The Bond That Burns

Medra Pendragon has spent her entire summer locked in Drakharrow Tower.

Medra Pendragon has spent her entire summer locked in Drakharrow Tower. Two months ago, the black dragon Nyxaris burst from centuries of stone in Bloodwing Academy's Dragon Court—an accident born from a botched blood ritual—then flew away, leaving Medra to face the consequences alone. She cannot reach him through their fledgling mental connection. She cannot control him. But every highblood in Sangratha believes she can, and that bluff is the only thing keeping her alive. Viktor Drakharrow, the realm's most powerful vampire, wants answers she doesn't have. Blake Drakharrow, her unwanted archon who bonded her through deception and fed from her without consent, is both her jailer and her only shield. The sorrow haunting her has less to do with dragons and everything to do with him.

The oldest highblood alive cannot crack a blightborn girl's walls

Viktor storms into Medra's tower room, slaps her across the face, and slams his thrallweave—a brutal psychic attack—into her mind. She bleeds from the strain but holds firm, erecting mental barriers that no blightborn should possess. His frustration compounds: she's been secretly trained in thrallguard by Professor Rodriguez, and Viktor's power cannot breach her. When he demands to know how she woke Nyxaris, Medra gambles everything on a lie—she claims the dragon obeys her commands and will return when called. She warns that Nyxaris would sense any torture inflicted on his rider. Blake interrupts before Viktor can test the bluff further. Rodriguez escorts Medra to confinement and warns her plainly: if the ruse fails before a tribunal convenes, the highbloods may simply destroy her and the dragon both.

Medra demands the right to speak at her own trial

Medra enters the Tribunal wearing First Year colors—a deliberate rejection of House Drakharrow. Four regents preside: Viktor, who claims Medra through Blake's blood bond; Lady Elaria Avari, who argues the Duskdrake belongs to her house by ancestral right; Lord Mortis, who demands Medra's execution before the dragon destabilizes the realm; and young Lysander Orphos, who proposes letting Medra choose her own path. When Elaria suggests dissolving Blake's bond and assigning her grandson Kage Tanaka as Medra's new archon, the chamber erupts. Viktor insists the blood bond is irreversible. Mortis bellows that free riders brought ruin before. Then Medra rises unbidden from the iron chair and declares she belongs to no one—asking for time, freedom, and the chance to speak for herself and Nyxaris.

Nyxaris answers an insult with incineration Lord Mortis demands proof that Nyxaris listens to anyone. Medra leads the entire Tribunal outside and calls to the dragon through their connection, begging him to appear. After agonizing silence, wingbeats shake the sky. Nyxaris…