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I'm pretty sure I clearly resemble a fish out of water. My eyes are wide as I stare at the man in front of me, laying on my back, my mouth flapping as I search for an excuse. Finally I snap my mouth shut and shut avert my gaze. Let him speak first.

"Do you need help?" his voice carries to my ears and I return my gaze to him suspiciously.

"You're not going to turn me into Riorson for spying on you and let him kill me just in case I go and rat out all of your secrets?" I say, narrowing my eyes.

The man's mouth twists into a small smirk. "Well, I couldn't have been sure that was what you were doing, could I?" he responds. "But now that you have so conveniently told me everything you were up to out here, I might just have to turn you in." He wags his finger back and forth mockingly, and I narrow my eyes further. Is this a joke?

Finally that smirk of his lifts into an actual grin, and he holds out his hand. "Liam Mairi," he says. I stare at the hand he's offering before taking it and letting him haul me up.

"Wisteria Colland," I mutter.

"Nice to meet you, Wisteria," he says pleasantly. He begins walking toward the college and I hurry to follow, not particularly wanting to get caught out here by someone less...friendly?

"You're a first year, right?" I ask. "I've seen you on the mat. You're good." Might as well keep on his good side—and maybe try to redeem myself after I just got caught spying.

"Yeah. You're pretty good yourself." Liam shoots me a smile, and I have to turn my face away as a red flush spreads over my cheeks. Fuck. Am I blushing? I've been possessed.

Liam walks with me back to the dorms in a comfortable silence, but pulls me to a stop before we enter. "I can trust you not to tell anyone about...what you saw out there?" The man's gaze is suddenly serious as he looks at me. I find myself almost frozen as his blue eyes stare at me—not cold blue, like mine, but a deep, wonderful blue.

I have to yank my gaze away from his in order to answer. "Uh, yeah," I mumble. Yeah, way to make him think you're lying. So I force myself to look back at him. "Yeah. Sorry."

"'Sorry'?" His brow furrows in confusion. I suppose I have nothing to be sorry for—but that horrid word seems to have a prominent place in my vocabulary.

"Good night!" I say hurriedly and rush into the dorms. When I reach my bed, I flop down onto it with a groan and smother my face with my pillow.

What the fuck was that, Wisteria? He probably thinks you're a weird idiot who can't form coherent sentences. Wait, what? Why do I even care what he thinks? He's just another egotistical man trying to become a dragon rider. Screw his abnormally pretty eyes and blond hair that always seems to look good.

"Are you ok, Wisteria?" Rhiannon's voice jolts me from my thoughts and I roll over to look at her.

"Yes," I mutter. "No? I don't know." I see Liam entering the dorms out of the corner of my eye and quickly look away. Didn't even know who he was an hour ago. Stay that way. No distractions.

But Rhiannon notices my slip, and her face lights up with a delighted grin. "Liam?"

I slap my hands over my face with another groan. "No. We met like, half an hour ago. Nope."

"No, no," Rhiannon shakes her head, that ridiculous smile still spread over her face. "I can see it. You are totally in love."

"What?" I exclaim, my eyes shooting open. "In love? That's ridiculous. I've never been in love a day in my life. Besides, did you not hear me say we met half an hour ago?"

Rhiannon shrugs. "Ever heard the term, 'love at first sight'? It's quite common." I roll back over onto my stomach, shoving my face into my pillow once again.

"You are no help," I grumble into the pillow. I hear Rhiannon's teasing giggle as she stands up and walks away. Fuck.

.  .  .

I lean my head on my cheek as I sit through Professor Kaori's class. He's currently showing the cadets in front of him a projection of the different kinds of dragons—dragons Rylan had made me memorize right from when he had begun teaching me. I knew them all.

Kaori's signet was cool though, allowing him to project his thoughts so we can see what he sees. He currently stands next to a miniature version of a Green Daggertail, which switches to a Red Scorpiontail after a moment.

"Red Scorpiontails, like Ghrian here, are the quickest to temper," Professor Kaori says, his voice loud and clear throughout the room. "So if you offend him, you're—"

"Lunch," Ridoc interrupts. I snort.

"Precisely." Kaori nods his head in Ridoc's direction. "So what's the best way to approach a Red Scorpiontail?"

"They prefer that you approach from the left and from the front, if possible." The answer comes from a tall woman from another squad.

"Excellent. For this Threshing, there are three Red Scorpiontails willing to bond." I study the projections as they flip from one of the huge red dragons to the next. I imagine they're all around middle aged; but no matter the age, each one of these dragons would be a formidable partner. Not that you get to choose. No, if it was that simple, they wouldn't put us through months of training beforehand. 'The dragon chooses you'.

Rylan had said those words countless times during our training. Just as a reminder that while I may be one of the best of the cadets, if a dragon sees fit, it could roast me alive.

"How many dragons are there in total?' Rhiannon asks.

"A hundred this year. But some might change their minds during Presentation in about two months, depending on what they see," Kaori replies.

"That's thirty-seven fewer than last year," Violet murmurs. She says it quietly, but in the silence of the room, her voice carries to the front of the class.

"Yes Sorrengail," Professor Kaori says, "it is, and twenty-six fewer than the year before that."

"Will they tell you why they won't bond?" A first year up front asks.

"No, jackass. Dragons only talk to their bonded riders," Jack scoffs, "just like they only give their full name to their bonded rider. You should know this by now."

