Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(11)

“I wasn’t invited,” Bryn said.

“You could go with me,” Rhianna spoke up from across the room.

Wanting to be supportive, she turned and smiled. “Sure, I’ll go with you.”

“No,” Jaxon stated. “You won’t.”

He did not just pull that lord and master crap on me again. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Jaxon reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

“Which is why you should know better than to speak to me like that.”

“Before you start in on another rant, perhaps you’d like to hear why I don’t want you to go with Rhianna.”

Whatever his reason was, it wouldn’t be good enough. “Fine. Talk.”

“Strategically speaking, if you go with Rhianna, it makes her look weak, like she can’t stand on her own two feet.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Rhianna said.

“That must be some weird Blue Clan logic,” Clint said. “In my Clan, friends go places together to support each other.”

“Yes. And you also do strange things to your hair and mar your skin with tattoos.”

Lightning crackled in Clint’s palm. “I bet I could make your hair stand on end.”





Chapter Four


They so didn’t need this right now, so Bryn tried to calm her friend. “Clint, being offended by Jaxon’s snobbiness is a waste of time. It’s ingrained.”

Rhianna cleared her throat. “We just had our rooms redone. I’d appreciate it if you two didn’t mess them up.”

Clint closed his palm and the lightning dissipated. “Fine, but he needs to understand one thing. Your Clan may be different than mine, but it’s not superior.”

Jaxon opened his mouth to reply.

“Don’t even think about it,” Rhianna said. “For me. Please let it go.”

Lips clamped together, Jaxon nodded and went back to his book.

Maybe having her friends over here wasn’t such a good idea. She needed a way to get them out of the room without making it look like she wanted them to relocate. “After we eat, do you guys want to go flying?”

“Yes,” Clint said. “Being trapped in a classroom all day makes me claustrophobic.”

After dinner, Bryn, Clint, and Ivy departed by the terrace window, fixed courtesy of her grandmother’s staff. The brisk night air was invigorating. She dove and performed a barrel roll. Ivy copied the move. All three of them took turns performing aerial acrobatics, then playing follow the leader.

Below them, Bryn spotted Rhianna walking by herself toward the dining hall. Consciously or not, she edged toward the dining hall with every maneuver.

“Are we spying on her?” Clint asked.

“No, just making sure she’s safe,” Bryn said.

“I guess that’s what the asshat is doing, too,” Clint said.

Bryn glanced around. Sure enough, Jaxon was flying laps near the dining hall. “See, that’s why I can’t hate him. He truly is trying to take care of her.”

“That’s all right,” Clint said. “I can hate him enough for both of us.”

Later that night, Rhianna returned to the room with a smile on her face.

“Have fun?” Bryn asked.

Rhianna joined her on the couch. “It’s the strangest thing. I never would’ve associated with half those students before my injury, but I liked them a lot. They all have a positive attitude. And Garret is funny. I didn’t know Greens could be so funny.”

“Uh-oh. You better not say that in front of Jaxon. He’ll be jealous.”

Rhianna pulled her knees up to her chest. “Garret is cute, and he blushes whenever he talks to me.”

“If you run away with Garret and leave me to deal with Jaxon, I will never forgive you.” Bryn was only half joking.

“Please, I would never leave Jaxon, but it is kind of nice to have someone else pay attention to me.”

…

As the week went on, Bryn watched for any sign one of her classmates might be a hybrid but never noticed anything. The other students on campus adjusted to their injured friends’ presence. Everyone except, of course, the Blue Clan. Saturday afternoon, Bryn asked Rhianna to accompany her to Dragon’s Bluff where she planned to meet her grandmother for lunch.

“No, thank you. I’m tired of dealing with everyone. I want to hide out here for a while.”

“I know what it’s like to have everyone staring at you and making you crazy, but are you sure you want to be alone? Fonzoli’s reopened. Valmont saved us a table.”

Rhianna shook her head. “You go ahead. Have fun.”

She thought about flying to Dragon’s Bluff, but her grandmother had already planned to pick her up. When the car arrived, her grandmother wasn’t in it. “Am I having lunch by myself?” Bryn asked the driver.

“Your grandmother left for Dragon’s Bluff early this morning to oversee some of the details on the rebuilding. She’ll meet you at the restaurant.”

“Oh, okay.” If her grandmother was in charge of the recovery efforts in Dragon’s Bluff, the place would be back to normal in no time.

On the drive through campus toward the back gate, Bryn people-watched, or rather dragon-watched. Ugh. Would she ever stop thinking of herself as a human? Probably not.