deal with the possibility of being toyed with, especially after everything I'd been through to escape my mother. "I'm fine," I say finally, meeting Mikki in the eyes. "At least for now. But I need to see the headmaster." 

For some reason, this chapter was a thousand times easier to write than the last chapter :/ But that could be because Milay/April is such a fun character to write! Let me know what you think of her in the comments (:

~ Amber