How not to fall for a Dragon

Kirrily Vane

My toes had gone numb twenty minutes ago. Now, the cold was a dull ache creeping up my legs. I kept my head down, hunched my shoulders, and let my teeth chatter. It wasn't entirely an act. The wind sweeping across the Snowy Mountains was brutal, carrying tiny pieces of ice that hit my cheeks like broken glass. We stood in the courtyard of the Obsidian Keep, though calling it a courtyard was generous. It was a flat stretch of black stone hanging over a thousand-foot drop into a frozen ravine.

Minus twelve degrees. That was what Jarrah had told me over the radio before I boarded the helicopter.

"Look pathetic, Kirri," my brother had said in his usual cheerful voice. "These rich kids feed on weakness. Give them what they want. Make them think you're a helpless girl with no magic, and they won't give you a second look."

He was right. He usually was.

I pulled my thin wool coat tighter around my body and tucked my bare hands under my arms. Around me stood the heirs of Australia's richest families. They looked perfectly comfortable in their expensive clothes, but that wasn't what kept them warm. Their magic did. I could actually see the heat coming off them.

To my left stood a tall girl with pale skin and a perfect auburn ponytail. She wore a light jacket, yet the snow melted before it could touch her shoulders. Indi Carmichael. Heiress to a powerful mining empire and a fire dragon by blood. She caught me staring, and her lips curled into a cruel smile.

"Try not to die before the Chancellor finishes his speech, scholarship girl," she said. Her voice was loud enough for the others to hear. "The staff will have to scrape your frozen body off the ground, and that will ruin the look of the place."

A few students laughed. Their laughter was soft and careless, the kind that came from people who had never worried about where their next meal would come from. I widened my eyes and trembled as I quickly looked away, fixing my gaze on the black stone beneath my cheap boots. Weak. Invisible. Harmless. I played the part perfectly.

But beneath my thick brown hair, just behind my left ear, a small patch of skin was burning. The jammer. It was a tiny piece of illegal technology hidden beneath the broken compass tattoo behind my ear. Jarrah had arranged for it to be implanted there. Its job was to hide my human identity by blocking the magical signals that others could normally sense. To the dragons around me, I was nothing. No magic. No power. Just an ordinary human who had no business standing among them.

If the device failed, I would be in serious trouble. The High Council would discover that I had lied my way into their academy. They wouldn't simply send me home. They would kill me and throw my body into the ravine.

"Welcome, initiates."

The voice cut through the howling wind, and the students fell silent. Chancellor Barton Sterling stood on a raised stone platform at the front of the courtyard. He was an older man with silver hair and a walking stick with a silver handle. He looked weak, but his voice carried across the entire courtyard without the help of a microphone.

"You stand at the gates of the Obsidian Keep," he began. "You are the heirs to some of the greatest fortunes in the world. But here, in the heart of the Snowy Mountains, your family wealth will not save you. Only power, intelligence, and the will to survive will earn you a place on the High Council."

He paused, looking over the fifty students standing before him. His eyes seemed to linger on the back row. On me.

"And yet," he continued, "the Keep believes in balance. Every ten years, we admit a small number of ordinary humans. Those who have no dragon blood. You are here because of your academic results."

Indi gave a quiet scoff. Sterling struck his walking stick against the stone, and a low hum spread through the ground beneath our feet.

"But do not mistake our decision for kindness. The Keep has no place for the weak. Your orientation is over."

His expression hardened.

"The cull begins now."

Before I could make sense of his words, the temperature dropped sharply. My breath froze in front of my face. This wasn't the weather. It was him.

The students began moving aside, opening a path through the crowd. A tall figure walked towards the front with a calm, silent step that made every instinct in my body scream at me to run.

Thane Corin.

He was twenty-three, but there was something about him that made him seem older. He stood well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a dark winter coat that probably cost more than the hospital where I was born. His platinum-blond hair whipped in the wind, but his eyes were what caught my attention. Glacial blue. Cold and ruthless.

