“We’ve got another gig.” Isaac’s enthusiasm spilled through my Cammy.

　　“When and where?”

　　Elena was set to come stay at our house soon. The mere thought made my insides crawl.

　　My parents had flung open their doors to her. My father hadn’t set eyes on her yet—she hadn’t been in a bed near me when they’d visited me in the infirmary—but one look at her and he would know. He’d beat the truth out of me.

　　On the one paw, I was glad we’d gotten a part of him back, but on the other, this meant that the old Sir Robert, one of the few dragons the Rubicon feared, was back. I despised fear.

　　And he was focused on me.

　　When Elena came, I’d have to keep a low profile. If that meant more gigs, so be it. It was better than brooding on my mountaintop at least.

　　Isaac replied—the gig was on the day George would return. He and his family had left to spend the summer on an island on the other side of the Wall to celebrate that his little sister finally received her human form.

　　If only I could cross the Wall… but the Ancients would refuse.

　　They strongly believed I wouldn’t come back—and jeopardize everything they’d done to shroud Paegeia in secrecy, unknown by the rest of the world.

　　Sometimes, I felt like a prisoner.

　　I shouldn’t feel like that. I should rule Paegeia.

　　If I were to show everyone the truth, they would force her to face me in the arena. She would Ascend and I would break. No matter how fucked up it was, I’d end up with her.

　　Sure, I would become the ruler. But fuck ruling like that. I’d rule by myself and not asa slave to that ignorant blondie.

　　I wanted it all for myself. One day, when the darkness overtook me and I lost my sense of self, I would seize this world. Probably the one behind the Wall, too.

　　That was how greedy my darkness was.

　　“See you then?”

　　“Yeah, I’ll see you at Longbottoms.”

　　“Another gig already?” Tabitha lifted her head from my chest.

　　“Yeah, George’s welcome-home bash.”

　　My mind wandered to George. I asked him shortly after the King of Lion mission—that waswhat everyone called it now—how the Dent felt. He’d shaken his head and left without aword.

　　From the look on his face, I had a feeling he had no idea.

　　George would rather die than admit the truth: that his intense connection with Becky wasnot genuine, that it was forced on him by a spell.

　　A cold shiver rushed up my spine from the thought of the Dent. Denting wasn’t somethingbeautiful or admirable.

　　The Dent was a kind of slavery. It made dragons lose everything.

　　It reminded me of the irrepressible sensations every time I dreamed about the redhead. Were the dreams even about Elena? Blonde Elena looked nothing like the girl in my dreams.

　　Tabitha sighed. “What’s going on with you lately? Your head’s always somewhere else.”

　　“Thinking about Brian.” The lie slipped easily off my tongue. “He shouldn’t have died.”

　　I lied more and more these days. Tabitha was spot-on: my mind constantly strayed, eitherto the Dent or Elena.

　　“That’s not on you. If anyone should feel guilty, it’s that dragon spawn. She never should’ve gone after that stupid sword.”

　　I knew why Elena had done what she did. But she was wrong. She’d learn the sword wasn’ther destiny after all.

　　The other day, I’d gone to the museum in Etan—in disguise, of course—to look at the foretellings in the Book of Shadows.

　　Something had prompted Elena to fixate on the lost King of Lion sword, and I had to know what had spurred the mission.

　　When I saw it, not far from a couple of mine that were still black, my lungs deflated in shock.

　　A day will come and a day will go. A choice you’ll have to make, otherwise the truth will never be known.

　　Irene hadn’t told me about this foretelling.

　　She was adamant that Elena didn’t belong in Paegeia, wasn’t special—claiming this unremarkable nature to be the reason she didn’t have any visions about the spawn.

　　But after Elena survived the Sacred Cavern and helped retrieve the King of Lion sword, all that was about to change. Irene would dig deeper, and she’d realize the reason she couldn’t see anything wasn’t because Elena wasn’tspecial, but because she was extremelyspecial—King Albert bloodline special. Irene had never been able to see royal futures clearly. Something about royal blood possessing magical abilities. Elena’s axes that night proved my theory of her ancestry. Her blood protected her from harm… and from Irene’s sight.

　　The Swords belonged to Elena. about it all led to my claiming. My slavery.

　　Restless, I pulled my arm out from underneath Tabitha and got up, pulling on my boxers and T-shirt.

　　My rumbling stomach led me to the kitchen, where I found my parents. It was weird seeing my father’s blithe face, lacking all recollection of the dark, abusive shell of a man he had been mere months ago.

　　True to his word, Samuel had removed those memories. It was part of my prize: getting my father back and protecting my family.

　　My mom smiled at me. “Morning, sweetheart. You hungry?”

　　“Starving.”

　　My father grunted to get my attention. “Are you being safe with the Snow Dragon?”

　　This conversation? Now? “Daaad,” I whined.

　　“Blake, we don’t want another mouth to feed.”

　　“I’m not stupid. The last thing I want is a fucking egg.”

　　My father picked up the newspaper and my mother hissed at my language.

　　Sammy bounded into the kitchen, kissed Mom’s cheek, and grabbed a piece of toast.

　　“Where are you going?” my father asked.

　　“To Becky’s. And I’m taking Daisy,” she said, turning to me.

　　Daisy was the cheap VW Beetle I got and fixed up with Ty and Isaac.

　　Sammy leaned down and brushed a kiss over his cheek. “See you later.” With that, she was out the door, and the Beetle roared to life.

