I wondered if Regan had known how close she’d come to dying that day.

Or how close she still was.

Pendragon had only survived the games because of the precautions I’d taken. Giving her my blood. Asking Visha to watch her back.

That, and her own strength and presence of mind. She hadn’t panicked. Once the drugs had cleared from her system, she’d pulled herself together and done everything she’d had to do to survive. Even when it meant killing one of her best friends. She’d passed every test they’d thrown at her and I was proud of her. So fucking proud.

I thought of Coregon. Pendragon and I had that in common now. We’d both killed a friend.

I doubted it would be something we’d fondly reminisce about together.

Visha. Panic struck me. I wondered if she’d told Pendragon the truth about that first day in the training yard. Visha had taken things further than she was supposed to, so I’d had to get Sankara to intervene. Even so, I’d initiated the set-up. If Pendragon ever found out, she’d be furious.

The fact that she was walking here so calmly beside me now, thanking me, must have meant Visha had kept quiet.

I stayed close to her as we approached the headmaster’s office.

We stepped inside, and the atmosphere hit me like a wall of ice.

Kim sat behind his desk, his dark robes draped around him. His sharp eyes flicked upwards as we entered and it was as if the weight of all Bloodwing’s expectations bore down on me. There was and never had been anything comforting about Headmaster Kim. He was the cold, uncompromising face of highblood authority at Bloodwing.

On the far right stood my uncle. Viktor Drakharrow, the living embodiment of highblood privilege and familial intimidation. He was the oldest highblood in the room. He glanced my way, his eyes glowing deep and unsettling red. His eyes moved to Pendragon and I felt my skin crawl. I wanted to grab his chin and force his head in the other direction. Nothing about that dirty, disgusting old man should be near her.

I made myself look in the other direction and my eyes fell on Regan. She was seated in a wooden chair to the left of Kim’s desk. She looked every bit the spoiled highblood princess, with her pointed chin held high and her mouth fixed in a smug pout. Behind her stood her father, Lord Pansera, a tall man with many of his daughter’s features but even less of her charm. His gaze swept over Pendragon as if she were something stuck to the bottom of his boot.

My stomach tightened. I stayed close to Pendragon’s side as the door clicked shut behind us.

Headmaster Kim cleared his throat. “I don’t believe introductions are required. We are gathered here today to discuss the conduct of Blake Drakharrow’s triad during the Consort Games. There are questions regarding the actions of his consorts, specifically the lack of cooperation between them, as well as several broken rules. Consequences must be determined.”

My heart was already pounding. Clearly Regan’s father was here to act as her representative to Kim. And ours? Good old Uncle Viktor.

There was no way I wanted Viktor defending Pendragon. I was here for her. I’d speak for her. If there were penalties to be paid, I’d take them upon myself. No one would harm a hair on her head.

Headmaster Kim was turning towards Regan. “Miss Pansera, a great deal of this centers around your conduct so let’s begin with you. Would you care to explain your actions during the Games?”

Regan lifted her chin defiantly. “Explain? What’s to explain? I did what I had to do,” she said, her voice edged with prideful anger. “I wasn’t going to sit back and watch while she–” She narrowed her eyes at Pendragon. “–made a mockery of our traditions. She doesn’t belong in Blake’s triad and she doesn’t belong at Bloodwing.” She looked over at Viktor. “With all respect, Lord Drakharrow, she never has and I hope the Games have proven this once and for all. She only survived because of me.” She shot a glance at Pendragon, her eyes full of poison. “Did I want to cooperate with her? No, of course not! I wasn’t about to trust my life to her incompetence.”

Pendragon’s hands were curled into fists by her side. I could see her shoulders shaking.

Everything Regan said had been lies.

Was Pendragon going to point that out? If she didn’t, I would, I decided.

I took a step forward. “With all due respect to Miss Pansera,” I said–in other words, none whatsoever. I turned to look at Regan, my eyes holding hers. “I’d be fully sympathetic to her dilemma if I didn’t happen to know for a fact that every word out of her mouth was a lie. We all know that. We were as good as there. We saw exactly what happened. Miss Pansera–” I saw Regan stiffen a little more each time I used her title and not her first name. “Abandoned my consort and went off without her, leaving her to navigate the first challenge alone. It was only thanks to the selfless actions of Visha Vaidya and Evander Sylvain that my consort made it across at all.” Giving Evander any credit was a little rich, but I figured mentioning his name wouldn’t hurt. After all, the Sylvains were another powerful highblood family. “And what did Miss Pansera do next? Did she go to Miss Pendragon, apologize, and offer her assistance for the rest of the Games? No. She underhandedly and cowardly enlisted the help of two other consorts to try to murder Miss Pendragon.”

Lord Pansera cut me off. “My daughter acted with the strength and resolve of a true highblood,” he said, his voice firm. He refused to look at me. “She was placed in a completely untenable situation, paired with an unworthy blightborn girl who should never have been allowed to participate in those Games, let alone serve as a consort to an archon of one of our noblest families. If you ask me, that error is where the real problem lies.”

He swept his gaze across the room, from Headmaster Kim to my uncle. “Lord Drakharrow, I understand the dilemma you faced that day in the Keep, with the heads of the other four houses all watching to see how you would react to this strange girl’s arrival. But Medra Pendragon, this supposed dragon rider–” He fairly spat the words. “–is the reason things went wrong in the first place. She’s the reason my daughter almost died. She lured us all in with blightborn trickery. There is nothing noble about her. And as even she admitted that first day, she is useless–for despite what we all may wish, there are no dragons and there never will be again. My daughter’s triad has been doomed to failure from the moment it was formed, from the moment you allowed the blightborn girl to take up a place here where she does not belong. If you want to ensure the future success of your nephew and my daughter, I insist you cut her loose now. Expunge her from Sangratha.” He turned to rest his eyes on Pendragon. “Execution is too good for her, as far as the Pansera family is concerned.”

I growled low in my throat. “Watch yourself. If anyone deserves to be cut loose, it’s your treacherous daughter.”

I scanned the room. “Who requested the Crown of Bones be used on Pendragon?” I looked over at Regan. “It was you, wasn’t it? I want you to admit it. You purposely tried to sabotage your fellow consort. You did so repeatedly, over and over. Every act of disloyalty you committed towards Pendragon was an act of disloyalty towards me and my house.”

I could only hope Viktor would see it that way, too.

I could hardly stand to look at Regan. We’d grown up together. Our parents had been friends. Now the sight of her filled me with nothing but loathing. Had I really ever let that snake into my bed?

There was a tense, uncomfortable silence as Regan stared back at me, refusing to confess.

“It doesn’t matter,” Headmaster Kim finally interjected. “It doesn’t matter who requested its use. The Crown of Bone was used fairly. We were within our rights to allow it. And your consort survived. That’s all that matters.”