Marked by Dragon's Blood (Return of the Dragonborn Book 1)

by N. M. Howell

  That day she was sitting behind Carmen and Yara. When Andie registered for classes, she had decided to enroll in one class that was several stages ahead of a first-year course load. Luckily, Theory of Temporal Incantations had no prerequisites. So far Andie had fallen somewhat behind, but the subject matter was finally starting to come together for her. Carmen and Yara were talking excitedly between themselves about the upcoming One Thousandth Winter Festival—it was actually the one thousandth and first festival, but the festival had been suspended the previous year due to concerns about an ancient curse that was supposed to manifest in the year 1,000 (of course, nothing happened). They chattered away while Professor Harrock proselytized about space-time meditation and interdimensional spell casting.

  As it happened, Tarven had recently become Professor Harrock’s teaching assistant and at the moment he was sitting in a corner, behind and to the left of the professor, distracting Andie with a staring contest. His eyes were almost talking, taunting, teasing her with their depth and attraction. They’d been at this game for nearly the entire class: he’d win, then she’d win, then he’d win again. they were having so much fun that they’d completely let reality slip away. That was especially dangerous for Andie because she’d become so comfortable there, watching him, that she let her dragon magic slip out of her control. She was so immersed in the moment that she was being consumed by the thought of Tarven. His eyes. His lips. The way he laughed and the way he turned in the sunlight. Her concealment spell had already begun fading before she noticed. By pure luck she happened to look down at her arm and see that the hairs there were turning a light, but radiant purple. She sat up as straight as a beam and closed her eyes to focus on repressing the magic. After that she turned her attention away from Tarven, sending him a last smile.

  She tried to pay attention to Professor Harrock, but she had missed too much of the lecture and she had no idea what the “paradigm shift of the temporal grimoire anomaly” was. Carmen and Yara were still chatting away, so Andie leaned forward to talk with them.

  “So, I’ve been eavesdropping and I’m kind of interested in this Winter Festival business,” she said. “Want to fill me in?”

  “Oh, so you mean you’re done ogling Tarven?”

  Carmen never beat around the bush; she spoke her mind unflinchingly. Andie knew she was only kidding with her, but still there was something almost bitter about it, something strangely cold. Andie had been suspecting for a while now that Carmen resented her a little for not dating Raesh.

  “Well, yeah,” Andie said. “Sorry, couldn’t help it.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” Yara said. “That is one fantastic looking specimen. I’m kind of jealous actually.”

  “The world is full of great guys and I know you’ll find one someday,” Andie said. “Now, tell me about the festival.”

  “Well, it was supposed to have been held last year, but they thought a bunch of people were going to die and evil was going to rise, so on and so forth. Long story short, it’s the festival’s thousandth year and they’re saying it’s going to be the biggest celebration Noelle’s ever seen. The want to make the millennial an occasion that will never be forgotten.”

  “Usually, they expect tens of thousands to come,” Carmen said. “But this year they’re expecting millions. It’s going to be the most spectacular thing of our lives. Can you imagine even being alive for this? Hundreds of years from now they’ll still be talking about this.”

  “Sounds exciting,” Andie said.

  “Have you never heard of the Winter Festival?”

  “Sure. My dad always told me it was a really big deal in Arvall, but we never came because he said that people came in from all over Noelle and it could be potentially dangerous.”

  “Andie, take it from me,” Carmen said, leaning in. “There is nothing like the Winter Festival anywhere in this region or even this hemisphere. It’s primarily for the University and its students, but over the centuries the whole city began to take part. You have no idea what you’re in for. Ball gowns, dancing, food, music, exhibitions of creatures brought from distant lands, magic you can’t even imagine...”

  Carmen trailed off as she noticed that Andie was once again flirting with Tarven. In her defense, Andie hadn’t even noticed that she’d stopped listening.

  “Andie. Andie!”

  Andie snapped back into her body, her eyes landing on Carmen.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Carmen, I didn’t even know what was going on. That was so rude of me.”

  “Are you going to go to the festival with him?”

  Andie couldn’t tell how Carmen meant the question: was it an accusation or a hint into her disappointment? Both? Andie became flustered and could feel her cheeks begin to burn as they reddened. Suddenly she was nervous.

  “I don’t see why not,” she said. “If he wants to ask me.”

  She honestly didn’t know if he did.

  * * *

  After class, Andie caught SKY 6 on her way home. Suddenly she had a lot to think about, namely how her relationship—if she could even call it that—with Tarven was going to affect her relationship with her host family. Marvo, Raesh, and Carmen had been nothing but good to her and had helped her through some incredibly tough times. They were still helping her with the transition from Michaelson to Arvall City, and from taking care of her father to taking care of herself. She didn’t want to seem uncaring and she didn’t want them to think of her as someone who had toyed with Raesh’s feelings—though she was beginning to suspect that she had, inadvertently. What would happen if they thought she’d chosen Tarven over them? What would she do without them?

