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“Well, yeah, but—” He shook his head. “I can’t believe it’s been a dragon all this time. Maybe I just don’twantto believe it.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying what I was thinking, that my people had died because a dragon had gone on a rampage, which meant the dragons owed their lives to the shadow-beasts.
That wasn’t fair, though, and Elliot certainly didn’t deserve my anger.
There was nothing to be done about the past, and there was still a shadow killer on the loose, one who knew how to infiltrate the Academy, who knew there were two students there capable of hunting him in the shadows, and who intended to come after Mikaela and me again.
I had much more important things to worry about than a past I could not change.
CHAPTER14
We spentthe evening in the infirmary—Jasmine, Jahrdran, Shadow, and me.
And Mikaela, of course.
Though she didn’t wake that night or any night thereafter for the rest of the semester.
As for Jahrdran and me, we had our growing pains, as we learned to trust one another again, but in the end, we were stronger than ever.
It helped that everyone now knew the truth.
Headmistress Blackthorn had made certain to share with the Varulvka Council a recording of the events at the Academy, showing the battle with the Shadow Killer in its entirety.
This meant the Varulvka Council knew that I existed and that my mate was one of them.
They also knew the true Shadow Killer was a chameleon dragon named Lydrel Zowen, a shadow-mate, but not himself a shadow-beast, and that he had served as ambassador for the Council of Shadows.
The truth had exploded like a bomb across the supernatural community, causing upheaval and mayhem as the myth of the shadow-beasts came into the light of day and the entire world learned of their tragic end.
Jahrdran and all of the Varulvka struggled to reconcile who they believed they were as a community, with the reality of what their ancestors had done.
Talk of monuments honoring those fallen had been discussed, as had reparations, but no one knew how to make them when there was no one left, but me, to represent the victims, and I wanted nothing to do with their reparations.
They could make them all they wanted, but nothing would bring back the dead.
In the end, all any of us could do was move forward and try to do better.
The best part of the truth coming out was that the oath died with it. Because the oath had been extremely specific, naming the Shadow Killer a shadow-beast and condemning all shadow-beasts as a result, the moment the truth came to light that the Shadow Killer was in fact, a chameleon dragon,nota shadow-beast, the oath simply disintegrated and the Varulvka were free from its demands.
The worst part about the truth coming out, though, was that everyone at school now knew what I was, which made it much more difficult to hide in the shadows.
The professors all began insisting that I physically appear in class, rather than texting from them.
My classmates took their cue from our professors and began inviting me to sit with them at meals, to accompany them to Wellspring for a night on the town and to join them for study sessions.
My days of being forgotten were long gone.
Shadow, of course, accompanied me everywhere, and even let the students see her every now and then.
Best of all, she was now allowed to participate in Familiar Training with me, which was a lot more enjoyable.
Even so, Professor Dewar insisted I continue our private lessons as well. I think she just enjoyed the extra time with Shadow, not that she’d ever admit it with Verity around.
Professor Dewar also kept her promise and presented Shadow with a hat made just for her.
It was truly hideous, a combination of grays and blacks, so that it blended with Shadow’s smoky appearance. There were two holes at the top for her ears to poke through and it had two long braids, one on either side, so that when Shadow got to running super fast, they would stream behind her in a long wave.
I’d been absolutely certain that Shadow would eat the hat within minutes, but apparently tormenting Verity was of higher priority than destroying the ugliest hat I’d ever seen.
