Page 12 of We Hunt the Night

Iknow that woman’s sound, not the screams as much as she knows mine. We both listened to them growing up. I throw myself out of the bath, nearly stumbling on it as I run to the door, unlock it, and rush out. Rue is on the floor, and Black has a gigantic sword, an old-fashioned black sword, pointed at her neck. He looks like he just rolled out of bed himself, his dark hair messy and his shirt crumpled to his thick, golden chest which I can see because it’s got a big V shape slit in the centre. His gray joggers are loose around his hips, and he growls low, sending goose bumps up my arms. “Who the fuck are you and why’d you walk in here? This is my room.”

“That’s my sister, and this ismyroom!” I run, leaping in front of her as Black lifts the sword. The metal of it looks like it’s cut from one giant diamond and somehow perfectly shaped into a blade.

“This isourroom, bonded,” Black grunts, putting his giant sword on his bed. He grabs clothes from one of the wardrobes and stops next to me. My blood warms as he leans down, very careful that not an inch of us is touching. “She doesn’t come in uninvited. You don’t have guests, no fucking men or anyone in our space. Got it?”

I want to scream “Or what?” but some arguments are too tiring to fight right now when I haven’t had coffee and he doesn’t look like he’d give up on this argument. I also don’t want Rue in the middle of it. I nod. “Fine. Same goes for you.”

“We don’t like witches, and our kind hate the academy,” he informs me, and I frown. Wait, why do they hate the academy? “I’ll shower and then wait for you outside to escort you to class when you are done. You shouldn’t be alone, not with us as your bonded. There will be a target on your back.”

I shiver.

“No, I came to escort her, and she is safe with me.” Rue’s voice is firm, with a confidence I do not have. I need to learn it. “You’ve had her all night, and I haven’t seen my sister in two years for more than ten minutes. I will make a deal with you that I won’t walk in here uninvited, but you let me walk her to class in the mornings, dragon. Plus, it will give you more time to make sure there are no one brave enough to touch your bonded. They say dragons are cursed, and we both know it’s true. I won’t let your curse touch her.”

“What curse?” I ask.

Black grumbles low, his blue eyes turning to me. “Is that what you want, Juniper? Mornings with your foster sister.”

I clear my throat, needing to look away from the intensity of his stare, how it makes my body feel like it’s burning to life. “Yes. This is my foster sister, Rue, and I trust her.”

“Then she can walk you. Make sure you eat.” He turns and goes to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I watch the door for a second, wondering if he doesn’t really hate me all that much. Or at least not as much as I thought he did. He doesn’t want me to die of starvation, so that’s a plus.

Rue rubs her arm. “I thought they’d all left early for the bonus class our bonded are invited to. They get extra points for going. As for the curse, it’s a silly thing really, but all dragonbonded in history have died awful deaths. There are whispers of an actual curse but I’m sure it’s just rumours. The only curse is your bad luck.” She glances at the sword and then at the door. “You certainly took my advice to stay away from the dragon shifters well.”

“It was an accident,” I mutter. “And they all want me dead.”

“Of course they do, most do.” She shrugs. “They are like wild, untameable animals until the bloodstone literally puts a collar on them and forces them to behave. Not many of them want that.” I’ve never thought about it like that, and now that she said it, I don’t like the thought. “No wonder that one is grumpy. Do you know no one can touch him and he can’t touch others? He has a permanent curse on him from the enchantress herself.”

“What?” I balk.

“Yeah, anyone that actually touches his skin dies. That’s why he wears the thick gloves and everything’s covered up, up to his neck usually, and he doesn’t speak to anyone. No one messes with Black Ashveil. Then you’ve got Kane, who is rumored to have killed his entire family as a kid. Vale is known for killing for sport, and Maz? Well, he fucks everything female in the academy and charms all the males even though he doesn’t swing that way from what I’ve heard. Maz will be pissed now he can’t fuck anyone because of the bond. Well, I guess he could back with his own people…” she clears her throat while I try to process everything. “Black’s not even the most frightening of the four that you’ve managed to bond with. I’d put money on it being Vale and no one knows much about him other than he is smart. Wicked smart and no one competes with him. They are all a mess. What happened exactly in the forest?” She puts her hands on her hips.

“Later. I can’t go over it all now,” I admit. My head is reeling with all the new information.

She lowers her hands and steps closer. “Hey, accident or not, you’re still bonded to four dragons, and that’s made you a bit of an interesting gossip for the school. They’re going to come at you, push you, and want to be your best friend. So you need to be ready, and you can’t go out looking like that. You’re still wearing that dirty shirt that you’ve always worn every night.”

“It’s mine,” I say defensively.

“Get some uniform, go shower, and smile,” she prods.

“Okay, alright.” I grab the uniform from my wardrobe and go into the shower. I turn the shower on as I strip down, letting the hot water make the room fill with steam. The water runs literally black throughout the entire shower, spinning into the drain hole at the bottom, the ash, grime, and blood pouring off me. When the water’s finally clear and I’ve scrubbed all my hair, I get out and whisper a spell, my hair instantly drying in wavy, messy locks. I know this spell, but I’ve never been able to make up a spell to straighten my hair, to make it more than the thick wavy mess that it always is. After somehow tugging my brush through it, I’m pretty sure I’m making it worse. I put two braids on either side of my face and clip them back before pulling on my uniform and tying my boots.

“I can do this,” I tell myself again and again in the mirror, because if I somehow survived yesterday, I can survive this. I think I have no choice but to survive this.

Rue’s waiting for me by the door when I come out. “So, your first lesson is in the histories? Your bonded will be in your class too because they’re not allowed to learn about the histories until they’re bonded. Most of them are usually really curious for the first lessons, and it can be annoying to wait for their questions to be answered. They don’t always have to attend all lessons, but they get their own rewards, things sent back to their camps in the forest, like food, electricity, structural help, things like that, important things that make a difference,” she explains as I stepout and shut the door. “The higher they are on the board, the more stuff they get for their camp.”

“Don’t they just have that normally?” I question.

“No. So, they have to earn it, and they earn it by attending classes, so you’ll find a lot of them will attend because they need stuff.” I frown at her. I didn’t know that. “Everyone knows the bond is a little hectic, so to speak, in the first couple of weeks. It can feel a bit like hovering on ice, hearing it crack under your feet but never knowing whether you’re just going to fall straight in or get by. So the best thing is just to keep walking, and you will get to the other side. You got this.” I really, really don’t. Her confidence in me does not help.

Rue passes me a breakfast bar and a bottle of something green and gross looking, but it smells like mangoes. “It’s a spelled energy drink. Drink it up and eat that. You’re not going to make breakfast.” She notes the time by showing me her watch. “You need to be up an hour earlier if you’re going to make it, and set an alarm.” On what? I don’t have anything to set it on.

“What would I do without you?” I ask as I sip the delicious drink and eat the breakfast bar after.

She grins at me. “It’s weird having you here, but in a good way. Did you see that Lock is here yet? I did write to you about him being here in letters, but now I’m aware you haven’t read them.”

“That would have been a good heads-up.” We turn down a windy corridor that is filled with students. If it wasn’t bad enough, every single one of them turns to stare, whisper, and some outright point at me.

“I never asked because it felt a bit strange, but you and him? Sometimes I thought there was more than friendship between you. He used to stare at you all the time when you weren’t looking,” she tells me. “You must be happy he is here.”

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