He didn't need to threaten anyone. His presence alone was enough to make the other students step aside. The frost coming off his body was so strong that the heat around Indi faded as he passed. She shivered and lowered her head.

Thane Corin was the sole heir to the Corin Group, the largest business empire in the Southern Hemisphere. He was also an Alpha ice dragon. And he was the main target of my heist. Somewhere inside his private vault was an artifact worth enough to buy an entire country. My job was simple: find it, steal it, and deliver it to Jarrah. Simple, at least, on paper.

Thane stopped near the front and turned his head slightly. His cold eyes swept across the crowd until they landed on me. The moment our eyes met, a sharp pain struck my chest, right over my heart. I gasped and stumbled backwards.

Thane's brow tightened. It was a small change in his expression, but I noticed it. For a brief moment, the air between us felt strange, as if something invisible had pulled tight.

What was that? I'd never felt anything like it before. Don't look at him, my instincts warned. Look away. Remember who you are.

I lowered my head and pulled my coat tighter around me. The pain disappeared as quickly as it had come. I took a shaky breath. Was he using magic on me, or had something else just happened?

"Before you enter the Keep," Chancellor Sterling announced, bringing my attention back to him, "we must make sure that none of you have brought in forbidden objects, tracking devices, or false magical identities. The wards will now inspect every initiate."

My stomach dropped. The wards? Jarrah had promised that the first checks would only involve ordinary security scanners. He said the deeper magical scans wouldn't happen until we reached the infirmary, where he had already gained access to the medical system. He hadn't mentioned anything about this.

A deafening crack of thunder shook the mountain. At the far end of the courtyard, a huge wall of blue light rose from the black stone. It crackled with energy and stretched from the Keep's iron gates to the edge of the cliff. Then it began to move.

The glowing wall swept towards us, passing through the first row of students. As it touched them, their magical powers became visible. Indi blazed like a living fire, while others glowed with green light or silver energy. It wasn't an ordinary security check. The wards were scanning their very blood and magic.

The jammer behind my ear let out a sharp hiss. Pain burned through my skin.

Oh, God.

The device was designed to fool ordinary magical scanners, not a powerful wave like this. The wards were forcing it beyond its limits. If it failed, everyone would know I was hiding something. Worse, the small battery inside the device could overheat and burn through the skin behind my ear.

"Stay calm," I whispered. "Just stay calm, Kirri."

The blue wall was twenty feet away. Then ten. Heat spread behind my ear until it felt as if someone had pressed a burning piece of metal against my skin. I fought the urge to reach up and touch it. I couldn't afford to draw attention to myself.

I searched for a way out. To my right was the open ravine. To my left stood Indi and a crowd of powerful dragon shifters. In front of me was the approaching wall of magic. There was nowhere to go.

I had two seconds to decide. If I stood still, the scan could expose my identity or destroy the device inside my head. If I ran, I would prove that I had something to hide. Either way, my mission would be over, and I might not survive the day.

The blue light reached my boots. A sharp crack burst from behind my ear. At the same moment, the stone beneath my feet split with a deafening sound. I barely had time to look down before the ground vanished beneath me.

And I began to fall.

Kirrily Vane

The floor didn't crumble beneath me. It dropped.

The black stone was actually a hidden lift that sank thirty feet into the lower part of the Obsidian Keep. The sudden movement turned my stomach, and I nearly lost my balance. While the dragon shifters around me handled the drop with ease, I did what a weak human was expected to do. I let my legs give way.

I landed hard on my hands and knees on the marble floor below. Pain shot through my legs, but I swallowed my groan and let out a shaky gasp instead. Good, I told myself, pressing my forehead against the cold floor. Stay down. Let them laugh.

Boots hit the ground around me as the lift came to a stop. Whispers and quiet laughter spread through the crowd.

"Oh, look. The scholarship rat has broken her knees."

I knew that voice. Indi Carmichael.

