Page 19 of Stolen By Dragons

Lydia’s face split into a grin, her eyes still closed.

I looked around, catching Chris's eye. He grinned at me, a look of wonder on his face. "Did you feel it too?" he whispered.

I nodded, unable to keep the smile off my face. "It was... incredible."

"Well done," Elowen said, her voice filled with approval. "That sensation you felt is your Dracarian heritage awakening. With practice, you'll learn to call upon it at will and shape it to your needs."

As Elowen began to explain the next exercise, I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. This was real. The magic, the power - it was all real, and it was a part of me.

As the initial exercise concluded, Elowen moved among us, offering guidance and encouragement. When she reached our group, her eyes lingered on each of us in turn, a hint of approval in her gaze.

"Well done," she said softly. “You’re doing well.”

Before she could move on, Zephyr spoke up. "Elowen, I have a question, something I’ve heard a few Dracarians mention. About us being... tainted ones. What exactly does that mean?"

Elowen's expression tightened almost imperceptibly. "It's simply a term used to describe those whose Dracarian blood has mixed with other species," she said, her tone carefully neutral. "It's not meant as an insult."

"But it sounds like one," Chris muttered, just loud enough for us to hear.

Elowen either didn't hear him or chose to ignore the comment. "Now, let's move on to a more physical exercise," she announced to the group at large. "We'll be testing your reflexes and instincts."

As we stood, I caught sight of Ossian across the room. He was watching our group intently, his dark eyes unreadable. When he noticed me looking, his mouth quirked up. Apparently I hadn’t imagined him smiling at me earlier. Was he thinking about the kiss we’d shared? If you could even call it that? Heat touched my cheeks, but his gaze was pulled away as a female vampire began speaking to him.

A twinge of unease coursed over me, but I shoved it aside. I couldn’t go getting jealous over some silly little crush now.

“I wonder what the exercise will be,” Chris mused, snapping my attention back to him.

Ossian wasn’t the only one drawing my attention anyway. Chris was quite a rugged sight, and the way he looked at me always sent a tingle through me.

Yep, this was just school all over again, with my hormones running wild.

Wonderful. Maybe I should have dated and messed around a little bit rather than focused on my career and proving my father wrong. Jason had been my last partner, and that had ended horribly, shattering my trust in men. I’d contemplatedembracing my singledom and sleeping around, getting some experience under my belt, but it wasn’t me.

Damn me and my morals.

The physical exercise turned out to be a sort of magical obstacle course. Shimmering barriers appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and we had to navigate through them using our newly awakened senses.

I hadn’t even noticed a change in my senses, but Elowen was sure that feeling our ancient magic flourish would heighten everything.

I stared at the first barrier coming for me, praying that she was right. I was to dodge it, either by jumping over it or going under it. Considering there was almost no gap under it, over was my only option, but it was high, higher than anything I had ever jumped.

There was no way I could do this… Chris and Lydia had done it with ease, but they were shifters, and I’d seen their eyes glow with their animal sides as they’d done it. How could I possibly…

“You got this, Aria,” Chris called from behind me. We’d been set up in groups, whether our chosen ones or ones Elowen made, and the other Dracarians were helping create the barriers with their magic for us to practice with.

“You can do it!” Lydia added.

“Use that ancient magic,” Zephyr said.

I sucked in a breath, the barrier nearly before me as I prepared myself, readying for the jump.

Fuck it. Let’s give it a solid try.

I launched forth, focusing on that power in my chest and willing it to aid me.

To my utter disbelief, I cleared it, just.

“Look at you go, you did it!” Lydia clapped as Chris and Zephyr cheered.

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