He and his ilk were horrible. But I couldn’t deny how powerful they seemed to be.

This entire world seemed to cater to them. Florence seemed ready to almost worship them. She was happy to be here and she thought nothing of the fact that the vampires might have involuntarily conscripted mortals to be here.

I’d forgotten to ask Florence about the burned out village where Blake had found me. What had happened to it? Why did no one seem to care?

I thought of what the highblood vampires had said about me. That I had the markings of a rider. A dragon rider.

Now that might be the most ludicrous part of all of this. They’d betrothed me to one of their princes because my blood was clearly valuable. And yet they had no actual dragons. Nothing for me to ride. So what was the point?

Unless there was more to my blood than I knew. More than they’d said.

But without another dragon rider to ask, I had no idea how I was going to find out.

I wondered what the dragon riders had been like. What had they been capable of? What had their dragons been like?

And most importantly, why had they all died out?

Of course, there was always the chance this was a mistake. The traits the vampires saw as marking me as a rider in this world, simply marked me as half-fae in Aercanum. Did that mean any fae from Aercanum would be considered a dragon rider here in Sangratha?

Or did it mean I was a fraud? Not someone with rider blood at all?

I supposed it didn’t really matter. Even if I wasn’t what they thought I was, how would they ever find out? There were no dragons to test me with.

All I had to do was try to fit in. Do as I was told. Go to my classes. Pretend I was a docile little lamb like Florence.

All the while, I’d be scheming to find a way out of here.

There was no point simply diving out a window. I needed to know my enemy first. If I’d been given a second chance at life, well, then I guessed I should make the best of it and actually try to form a real life once I left here. And that meant finding out more about this land and its people. There had to be other kingdoms. Maybe somewhere in the world was a place without vampires.

A place I could be free.

My eyes were closing. It was time to acknowledge how exhausted I really was.

In Aercanum, I’d spent every ounce of power I’d had before imploding like a star.

Then I’d woken up here, drained and tired. I’d been forced to march for miles before standing in a hall of judgment only to be led on a school tour.

It was time to rest.

I pulled myself out of the marble tub before I could fall asleep and accidentally drown, wrapped myself in one of the huge fluffy towels that were stacked on a small table, and shuffled back into the bedroom.

Dressing myself in a soft blue cotton nightset, I climbed up onto the bed.

The ceiling had been painted a rich dark blue and an overlay of little silver stars had been added to it. It was lovely, really. And totally unexpected in this place.

I stared up at it for a while, thinking about my next move and yawning repeatedly.

I was hungry. But the thought of braving the common room or making my way all the way back to the refectory was not appealing. I decided I could make it until morning. More motivation to get up on time. Speaking of which...

I fumbled around the bedside table until I found a timepiece and set it for six. That should be early enough.

Then I lay back on the bed, not even bothering to pull back the covers, and let my eyes fall closed for the last time that day.

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CHAPTER 4 - MEDRA

The timepiece let out a shrill piercing scream and I lurched out of bed cursing and flailing.

As my eyes slowly opened, I groaned. Running my fingers through my hair, I grimaced, then yanked my hands free. I’d forgotten to brush my hair out before falling asleep after my bath and now it was in knots.

Walking over to a mirror on the wall, I peered at my reflection. Excellent. My hair was as unkempt as a bird’s nest. Not the look I was going for.

Grabbing a brush, I tried to tame the curls but it was no use. I’d have to wash my hair again that night and detangle it with one of the bottles of oil I’d seen in the bathroom. If I wasn’t too tired again, that was.

In the meantime, I had two choices. I could go around today looking as if a crow might land on my head to nest anytime. Or I could put my hair back and show off my pointed ears.

Either way, I’d probably be getting a lot of stares.

I went with twisting my hair into a loose knot. That way it was off my face and hopefully the curls looked as if I’d intended them to be wild, rather than them being so completely by accident. Plus, this way my ears were covered if I tucked some hair over just so.

Next up was clothes. I yanked open the wardrobe and quickly selected a gray wool pullover sweater and fitted black trousers that had a little give to them. I had no idea what sorts of classes I’d been enrolled in, but I figured it made the most sense to wear clothes I could move around in easily. Just in case.

A pair of high brown leather boots came next. I laced them up quickly, just as my stomach started to rumble.

“I know, I know,” I muttered. “Soon. I promise.”

There was a tapping at the door and I jerked up. “Who is it?”

When there was no answer, I marched to the door and pulled it open.

Regan Pansera stood outside. She’d been tapping her foot impatiently but stopped as soon as she saw me.

For a brief moment, her face was a mask of emotions I couldn’t quite read. Then her eyes met mine and she smiled warmly.

“Medra,” she crooned. “So good to see you again. I’m glad your warden told you to be ready. I’ll take you down to the refectory for breakfast.”

I swallowed. Regan Pansera was the epitome of elegance. She may have been the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Her silver-blonde hair had been styled to flow in soft waves and shimmered with a metallic sheen, as if there were truly metal in it. The early morning light brought out the warm, honeyed undertones of her rich complexion, a radiant caramel with a subtle glow. She wore a dark fitted dress of deep red that cut off just above the knee. Black polished boots with a high heel finished her ensemble.

There were words embroidered in black thread on the collar of her dress.

Sanguine Vinciti.

She followed my gaze and touched a finger to the embroidery with a look of pride. “Bound by blood. The motto of House Drakharrow.”

I nodded and stepped out into the hallway. She led the way and I followed her in silence, unsure of the right thing to say.

But I didn’t need to worry. When we reached the outer corridor, she spoke up again.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday,” Regan said, glancing at me as we walked side by side. “I hope we can start fresh. After all, we’re both betrothed to the same man. We’re to be fellow consorts. That’s practically like sisters.”

I choked on the air I’d just breathed. Now, I decided, was not the best time to tell Regan she was welcome to keep Blake Drakharrow all to herself.

I forced a smile. “I’d like that. To start again, I mean. I hope you know that I mean you no harm.”

“Of course, you don’t,” she said soothingly. “What harm could you do to a vampire, anyhow? I wasn’t threatened by you. Not in the least. To tell you the truth, I was worried for Blake. His uncle can be so hard on him at times. I wasn’t sure if Viktor was going to be happy Blake had brought you back or furious. I’m so glad everything worked out.”

I stole a curious glance at her. She really did seem different this morning. Much more serene and happy. Was Blake right and she’d simply accepted the new order of things? I watched as she tucked a gleaming lock of hair behind her ear.