Her expensive boots came into view as she stopped in front of me. Her coat was spotless, and her auburn ponytail swung over her shoulder as she looked down at me with disgust.

"Get up," she ordered. "You're embarrassing everyone here."

"I-I'm sorry," I stammered, making my voice shake. I kept my head down and took short, uneven breaths. "My legs... the cold..."

"Your pathetic human body, you mean."

She bent down and grabbed the collar of my cheap wool coat. The heat coming from her skin was almost unbearable, like standing too close to a fire. She pulled me up just enough to force me to look at her.

Her green eyes narrowed. "Listen to me, charity case. My father pays millions in taxes every year. People like you get to attend places like this because families like mine pay for it. You don't belong here. You're nothing but a magicless leech taking up space among people far better than you."

She raised her hand, and a small flame danced across her fingers.

I knew she wouldn't dare burn me badly. That would get her into trouble before classes even began. Instead, she pressed her burning thumb against the sleeve of my coat.

The wool caught fire almost at once.

"Oops," she said with a smirk, letting go of my collar.

I fell back onto my elbows and hurriedly slapped at the burning sleeve. I made sure to whimper as if I were terrified. Around us, the other students laughed. A few even took out their phones to record me struggling on the floor.

Laugh all you want, you arrogant fools, I thought. My heart was racing, but not because I was afraid. I was waiting for the right moment. Keep watching Indi. Keep looking at the helpless human.

While she enjoyed the attention, I was busy doing what I had come here to do.

I stayed on my hands and knees, keeping my chin low and letting my dark hair fall across my face. From that position, I could study the room without drawing too much attention. My eyes moved quickly across the walls and pillars, taking in every detail.

Above the northern archway stood a stone gargoyle. Its left eye had a strange shine. A hidden security camera. It turned every eight seconds.

Near the western pillar, a large shadow covered part of the wall. It was a blind spot where someone could move without being seen.

The main vault entrance was guarded by two heavy iron doors. A blue crystal above them gave off a faint hum. It was a scanner linked to the Keep's security system.

Four guards stood near the exits. They wore protective vests and carried stun batons on their left hips and weapons on their right. Every forty seconds, they shifted their weight, making their boots tap against the floor.

In less than thirty seconds, I had learned more about the Atrium's security than most students would notice in a week. I had found a blind spot, worked out the camera's timing, and spotted the entrance to the main security room.

Jarrah would love this, I thought, hiding a smile against my sleeve. Getting into that vault might be easier than I expected.

"Enough."

The single word silenced the room.

Indi's flame went out. She flinched and stepped away from me as the temperature dropped sharply. Frost spread across the marble floor, starting from the main entrance.

Thane Corin had arrived.

The students moved aside without being told. No one wanted to stand in his way. He ignored Indi and the Chancellor and walked straight towards me.

His black boots stopped just inches from my hands. The cold coming from him made the burned edge of my sleeve stiff.

My heart began to race. Don't move, Kirri. Look weak. Look helpless.

But Thane didn't walk past me. Instead, he slowly lowered himself onto one knee.

He was so close that I could smell the cold air clinging to his coat. There was something about him that made it difficult to think clearly. I kept my head down and let my shoulders shake.

"Get up," he said. His voice was quiet but firm.

"I-I'm trying, my lord," I whispered. "My coat... she burned it..."

"I don't care about your coat."

Before I could react, he caught my chin with his gloved hand and forced me to look at him.

My breath caught.

His eyes were a cold shade of blue. Up close, he was almost unfairly handsome, but there was no warmth in his expression. He looked like a man who had never needed to ask twice for anything.

I tried to make my eyes look frightened and confused, but something in his expression told me I had already made a mistake.

Thane studied my face. His gaze moved from my eyes to the way I breathed.

"Your breathing is uneven, but your heart isn't racing the way it should," he said quietly. Only I could hear him. "And you weren't watching Indi's fire."

My stomach tightened.

