Which was all the more reason why she had to drive him away. So she should be glad that he’d made no attempt to see or contact her in over a moonturn. It was what she had told him to do. She should be glad.

So why wasn’t she glad?

Why did she keep picturing Dragon, beautiful and terrible as he dwarfed the mouth of the alley? Dragon, curled up and letting out low moans of mourning as she departed for the Islands? The images never failed to send darts of guilt and longing right into her heart.

Yenni shook herself and placed the necklace back in the drawer. She missed Dragon desperately, that she could not deny. But Weysh was arrogant and presumptuous, crass and overconfident. And fearless. And honest. And friendly, generous, kind.

Yenni slammed the drawer shut. There was no use in dwelling on it. The most important thing was that her father’s condition had improved, praise all the Mothers and Fathers.

She kept lifting her uniform glove to peek at her rune as she hurried down the red-carpeted steps of Riverbank Chambers. Diedre lived on the second floor, and they would often walk to class together. Yenni made her way down the corridor until she reached the familiar Suite 2-5 etched in gold on the dark, whorled wood of Diedre’s door.

Yenni knocked sharply. “Good morning!” she sang.

A few moments later the door opened and Diedre loomed over her. The gold clasps adorning her braids glinted in the light of the wall sconces.

“Is far too early for you to be this cheery, mams,” she muttered. Yenni simply laughed.

It was a decent walk to Professor Devon’s class from where they lived. His classroom was relegated to a previously abandoned outbuilding on the southeast outskirts of campus. As Devon’s teaching assistant, Yenni arrived early to help him set up—and to answer his exhaustive and never-ending questions about runelore. Diedre, blessed soul that she was, had taken to arriving early with her. She acted as a nice buffer, as with other students present Devon tended to rein in his zeal for the sake of propriety.

Yenni could easily run to class in a few minutes using her speed runes, but Diedre wasn’t as skilled in them yet and couldn’t keep up. Besides, Yenni enjoyed these morning walks with her friend. Diedre was funny, and her impressions of their professors, especially Devon and Mainard, had helped to keep Yenni’s gloom at bay.

They stuck to the white, interlocking path down to the main quad of the campus, chatting amicably about nothing of consequence. The elegant white willow trees shading the walkway were now alive with little yellow blossoms, and their sweet scent drifted down to them on a happy breeze. Yenni breathed deeply, her heart at ease.

Until the sound of quick wingbeats reached her ears, followed by a sharp, screeching cry.