FREYA
I sank onto the edge of my bed and let my hands hover over my knees, trying to calm the noise that wouldn’t stop inside my head. It was the same feeling I’d been having since the flash of the dragon fire on the training ground—the heat, the vibration in my fingers, that tiny flare of hope that I had felt for a second like a promise.
One minute I’m nothing, a hollow shell my own reflection wouldn’t want to meet; the next, something inside me... I can almost swear was the dragon fire...claws awake as if it remembered how to burn. The thought makes me want to laugh and choke at the same time.
My palms were slick against my thighs as I forced myself to reach inward. I pictured the fire exactly as I remembered it: sullen orange coiling like a living thing, licking along my forearms un
