Page 114 of Cruel Destinies

I gulped. “Thanks, Dad.”

Lying to my father felt unnatural and uncomfortable, especially considering what would happen if I were caught in that lie.

“And while we’re on that topic, Charlotte Stern says hello.”

Char?I hadn’t thought of her even once since Arya arrived at the school. Charlotte Stern was one of my oldest friends and a dragon who had graduated recently and joined the shifter military.

“Tell her ‘hi’ for me,” I said.

Arthur nodded, and I wondered if there was still talk between my family and hers about an eventual union. As much as I cared about Char, I really hoped not.

“Could I speak with him again?” Victoria asked in the background, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t ready to go down that naga hole of arranged dragon marriages.

“And how is your Christmas?” Victoria asked when she was back on the screen. “You got our package?”

“I did.” I relaxed on my bed, eyeing the opened packages across the room. Shoes and suits and books—with extensive detail about rare shifters in Eastern Europe and tactical maneuvers for the military—littered the area in organized chaos. “Thank you.”

“Well, we’ve missed you,” she said. “I hope you haven’t been too lonely stuck at the Dome this Christmas.”

It was almost like she’d forgotten I would have stayed regardless of recent events. I’d done so last year, and there’d been nothing preventing me from going home then—other than the fact that my childhood home was also empty since my parents spent the holiday in the Alps. For whatever reason, my mother seemed to miss me more this Christmas. Arthur had all but said it when he mentioned she wanted quality time when they came on New Year’s Eve.

I suspected it had something to do with my recent near-death experience.

“I haven’t been lonely,” I reassured, thinking about my time with Arya.

Victoria’s eyebrows dropped like they did before.

I glanced at the small video of myself in the top corner, wondering what made her face do that, if perhaps she thought I’d lied about not being lonely.

But when I saw the expression I was wearing, my heart dropped. I recognized that look. I’d never seen it on my own face, but it was nearly identical to the one my mother had worn my entire life.

And she knew it, too.

For her sake and mine, the damned Dracul cursehadto be broken.

Chapter 36

Tobias

I felt like a piece of shit.

Which was why I flew today. Pumping my powerful wings through the frigid Illinois atmosphere—nope, Lake Michigan was behind me, I was well into Michigan state now—my thoughts wouldn’t stop running loops around my recent actions.

Physically, I was in top form. Feeling the icy air rush through my dragon-sized lungs was euphoric. Feeling the fire run through my veins was invigorating. Feeling my invisible scales shift with the movement of my body and knowing that not a soul on the ground below—shifter or human—would be able to see me despite it being a clear, cloudless afternoon, made me feel powerful and invincible.

I felt I could continue flying for hours, until Chicago and the Dome and the danger—and Arya and my father and my responsibilities—were thousands of miles behind me before I would need a respite.

A tiny part of me still felt like a hypocrite for leaving the Dome in the first place. I still cringed at the memory of shouting at Arya for leaving all those weeks ago to shop. I still thought it was stupid and reckless, but I shouldn’t have causedsuch a scene. But I wasn’t nearly as important as she was. Vampires weren’t looking for me, and my destiny was minuscule in comparison.

I needed this. Needed the freedom of flight to help me decide what to do. But ever since I’d laid eyes on Arya, flying was no longer the mindless activity it used to be.

White fields stretched below me. Snowbanks, quiet and sparkling in the sunlight, almost looked like a blanket of diamonds from my dragon’s-eye view. It was beautiful. I suddenly wished my eyes weren’t the only ones enjoying them, and it wasn’t Niko’s or Brett’s company I wanted.

I shook my head, blowing out a breath of hot air that probably looked like a small cloud that suddenly appeared, if anyone was watching. But I knew no one was.

Adjusting downward, I pointed my nose into a dive. I tucked my wings back to reduce the air friction and allowed my speed to increase, with the help of gravity, and aimed at the perfect and untouched snow below.

Building the heat inside me, I sped the pace of my heart to increase the circulation of fire running through my arteries and veins until enough built at the base of my fire chamber. Taking a deep breath, I veered at the last second and let out a jet stream of blue-white fire, evaporating and eviscerating a perfect line in the snow and uncovering the brown grass beneath. I smiled when I noticed the edges had turned to smooth ice.

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