Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 36

Thornhill Academy

Done For.

A

The smirk had barely settled on my lips when he lunged. Evander’s fist slammed into my gut, hard enough to knock the air out of me. I

doubled over with a grunt, vision flashing white, and then his hand was in my collar, yanking me upright. His eyes burned molten gold,

too bright, too dragon.

“You think I need proof?” he snarled, voice so low it shook my ribs. “I’ll carve it out of you myself.”

Gasps echoed across the hall. A tray clattered to the floor. I reacted on instinct, summoning magic sharp and fast. Wind roared in my palms, bursting outward like a cannon, blasting him back a few steps. “Back the fuck off, Drayke!” I spat, chest heaving, throat raw.

He stumbled but didn’t fall. His lips peeled back in a smile that had no humour in it, only heat and promise of fire. Shit. Before I could brace, he shifted, not fully, but enough that smoke poured from his teeth, claws tearing out of his fingers. His next punch felt like being hit by a hammer wrapped in fire. My jaw cracked sideways, and I hit the floor hard, pain spiderwebbing across my face. The hall erupted. Students shouted, some scrambling back, while others climbed on benches to watch.

He tore through each magic strike with a roar. One wing burst free from his back in a flash of golden scales, tearing a bench clean in half. His heat rolled over me, sweat slicking my palms, but I pushed harder, pulling on every shred of magic I had left. Students screamed as the tables rattled, dishes exploding in sparks. My magic collided with his fire midair, wind and flame cracking together in a storm that shook the hall. He barreled through it. A blur of fury and golden scales. His hand clamped around my throat and slammed me into the nearest pillar. My feet left the ground, my breath strangled. His claws pressed into my skin, hot enough to sear.

“You don’t get to breathe the same air as her,” he growled, fire flickering in his teeth. “Not after what you did.”

The world tunnelled around me, black creeping at the edges of my vision. My magic flickered, sparks spitting uselessly against his grip. And for the first time in a long time, I was afraid…again.

The fire in his throat was the last thing I saw before the world narrowed to smoke and pain. His claws dug in, hot enough to blister, my lungs clawing for air that wouldn’t come. My nails scraped at his wrist, useless against dragon strength. The students had gone dead quiet, all eyes on us. Then a voice cut through the hall, sharp as a blade.

“ENOUGH!”

The air itself seemed to buckle under the command. Evander froze. For one heartbeat, I thought he might ignore it, finish what he started. But then the weight of something older, heavier, pressed down on the hall. The principal. His power thrummed through the walls like a living thing, bending everyone in the room low, even the fire in Evander’s chest dimming. Evander’s dragon snarled, unwilling. His grip trembled on my throat, claws digging just a little deeper. But then, like a dog yanked to heel, his dragon submitted. The golden fire in his eyes guttered, scales retreating, his hand dropping me like ash. I collapsed to the floor, choking, dragging air into my shredded throat. Each breath burned like I’d swallowed glass. My palms slapped the stone, desperate, humiliated.

The principal stood in the doorway, power still rolling off him in waves, eyes blazing. He didn’t even look at the students. He looked only

at us.

“My office,” he said, voice like thunder. He pointed, first at Evander, then at me. “Now.”

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No room for argument. No room for escape. I wiped blood from my mouth and forced a smirk, though my chest still hitched with each

breath. “Guess the dragon’s on a leash after all,” I rasped, but it sounded more like defeat than victory. The principal’s gaze cut to me like

a knife, and I shut the hell up.

The office door slammed shut behind us, the sound rattling the bookshelves that lined the walls. The air smelled of smoke and old magic,

thick enough to choke on. Scorched sat behind his desk, power leaking off him in quiet, suffocating waves. His stare flicked between the

two of us like he was measuring whether to roast us alive or toss us from the Academy altogether.

“What,” he said, voice like molten iron, “has gotten into two of my best students?”

I dropped into the chair opposite the desk, forcing my smirk back onto my face even though my ribs still ached from where Evander had

slammed me into the stone. Best students, huh? Guess I didn’t look like one now, throat bruised, shirt ripped, dried blood crusting my lip. Before I could open my mouth, Evander stepped forward, posture straight as ever, golden-boy composure like a goddamn halo. “He pushed

her,” he said without hesitation, his voice cutting like steel. “Pushed Allison Rivers off the first obstacle in the woods.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and sharp. My stomach twisted. The bastard tattled.

Scorched’s gaze turned on me, colder than I’d ever seen it. “Is that true?” he asked, voice deceptively calm.

I swallowed, my smirk wobbling for the first time, but forced it back anyway. “She fell,” I rasped, trying to sound casual, like it wasn’t a big deal. “If she couldn’t handle a simple balance beam, maybe she shouldn’t-”

“Cage.” His voice cracked like a whip, silencing me.

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