  Andie had tried to get Tarven to socialize with them, but he simply wouldn’t deign to talk to Marvo and Raesh. He had no problems talking to Carmen, though, since she had magic in her blood, but he had no patience and no respect for humans. Raesh had made an honest attempt to compromise and meet Tarven halfway, but it hadn’t worked. Tarven’s elitist priorities were ingrained in him.

  Marvo was doing his very best to pretend that Tarven didn’t bother him and he didn’t mind having him around. Carmen seemed too torn to make up her mind either way; she’d gotten by this far by simply avoiding the topic. But Raesh had been a complete sweetheart and a terrific friend. He seemed to understand that Andie, for whatever reason, had chosen Tarven and that he, Raesh, now had to do what any good friend should and be happy for her. And he was. Certainly, he didn’t pretend to like Tarven and he’d stopped trying to greet him, but he stayed courteous through it all.

  SKY 6 sped down the mountain as if furious with the world. Outside the window, the rain came in torrents. Sometime during the Fifth Cycle of the First Age the sky had changed. Some say it was because of the massive and horrific war that had spread over the earth, others say it was because of the sky being stained by the blood of the Cloud Mages as their species went extinct by the millions. Some say it was simply time. But since then, the lighting had turned green and more violent than at any other time in the history of the earth. Arvall City was protected by powerful charms and incantations, but there were whole regions in Noelle that had been rendered uninhabitable because the lightning struck the earth with such ferocity and frequency. At the Hot Salts of Mithraldia, the lightning struck the earth some seven thousand times per hour when it rained. Now when a storm came, the world beneath flashed in green bursts of swift and violent light, like some great deity in the sky above had gone mad. Even the rain had changed over time, and if you looked closely you could see the hint of green in the drops. The spellglass had been transformed into a striated pattern with raised wavelike ridges in order to help the rain roll off easier. Andie watched the drops leaving the window almost as soon as they landed. She started thinking of her past.

  * * *

  That night they’d come to Michaelson to check for dragonborn. There had been an attack in Taline earlier that day and the council of the city had contacted the University and asked for the Searchers. The Searche
rs were essentially just mercenaries, but no one questioned the University. By the time her parents finally got home from Taline, the Searchers were already pounding on the door and Andie was alone. Her mom and dad fought off the first wave of men valiantly; Andie could still remember their strength and power, the beautiful and mesmerizing way they used their magic to defend her. Her family had run outside to escape, but they were caught in matrices, magical traps set up to stop magical beings from teleporting. The Searchers took her mom away and Andie never saw her again. They nearly killed her dad. They tried to erase their memory of her mother, but Andie’s magic had protected their minds.

  * * *

  Sometimes Andie wished her magic hadn’t seeped out, hadn’t protected all those memories of her mother. She could have grown up so much happier, so much more whole if she didn’t always carry with her the terrible memories of that night. It definitely would have saved her father unimaginable pain and grief. So many things could have been different.

  When she finally made it to the restaurant, she’d managed to clear her head while walking through the city streets. She was ready to get to her daily tasks. Marvo and Raesh never stopped insisting that she didn’t need to earn her keep, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Besides, she knew they’d grown to like her company. She came in and said hi to them both, immediately getting to work. Raesh was cleaning tables and Andie worked on the floors, but she kept getting distracted. Raesh was joking with her about the way she mopped and she was trying her best to focus on what he was saying, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the Winter Festival and what it would mean to be asked to it by Tarven.

  “You know mopping is supposed to have a sort of rhythm,” he teased.

  Andie made no reply, having not heard him because of her deep reverie.

  “Well,” Raesh continued, not to be daunted, “If you can’t move a mop, you probably can’t move your feet either. In my experience a girl who can’t find a rhythm in her daily life certainly isn’t going to pick it up overnight for a dance.”

  “Yeah, probably will,” Andie said, no idea what she was replying to or even what she was saying.

  She’d been mopping the same small circle for nearly five minutes and while she was clueless, Raesh had noticed. He had also guessed, correctly, that it was probably Tarven she was thinking about. But if she’d been paying attention she would’ve seen the intense resolve on Raesh’s face. He’d started and now he had to finish.

  “And to think, I was going to ask you to the Winter Festival,” he said, finishing with a brave smile when he must have been terrified.

  “Do you think Tarven will ask me to the Winter Festival? Should I ask him?”

  She hadn’t heard a single word he’d said.

  “You know, why don’t you call it a day,” he said, his face looking crushed and angry. “I can manage the rest of this.”

  “Raesh, I’m not going to let you clean all of this on your own. Let me-”

  “I said go, Andie!”

  As soon as he said it his expression changed. He seemed surprised and even ashamed at himself for yelling. Still, with a last lingering look he turned his back on Andie and went into the kitchen. Andie was oblivious, having missed the entire conversation only to catch the ending rage. She leaned the mop against the wall and went up to her room, totally confused.

  Chapter Fourteen

  She was hardly in her bed five minutes before she decided to go to Leabherlann. She made up her mind to study and engage in yet another futile search for texts on the dragonborn or anything relating to dragons at all.