His gloved thumb brushed a strand of hair away from the side of my face. His fingers moved close to my left ear, dangerously near the tiny scar hiding the jammer beneath my skin.

I forced myself not to react.

He looked straight into my eyes, and a faint smile touched his lips. It wasn't a friendly smile.

"You were counting the security cameras," he whispered. "Weren't you?"

My blood ran cold.

Thane leaned closer, his blue eyes fixed on mine.

"Who the hell are you, scholarship girl?"

Kirrily Vane

Thane's gloved fingers felt like ice around my jaw. His thumb rested dangerously close to the skin beneath my left ear, where the tiny battery inside my jammer was hidden. If he moved his hand just a little to the left, he would feel the raised scar beneath my broken-compass tattoo. And if he discovered it, I was dead.

"Who the hell are you, scholarship girl?" Thane whispered. His breath felt as cold as the air around him.

My mind raced. Should I fight him? He could freeze me before I even got to my feet. Should I pretend to be stupid? He had already noticed my eyes following the security cameras.

I had only one choice. When a lie was about to be exposed, a good con artist knew how to create a bigger one.

I forced tears into my eyes and let my voice shake. I squeezed them shut as if his words had hurt me deeply, then allowed a tear to roll down my cheek.

"I'm a girl whose father froze to death in a public hospital because your family's company cut the power during the winter storm of 2019," I said, my voice breaking. I opened my eyes and let the anger show. "I was watching the cameras because I'm scared, my lord. I was looking for an exit. I wanted to find a way out before your dragon friends decided to burn me alive like they burned my coat!"

I pulled my chin from his grip and stumbled backward as if his touch had hurt me.

Thane didn't move. He remained on one knee, his cold blue eyes fixed on mine. For three painful seconds, the entire Atrium seemed to go silent. I could hear the faint hum of the blue crystal scanner above the main vault. Behind him, Indi Carmichael shifted nervously in her expensive boots.

At last, Thane stood. His tall frame blocked the light from the chandeliers. "If you want an exit, Vane, the ravine is thirty feet behind you," he said without emotion. "Jump. It will be quicker than what this place will do to you if you fail the first trial."

He turned and walked away. The crowd parted to let him pass. My heart pounded so hard that my chest hurt, but I kept my relief hidden. I stayed on my hands and knees until the Chancellor dismissed us. Then I joined the others, limping as if I could barely walk.

But I wasn't going to the dorms.

As the fifty initiates moved towards the grand spiral staircase, the highborn heirs began chatting among themselves. I slipped into a narrow space beside a gargoyle statue and counted down from eight, waiting for the security camera to turn away. Then I moved into the blind spot I had discovered earlier.

A heavy service door stood partly open behind a tapestry. I slipped inside and quietly closed it behind me. The noise from the Keep faded at once. In its place came the deep rumble of machinery beneath the building.

The air was hot and damp. Steam hissed from iron pipes running along the rough stone ceiling. This was the hidden part of the Obsidian Keep, where human workers laboured to keep the dragon lords warm.

I hurried down three flights of rusty iron stairs, careful not to make too much noise. The heat dried the tears on my cheeks as I passed beneath a shaking steam pipe and entered the second boiler room. A young man in dark grey overalls sat on a wooden crate beside a glowing furnace. A wrench rested loosely in his hand.

Jarrah.

He looked up, a strand of sandy hair falling across his forehead. The moment he saw me, a warm smile spread across his face. He tossed the wrench into his toolbox and stood.

"You're late, kiddo," he said. His familiar voice brought me a little comfort in that awful place. "I was starting to think Indi Carmichael had actually set you on fire."

"She tried," I replied, leaning against a hot iron pipe as my knees began to weaken. The rush of fear and excitement was finally wearing off. "And Thane Corin nearly caught me."

Jarrah's smile disappeared. The relaxed maintenance worker was gone, replaced by the sharp, dangerous leader of the Syndicate's northern cell. He stepped closer and studied my face. "Caught you doing what?"

"Mapping the lower Atrium," I muttered.

