Page 8 of We Steal The Flight

Lyra’s face looks horrified. “I have not been in this world, nor would I curse any dragon child.” She shakes her head. Her panther bonded growls. “I swear it on my life, on my daughter’s life, on my soul. I would never do that, especially not when I’d be able to look once at you and see the bond with my daughter. Nor would I curse any dragon. I was in love with a dragon once. He was my mate, my bonded. We miss him every single day.” She crosses her arms. “Before the Umbral Authority, the dragons were the leaders of the shifters and basically royalty. They were strong, magnificent people who were kind and gave to the weak and suffering, no matter their race.”

Maz and Black look at each other before looking back at my mother. “It wasn’t you.”

“No. Placing lasting curses…that is a magic not even I or the Umbral Authority would have access to. It would take the magic of a god or goddess to do that to you.” Her tone is soft. “From my limited research on curses, they were once placed to teach lessons, and there was a way to break them. If you wanted, you could tell me all you can about your curses, and I will try to remember anything I can to help. I’ve lived a long life and I want to do anything I can to help my daughter’s bonded mates.”

The air seems to leave Black’s body. “If you’re lying, you will regret it.”

“Understandable, but I’m not.” Lyra nods.

“Well, happy families then.” Maz sits on one of the near-broken chairs. “Which is good, because we’re deep in with a fuck ton of problems.”

“As much as I’m very happy to meet you both and see you well, Juniper…we are on the brink of war with no army except for a couple of thousand-odd witches and shifters here who mostly cannot fight, are too young, and need defending,” Lyra begins. “I must leave you to set up what is needed to destroy this world for good. If I don’t, there will be no end to this. You must gather everyone you can here and work on the spell to return.”

“We can’t destroy this world without killing Vale and Kane. They are trapped in Bloodstone Academy.”

My head spins to Maz. “What do you mean trapped?”

“When that thing that’s in the academy, that blood thing, when Kane took over to save you, it started draining him of his life. Vale barely found him in time, and he did a spell. I don’t even know where the fuck he got a spell like that from, but he did one to save Kane’s life, and instead, it bound him and Kane to the academy. They cannot leave.” Sickness rises up in my throat and my heart races. “I told them to hide, but they demanded we go. There wasn’t much of a choice. We either stayed with them or left, and all the shifters outside would have been captured and most likely killed. We took the kids and left.”

For a moment, I can’t breathe. Pure panic takes over. The academy that was full of Mindless. The Umbral Authority would definitely have control over it now. Black strokes my arm. “They are bound to the academy for the rest of their lives. If this world falls, so do they.”

I look at my mother with all the desperation in my heart. “Then we need a new plan. I can’t let them die. I won’t.”

Even if it means letting the Umbral Authority win.

Chapter 6

WINIFRED

His screams echo throughout Bloodstone Academy. They never stop. Day and night, his screams still echo, and I know I will never forget the sound of them until the day I die. I lie on the bed, staring up at the wooden beams of the ceiling, hating myself for staying here when I can’t go and stop it. Help him. I know even trying would doom me to the same fate he is suffering from already.

The door opens and I sit up, preparing to defend myself and my bonded, but I relax when I see who it is. The headmaster, my tutor and more recently…a friend. Luke Parker’s red hair catches the light from the window, making it look like fire as his eyes find me, and as usual, he makes sure I’m okay. I woke up from being stabbed, in his arms, while the only healer left at the academy tried their best to fix me. I needed a blood donation and more spells than I remember to wake up.

Luke and Aster never left my side, never once sleeping or resting themselves. That was a few weeks ago now, and I might be more recovered than before, but I still feel where I was stabbed every time I move. Aster’s wolf lifts his head from the end of the bed, going to growl, but pauses when it sees him. Luke shuts the door, but it doesn’t help with the sound of Vale being tortured above.

“Any luck?” I ask him.

When the Umbral Authority took over, it was easy for them to assume I’d been attacked with my injuries, and when they found my mother dead and my brother injured, they just thought I’d been fighting alongside them. Luke, being the loyal headmaster they trust, wove lies pretty quickly to make sure we were safe. The only concern I’ve got is if Lock wakes up and starts blabbing the actual truth, which he will do. My brother is only loyal to himself, and I hate the bastard.

Luke rubs his hands over his face. “No. There’s no way to get to him. One of the Umbral Authority is with him constantly, and on top, the door is heavily guarded. Mindless patrol near the top floor continuously, and so does a legion of witches.”

“I can’t just sit here listening to them hurt Vale. What are they even doing to him?” I wince as another scream echoes.

“I’m not sure.” Luke looks up at the ceiling too. “I imagine they didn’t stay in power all this time by not having decent torture methods. Whatever they want, they haven’t got, or he’d be dead by now.”

Aster shifts back, naked for a second, before he pulls on joggers, and I drift my eyes away. Slowly. I might be injured, but I still want to look. Aster sits on the edge of the bed. “We need a new plan if we can’t get to Vale. We should go to the others, to the shifters that escaped, and help them. The longer we sit here, the more chance that all of them are sitting ducks out there.”

“You may do that, Aster, but we can’t leave. At the end of the day, the Umbral Authority trust us, and someone needs to be here, on the enemy’s side, ready to betray them at any moment. I have never agreed with the Umbral Authority. I never told you my own story. Perhaps it’s time to now,” Luke offers, pulling out the chair from the dressing table.

“What story?” Aster asks, not unkindly but untrusting. I think the only reason my bonded is okay with Luke being here is because I trust him. “You grew up in privilege and then became the headmaster of this shithole.”

“Privilege was not something I grew up in. My parents were from the Daygan clan, and my grandparents told me the truth of it all, of this world and the lie we live in. Lyra, who you know as the enchantress, I met her when I was a kid. The Daygan clan, my parents, were killed before I even came of age because we knew the truth, and Lyra was gone, her child taken, and the world as I knew it was over. I ran and I was not given much choice but to become someone else. I found a family who had no children; they saw me as the child they never had and adopted me. No one but them knew who I really was, and my life of ‘privilege,’ as you put it, began there. I had to make myself important for the few remaining of the Daygan clan. For my real name, my blood and clan. Everyone left was broken by what had happened. I was left with no one and nothing but a need for revenge. I knew it was them, so I did what I must. I became stronger and got accepted into the academy. From then onwards, I proved myself until I couldn’t anymore.”

“I’m sorry about your clan. Juniper is all you have left, then.” I give him a sad smile. “And she barely knows the clan.”

“No one does. No one knows they were fighting to free everyone.” He clears his throat. “Aster, you look at me like you’re not sure which side I’m on. I’m on yours, I’m on Wini’s, and I’m on the side of freedom and peace.”

I look at Aster. “Luke will keep me safe, and you must get to the others. We will be here, ready and able for what comes next.”