  When she reached the great library, Carmen was there. She was flirting—incredibly shamelessly—with Fohrn, the young green-eyed assistant who was filling in while Murakami was out sick. Fohrn was sweet and although he was stupid, he was rather daft and could be persuaded to allow almost anything for the promise of friendship or romantic attention. He was the worst possible person for the job. Andie sat at a quiet table a few rows ahead of Carmen and waited, knowing Carmen would either see her or get tired of Fohrn and leave, having to pass Andie to do it. It didn’t take long. Carmen seemed engrossed in whatever Fohrn was talking about, but she happened to look Andie’s way and caught her eye. She excused herself and came over to Andie’s table.

  “So, I heard Tarven might be asking you to the dance,” she said.

  Andie opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it. Things with Tarven were constantly up and down, but lately they’d been relatively good. The only problem was Raesh, who (1 had feelings that couldn’t be ignored, (2 was a really good friend, (3 had made every effort to be happy for Andie and get to know Tarven, and (4 was Carmen’s cousin. When Carmen asked Andie why she was so upset, Andie told her all of this and about what had happened at the restaurant.

  “He was just so angry,” Andie finished.

  “Andie,” Carmen began, touching her hand. “I know you care about Raesh and I know he’s your best friend, but I don’t think you really appreciate how he feels.”

  “Carmen, I know Raesh likes me, bu—”

  “Raesh loves you. He’s in love with you, Andie. All that flirting and nonchalance he puts on is just an act, and it’s not even a good one anymore. You’re a gifted sorceress, brilliant even, and you have a way and a rapport with magic that I can’t begin to fathom, but you’re not so good at small details. You don’t notice things. Like how Raesh shifted his entire weekly schedule just so he could be with you when you work. Or how he follows you in the mornings to make sure you make it to the train safely. You don’t even know that most of the time he’s the one who cooks your food, not Uncle Marvo. Did you know that when we first met I didn’t even like you?”

  “What? Why not?”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it was Raesh who made me promise to stick with you. He wanted me to teach you, protect you. He’s what brought us together. He’s been working in the background of your life since you first got into Arvall.”

  And without any delay or deliberation, Andie began to understand. Truly understand. She was starting to see Raesh for the first time and it was no wonder he’d been so mad. How could she have been so blind for so long? His reaction had been so intense because his feelings were. And, strangest of all, Andie wasn’t sorry he felt that way.

  “That being said, nothing excuses his temper,” Carmen said, regained her composure. “Knowing Raesh, he’ll be waiting for you to come back so he can apologize. It might do you some good to apologize, too.”

  Andie mumbled something, but didn’t put up much resistance to the idea. They both knew Carmen was right. Raesh would eventually have to accept the way things were, but other than acknowledging Raesh’s feelings in her own mind, Andie hadn’t done much in the way of protecting him. She sat with Carmen for as long as she could stand, until the guilt became too much and she had to go.

  She got up claiming she was going to look for some books, but really she just wanted to message Raesh from somewhere private. Even though Carmen wouldn’t have been able to know what Andie was sending, it still felt weird to have someone else’s eyes on her while she dealt with Raesh—“dealt with” because there was simply no other way to put it without verbose circumvention. She found a quiet, empty corner and sat on the oak and lamb armchair, her back against the warm, smooth marble.

  Raesh... It’s been weird with us lately. Not my intention. Still a chance for us?

  “Great,” she mumbled to herself. “Now I’ve become those people who can’t even be bothered to make full sentences. City life does not suit me.”

  A chance? he responded.

  She knocked her head against the high back of the armchair. She’d used the wrong language. She’d led him on again. She took a breath and tried again, wondering when she’d finally break the cycle, finally allow Raesh to have just a modicum of respect.

  To be real friends. She wrote. REAL friends. I know me being with Tarven is hard for you. I’m sorry. Can you believe that?

  It seeme
d a terrifyingly long wait until he responded and Andie had nearly given up hope that he would.

  Sure. To both. I’m trying as hard as I can to just be happy for you Andie. TOUGH. But you’re worth having in my life. One way or another. If friends is the only option, I’ll take it.

  Me too. Best friends. Want to come hang out at magic school?

  Try to stop me. An hour good?

  Great. See you soon.

  Feeling perhaps a thousand times better, Andie got up and was off again to look for more books. Without even wasting time on the thought of checking the public areas, Andie headed straight for the archives on the lower levels. She skipped right down into the hallway leading to the archives, brimming with the excitement of mending her friendship with Raesh, when she saw Tarven and Professor Harrock standing in the entrance to the archives at the end of the hall. She hid in the indentation of the wall that was barely as wide as she was. Tarven and the professor were arguing in rough whispers, checking over their shoulders, and very nearly trembling with the force of whatever emotion was animating them. Andie tried her best to listen to them, but they were just far enough from her to be inaudible. She thought she might hear something about added security, maybe something about concealment spells, but just when their conversation was rising to a decipherable level, her phone buzzed. Knowing they’d be turning around to track the sound, Andie took off.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Later that evening, Raesh met Andie on campus. They opted for a walk in front of the University’s façade, the long side of the building facing the direction of Arvall.