Burning Bright (Going Down in Flames #5)

“I guess.”

After hanging up the phone, Bryn lay on the couch for a while, rolling this new information around in her brain. She had no answers to the Silver cult dragon-pire mystery or to her odd and most certainly one-time feeling of attraction to Jaxon. It must have been the stress or the fact that she’d been concerned for his well-being. When she saw him tomorrow she was sure everything would be back to normal.





Chapter Twenty-Three


News spread about the Greens that had been arrested and students seemed to grow leery of their classmates. Garrett approached Bryn during Basic Movement.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “Everyone is looking at us like we might go darkside and try to suck out their Quintessence at any moment.”

“I’m sorry.” She wished the Directorate would share that the dragon-pires were Blue-Green hybrids but understood why they’d want to keep that information quiet during their investigation. “Your entire Clan shouldn’t be judged by the actions of a few random whack jobs.”

“I feel like we need to put together some sort of PR campaign, like, ‘Remember we’re still the dragons most likely to heal you or help you with your homework so stop looking at us like we might slit your throat at any moment.’”

“We could put that on a poster,” Bryn said. “Although, we might want to tone down that last part.” He didn’t seem to appreciate her attempt at humor. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “And as a Green, the illogical nature of this situation is highly annoying.” And with that he stalked off.

Clint and Ivy had been standing in line behind her, so they’d heard the entire exchange.

“It is kind of ridiculous that people would be suspicious of the whole Clan now,” Clint said.

“Do you think all the dragon-pires are Green?” Ivy asked.

“Who knows?” said Bryn.

“I’m just playing Devil’s advocate here. In one way it makes sense,” Clint leaned closer and whispered. “Greens are acknowledged as being the most intelligent dragons. What if a group of them were tired of being ruled by inferior-minded Blues?”

Bryn snorted with laughter. “Sorry, I just had an image of Ferrin reacting to your description.”

“That would not be pretty,” Ivy said. “I hate that those dragon-pire lackeys were able to feed off us and then make us forget it.”

“That’s really been bugging me,” Clint said. “I have absolutely no memory of anything happening. No missing time. We weren’t late for classes. How did they manage it?”

“I have no idea,” Bryn said.

The line for jousting moved forward, and Bryn was next to go up the ladder to do battle with the giant foam-tipped cotton swab. She climbed the rungs with ease. When she reached the top, she discovered she was facing-off with a Blue female.

“Your marriage will be a joke,” the girl said before swinging at Bryn’s shoulders.

“Excuse me?” Bryn blocked the blow and swung at the girl’s hips.

The girl dodged the blow. “You heard me. Jaxon deserves better than you.” The girl swung at Bryn’s head.

Bryn ducked. “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care.” She swung at the girl’s legs. “And your opinion means nothing to me.”

“Really? It seems to be upsetting you.” The girl swiped at Bryn’s shoulders.

Bryn smacked the girl’s stick down, knocked her off-balance, and then whacked her as hard as she could, toppling her off the podium and into the pit of foam blocks below.

Who in the hell did that girl think she was? Bryn focused on cold. Tell-tale wisps of smoke drifting from her nostrils would tell everyone how pissed off she was. No one had been so openly rude to her in months. What was that girl’s problem? She climbed down the ladder ready to give the girl a piece of her mind, but when she reached the floor her new not-so-friendly acquaintance was nowhere to be seen.

“Did you see where she went?” Bryn asked Ivy while Clint climbed up to take his turn.

“Who?” Ivy asked.

“The girl I just faced off with?”

“No.”

Bryn gave her a summary of the lovely conversation.

“She’s probably jealous because Jaxon is higher up the social ladder than whoever she’s contracted to marry,” Ivy said. “Don’t let it bother you.”

Right. In theory it was easy to say that the girl’s opinion meant nothing, but Bryn hadn’t missed the random verbal insults from Blues and she wasn’t happy to have them back. “I thought I wouldn’t need to be thick-skinned anymore, but I guess I was wrong.”

“There’s been a lot going on lately,” Ivy said. “She probably just caught you off guard.”

“You’re right.”

“Bryn,” Jaxon’s voice came from behind her.

She turned around to see him coming toward her with an amused smile on his face.

“That’s your I-know-something-you-don’t look,” Bryn said. “What’s up?”

“You won’t find this amusing,” he warned, “but we’ve been summoned to dinner at Westgate Estate this evening.”

“What?” That had bad idea written all over it. “Why? And why do you think this is funny?”

“I’m not sure why we’re having dinner, but I find it amusing because I’ve had to endure several meals at your grandparents’ house and that last one was especially horrific.”

“True.” Which left her little room for griping. “I don’t suppose you know who is going to be there?”

“My parents and your grandparents, as far as I know. But you might want to call your mother to find out if she’s coming.”

“What? I thought that was supposed to be a Christmas thing.”

“I spoke to my mother about us wanting to exchange gifts at the Christmas Ball instead, and she agreed that would be better.”

“That’s a relief.”



After their last class, Jaxon walked Bryn back to her room. She had two hours to mentally and physically prepare for what could possibly be the world’s most uncomfortable dinner. First step, call her mom.

“Hello, sweetie. What’s up?”

“This will sound weird, but were you invited to have dinner at the Westgate’s tonight?”

Her mom laughed. “Are you joking?”

“No. I have it on good authority that Lillith has been trying to make sure that you’re included in some sort of dinner out of misplaced maternal instinct.”

“She wants to put your father and I in the same room with Ferrin?” Her mom snorted.

“Uhm…no. Here’s the crappy part. If it happens, Dad isn’t invited.”

“If that’s how the invitation is extended, I’ll refuse it,” her mom said. “When I told you that I’m just happy to be part of your life and I had no illusions about being accepted back into dragon society, I meant it.”

“While I don’t love that answer,” Bryn said, “I’m beginning to see your point. I’d like to see both you and Dad. Can I come visit you tomorrow?”

“We’d love that. Why don’t you come out for lunch?”

“Should I stop and pick up some carryout?”

“No. I’ll cook,” her mom said.

There was only one problem and she wasn’t sure how to explain it to her mom. “There have been some safety issues on campus, so I’m not supposed to go anywhere alone. I bet I could get Clint and Ivy to ride to Sanctuary with me, and then they could go to Dragon’s Bluff for lunch.”

“What type of safety issues,” her mom asked. “Did something happen to you?”

“I’m fine, and that’s all you need to know right now. I’ll explain everything else tomorrow.”

“Yes,” her mom said. “You will.”

“Before you become upset, just be thankful that you won’t be spending time with Ferrin tonight.”

“I’m grateful for that fact every day of my life. See you tomorrow.”

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