"You know, Jack, the creators of the word 'jackass' must have taken a lot of inspiration from you," I speak up sweetly, batting my eyelashes at the man, who shoots me a death glare he must've been practicing since birth. Rhiannon snorts.

Professor Kaori glowers at Jack, and then at me, but I simply turn my innocent gaze to the Professor. He presses his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose and sighs, turning away. "They don't share their reasons. And anyone who respects their life won't ask a question they're not willing to answer."

"Do the numbers affect the wards?" Aurelie asks.

"We're not sure," Kaori says in response. "The number of bonded dragons has never affected the integrity of Navarre's wards before, but I'm not about to lie to you and say we're not seeing increased breaches when you know from Battle Brief that we are."

"I'm surprised that's not redacted, considering almost everything else is," I mutter.

Professor Kaori's gaze snaps toward me. "Do you have something to say to the class, Colland?"

I lean back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest. "Not unless you want this class to turn into Battle Brief," I say. "Although, if you're willing to give a little more information than what they're giving us in that class, be my guest. Might make it actually worth it to sit through a class where all we get is 'that information is not classified for  first years.'"

I meet the Professor's gaze, raising an eyebrow. His lips press into a thin line, before he says, "No, Colland, I don't think that's necessary."

"That's what I thought," I say under my breath, leaning back forward and placing my chin in my hand.

The class continues as if I'd never said anything, which means that I'm bored out of my mind. Halfway through Kaori's lecture about staying away from the blue dragons, I'm sure I fall asleep, because the next thing I know Rhiannon is shaking my shoulder for me to wake up.

.  .  .

Before I know it, my name is being called up to the mat. I march up onto the squishy black platform confidently, waiting for my opponent to be called. Rhiannon just finished absolutely demolishing a guy from Second Wing—I have to admit, she's a hell of a fighter. She'd be fun to spar with. I'll have to ask her one of these days.

Professor Emetterio scans the room, searching for my opponent. Finally, he calls a name. A name I never thought I'd hear after mine during sparring. "Xaden Riorson." Emetterio flashes me a smile. "Lets give you a bit of competition, shall we, Colland?"

I clench my jaw as my wingleader stalks forward and onto the mat. A smirk rests on his perfect lips, and his arms flex as he crosses them. I'd seen Riorson fight—he really was good. Too good. It was uncanny how he immediately countered every move his opponent made with ease, as if he knew what they were going to do before they did it.

I narrow my eyes at him, and pick up a fighting stance. I study him when he does the same. He squares his broad shoulders, fists up, but not leaving his torso undefended. Xaden's legs are solidly placed; there's no way I could kick them out from under him.

"What are you waiting for, Colland?" He smirks tauntingly. "Scared?"

I scoff. "Please," I whisper audibly back. "The day I'm scared of you will be the day that I die. And that's not going to be for a very long time, Riorson."

This only makes his smirk widen. I see his shoulder's flex before his left fist is shooting out at my face, and I dodge the blow narrowly. I skip back, dodging another blow from his right this time. He advances with carefully placed steps, his eyes narrowed.

Before I can even think of what I'm about to do, I lunge forward and place a volley of blows to his muscled torso. It does quite literally nothing but catch him off guard—I can work with that.

Xaden's eyes widen slightly, before his features are schooled back into that of indifference. "Impressive," he murmurs. "But you're going to have to do a little more than that to take me down, Colland."

I roll my eyes, still skipping around him on light feet. Recalling the advice I had given Violet the day she sparred with Imogen, the next time Xaden swings his fist, I dart to the side to dodge instead of ducking and swing myself up onto his back in about the course of a second.

I doubt my weight is anything but a nuisance to the wingleader, but he must be feeling courteous today and gives me the satisfaction of a grunt. I wrap both forearms around his neck, and try to shove my weight forward in order to topple him over. But Xaden isn't in that much of a courteous mood, because he simply reaches up with both arms and grabs both of my upper arms in his hands and squeezes until I'm forced to loosen my grip from the pain. Before I know it, I'm being pulled over his head and slammed in to the ground.

I wheeze as the breath is knocked out of me, unable to move as the wingleader positions himself next to me. He crouches next to me, placing a hand by my head, and leaning down so his mouth is positioned right at my ear. I try not to shiver as he whispers, "like I said—you're going to have to do better than that to take me down."

"Fuck. You," I hiss, trying to swing my fist again. But Xaden sits up and places a knee on my stomach, moving his hand so it's positioned on my throat.

"Yield," he commands, his voice loud enough for the whole room to hear. I vaguely realize that almost everyone is watching.

"No," I snarl.

Xaden raises an eyebrow, and the pressure on my stomach worsens. "Yield."

I look him dead in the eye, putting all of my fury behind my eyes, and sneer, "no."

Xaden shakes his head with a mocking 'tsk'. "Some part of me was hoping you'd say that," he murmurs. Right before he socks me in the face and I'm knocked out cold.

_______

While writing this chapter, I realized how much Wisteria is literally me- especially the Liam part T-T

Oh well- anyways, how are you guys enjoying Wisteria's story so far? She's just met Liam! (And she's already in love, according to Rhiannon) do you think she's just going to accept her fate as Liam's beloved or keep denying it? How do you think Liam feels?

Oh yeah; Xaden and Wisteria have an interesting dynamic don't they? What's you're prediction with that messy little situationship there?