　　“You remember Elena is staying with us next week, right, Robert?” Mom said.

　　He sighed. “Does the girl know we’re not as wealthy as the Johnsons?”

　　“I’m sure Sammy told her. She had the guts to go after the sword when no one else did. Surely something as banal as accommodations won’t bother her.”

　　“True.” He aimed a glance at me.

　　“What?” The word became a bark around my mouthful of crispy bacon, nabbed straight from the skillet Mom was still cooking with.

　　“Word has it her mark is exceptionally dark. Is it true?”

　　“I’ve never seen it,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. It had to be hidden beneath all those layers of modest clothes she tended to wear.

　　Ever since we’d produced the new King of Lion weapons—Elena’s axes—my father had been thirsty to know everything about the mission. I hated it. I’d tried to reveal as little as possible. King Caleb and half of the council members argued that Elena would not be added to the brass plate naming the other five women who had made it out of the Sacred Cavern. They’d consulted the Ancients , and my father attended a meeting for thefirst time in fucking forever.

　　Why now? Not good.

　　The Ancients ruled that Elena’s status as spawn of a dragon gave her an advantage.

　　The half-and-half race had been treated like runts for years. Suddenly, though, one stepped up and accomplished something admirable, and being half-blood was an advantage? Bullshit.

　　Elena was no runt. They all believed a farce.

　　I’d thought the entire debate would backfire—would they divine her true identity while delving into her status?—but luckily, that flame was dodged when she wasn’t ready to face the council. Master Longwei spoke in her defense.

　　After that, my father fixated on learning everything he could about her.

　　When he finally saw her, he would watch me like a hawk. Most of the professors at Dragonia already did. Yay me.

　　Mom nodded toward three plates on the counter, now piled with bacon, fried eggs, and herspecialty hash browns. I set them on the table as she took her usual chair. We ate in silence. After my last garlicky bite slid down my gullet, I thanked Mom and made to leave.

　　“Your plate won’t sprout wings and fly to the sink by itself, Blake,” she called.

　　I grabbed my plate and plunked it into the sink with a satisfying clatter.

　　She cringed at the sound but offered a thin smile. “Thank you.” Her British accent turned whiplike when she was peevish.

　　I shook my head and clomped upstairs, where Tabitha was already dressed and waiting.

　　I pulled on jeans over my boxers, and we left for Isaac’s.

　　George’s party was starting about now, but Tabitha hypnotized me with her body and I was in no hurry. How I wished Irene were the woman making me late instead of Tabitha, butthere was no way we could meet up during the summer.

　　I couldn’t wait for the next term to start so I could lie in her arms again.

　　Tabitha had to suffice my hunger for now. I aimed to indulge while I could, since Mom planned to send her packing the day Elena was to arrive.

　　Dammit, everything worked against me, tempted me to fold and tell Elena who she was.

　　I wondered whether Dad surmised who she really was… No, if he did, he wouldn’t be here with us; he’d have left to protect her years ago. He would’ve told us. Would’ve let me know there was hope for me after all.

　　Why had his rider kept Elena a secret? At the end of King Albert’s life, had he suspected my father could’ve betrayed him?

　　Au contraire. If only he’d known. My father would’ve died for King Albert without giving his family a second thought.

　　When we reached Longbottoms, my stomach started to churn.

　　Elena was here.

　　I parked the Beetle and rested my head on the steering wheel to get my nausea under control.

　　“Nervous?” Tabitha stroked my back.

　　“Always,” I lied.

　　She looked as gorgeous as always. Dressed to kill in a short denim skirt and high-heeledboots that showcased her long legs. A jacket barely covered her skimpy shirt, baring enough cleavage to entice anyone.

　　I bit my lower lip as my eyes roved over her body. She narrowed her eyes playfully and leaned close.

　　“If you’re nervous, just remember that I’m right in the crowd, cheering the loudest.” She kissed me lightly.

　　“With the way you’re dressed tonight, I’m pretty sure I’ll forget the words to everysong on the setlist.”

　　She giggled. “I can’t let you forget that you are with the most beautiful girl in Paegeia.”

　　“So confident! I like.” I kissed her collarbone.

　　Isaac and Ty banged on the windshield.

　　“C’mon, Romeo, plenty of time to flirt your ass off later,” Isaac said.

　　I groaned.

　　Tabitha slid out of the car. “You boys are evil.”

　　“I’m not the one with Beelzebub’s face,” Isaac quipped.

　　With coy chuckle, Tabitha swayed that booty all the way up the stairs.

　　Isaac frowned at me. “You okay?”

　　Telling the guys that I was nervous wouldn’t fly—I was way too cocky and they knew it. Neither would claiming to be sick, because I had the ability to heal myself. I couldn’tlie, but I had to.

　　“Yeah, just a bad feeling, I guess.” I forced my face to brighten with a flashy grin. “An omen that we’re gonna rock.”

　　“A feeling?”

　　“It could be the Moon-Bolt arriving.”

　　“Dude, we are going to hit the casinos so hard when that happens,” Ty crowed as we headed to the backstage entrance.

　　Longbottoms was packed to the rafters.

　　When we sauntered onstage and started tuning our instruments, my stomach knotted. I hadn’t seen Elena for three blissful weeks. Now, though, the full dose rushed through me. No room to doubt who she was.

　　I hated it.