But what could so few do against a mob, I wondered in despair?
This was all my fault for believing that I could ever be good enough for Ari—for daring to aspire to a place higher than the one I deserved.
Something was going to happen here—something bad—and I was going to be the cause of all of it.
54
Kaitlyn
The mob of angry Drakes and Nocturnes was almost on us when Ari suddenly pushed through them and emerged at the head of the pack.
For a moment I was desperately afraid Ari was one of them. Would he be angry for the humiliation the bubble’s depiction of us together had caused? Would he try to hurt me to prove that we weren’t really together? Would he treat me like a piece of trash, that needed to be thrown away, like the Breedloves had?
I had no time to answer any of those questions because at that moment, Ari reached me and grabbed me by the wrist.
My Coven-mates must have been worried for me too, because I heard Avery say, “No!” sharply and Griffin hissed,
“Reyes, if you hurt her—”
“Dios, I’m not going to fucking hurt my own L’lorna,” Ari snapped at them. “I’m going to claim her.”
And then he stepped up on a chair and from there to the top of the table, pulling me up with him as we faced the angry crowd together.
55
Ari
I didn’t know who had produced the nasty little piece of work that had been shown in the glittering soap bubble, but it wasn’t hard to guess what effect it would have on my classmates. Even before the spell of the bubble was over, I could hear angry muttering and see the dark glances the other Drakes were throwing at me.
But I was a powerful Drake—my wings flew higher than anyone else’s at the Academy. None of them would dare to attack me.
Unfortunately, Kaitlyn had no such protection.
As soon as the bubbles burst, an angry mob of both Drakes and Nocturnes was up from their seats and rushing towards her. I looked at where she was sitting in relation to the exit and judged it was too far away. And the entrance to her dormitory was blocked by the crowd.
There was only one way I could think of to defuse this situation and it was going to require a little help from my Drake.
Get ready, I told him. Kaitlyn is being threatened.
He roared angrily and spread his wings within me. A Drake will do anything to protect his L’lorna—which also means ‘treasure’ in the most ancient language of our kind. I knew that before he saw Kaitlyn hurt he would kill every last person in the entire Dining Hall.
I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.
But in order to stop the possible apocalypse, I had to act quickly.
Shoving my way through the crowd, I managed to get to Kaitlyn before anyone else could. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her up to stand on the table with me and then, using my loudest voice I shouted,
“Stop!”
It did no good—the crowd kept coming. In just another moment they would be upon us and Kaitlyn’s Coven-mates would be hurt or killed as well.
“Let me,” my Drake said inside my head.
“Be my guest.”
I took a step back, mentally, and let him have control. He opened my mouth—our mouth—again, and this time what came out wasn’t a word or even a roar.
What came from our mouth was a gout of flame, fifty feet long. It burst out of me in angry profusion, burning over the heads of the assembled mob like a blast from a flame thrower.
That stopped them.
Not one Drake male in a thousand is able to execute a partial change so subtle that he can breathe his Drake’s fire while still retaining his human form. I say that not to brag, but as a matter of fact. I knew that it would get my people’s attention and remind them of my power.
And so it did. The Drakes stopped in their tracks.
As for the Nocturnes, they also stopped their forward motion and looked up fearfully. All Others fear fire—as of course they should. Drake fire is deadly to any creature but a true Drake and even then they must be in their own Drake form to withstand it.
So my gout of flame stopped the mob in its tracks, which was the effect I had intended.
What I hadn’t intended was to see Kaitlyn shrink from me as well, her eyes going wide with fright. My heart ached when I saw the way she was looking at me now—as though she feared not only my Drake, but my human form as well.
But I had no time to spare on regrets.
The message that the soap bubbles had spread had been distorted, but it was still essentially true. And since I refused to lie about my love, I had to make everyone here understand—and accept—that Kaitlyn was mine and no one could do anything about it.