I reached behind my left ear and pressed the centre of my broken-compass tattoo. A soft click sounded inside my skull, and the faint buzzing in my jaw stopped. My body's natural signals returned as the jammer shut down. My temperature settled, and my heart rate returned to normal. The illegal device was a brilliant piece of technology, but wearing it felt like having a heavy weight pressing against my brain.

"He noticed my eyes following the cameras during the scan," I explained, rubbing the sore skin behind my ear. "He's sharp, Jarrah. Scarily sharp. He even noticed that my heart rate didn't match how frightened I was acting."

"He's a Corin," Jarrah said, his jaw tightening as he handed me a small canteen of water. "They're not just rich, Kirri. They're dangerous. Don't give him a reason to suspect you."

I drank deeply, letting the cool water soothe my dry throat. "The vault security is different from the blueprints you gave me in Sydney. There's more than a biometric scanner. They've connected it to a dragon crystal that can detect magical energy."

"I know," Jarrah whispered, leaning closer so the workers nearby wouldn't hear us. "That's why you're going to bypass it."

He reached into his work pocket and pulled out a smooth black cylinder about the size of a lipstick tube.

"What's that?" I asked, studying it carefully.

"A static bypass," he replied. "Tomorrow, when the first trial begins in the mountains, the Keep's security system will focus on tracking the initiates. While Thane and the other heirs are busy fighting for their places in the snow, you'll slip away from the trial area, enter the lower vault, and attach this to the crystal."

My heart began to race. "Jarrah, the Sun-Siphon relic is protected by three layers of runes. Even if I shut down the crystal, I still can't open the chest without the physical DNA of a high-blood dragon."

Jarrah stared at me, his dark eyes serious. "We shut down the crystal first, Kirri," he said, taking my hand and holding it tightly. "Then we'll find a way to get a sample from an ice dragon. My cell spent three years forging your academic records and getting you into this place. We're not leaving empty-handed. That relic contains enough stolen magic to power the entire human underground for fifty years. No more freezing in public hospitals. No more begging them for scraps."

I looked down at our joined hands. The weight of the mission settled over me again. Jarrah was right. He had rescued me from the streets when I was twelve. He had fed me, trained me, and taught me how to read people, lie when necessary, and survive when no one else cared whether I lived or died. I owed him my life.

"Okay," I said, taking the black cylinder and slipping it into the hidden pocket inside my boot. "I'll do it tomorrow during the survival trial."

"Good girl." Jarrah patted my shoulder. "Now turn the jammer back on and get to the dorms before room inspection. Remember, look weak, keep your head down, and don't let Thane Corin get close enough to discover what you really are."

I nodded and raised my hand to the tattoo behind my ear. I pressed the centre. Nothing happened.

My heart skipped. I pressed it again, harder this time, digging my thumbnail into the skin.

A click sounded.

Then a violent electric shock shot through the bone behind my ear. Pain burst across the left side of my head, so sharp that my vision filled with silver light. I gasped and dropped to one knee.

"Kirri!" Jarrah cried, rushing to my side and grabbing my shoulders.

The jammer wasn't working properly. A high-pitched whine filled my head, making my teeth vibrate. The skin beneath my tattoo burned, and the smell of scorched flesh filled my nose.

"It's overloading," I gasped, tears blurring my vision. "Jarrah, the scan in the courtyard must have damaged it. The blue ward hit the device, and now it's short-circuiting!"

Before he could answer, the heavy iron door at the top of the stairs slammed open with a deafening crash. The temperature in the boiler room dropped so quickly that my breath turned white. Steam froze in the air and fell to the stone floor as tiny pieces of ice. Frost spread across the walls and pipes.

A tall, dark figure stood at the top of the iron stairs.

Thane Corin.

His cold blue eyes glowed in the dim light as he looked down at us. "I thought I smelled a burning rat," he said. His voice carried the force of his dragon magic through the room. "What are you doing down here, scholarship girl?"