scowl on Chief’s face.
“The new students have arrived.”
At his words, my brothers and I expressed a myriad of reactions. Ori ran a hand down his face, cursing to himself, while Rayen and Paulo lowered their heads.
“I believe I requested several weeks ago that you four, in particular, be available to serve as mentors. Did I not?”
“You did, Father, but—”
“Father?” he snapped.
A chill cut through the balmy air. How had I made that mistake? It’d been years since I referred to him in that way.
“You would be wise to bear in mind that your relation to me means little when it comes to the affairs of this tribe.” He was always stern, but today’s heightened severity told of his frustration.
The rationale I’d been prepared to offer evaporated. With his mood bordering on icy, it wouldn’t have pacified him anyway.
“Understood, Chief.”
Ori sighed hearing my submissive response, but held his tongue.
Chief scanned us with disappointment heavy in his gaze, and then began to pace. “There is more at stake than any of you realize. You four may not be aware, but someone of great importance has chosen to attend our island’s fine, academic establishment this year. And it just so happens, she’s the individual you’ve been instructed to look after.”
There was so much pride in his voice when he spoke of the academy, you’d never guess so many opposed its existence.
Ori blinked at the Chief. “And … I’m guessing this was all orchestrated? Pulling us from our duties, placing whoever she is with us, was intentional?”
Chief peered up, seemingly surprised by the short tone Ori had just taken with him. He passed a look toward my brother, a look I knew all too well.
“As a man, I never take action without careful consideration,” Chief snapped, aiming the remark toward Ori. “And even if someone from her kingdom hadn’t requested that I assign her my brightest and best, I would never entrust the wellbeing of a princess to just anyone.”
Ori’s head tilted, and I didn’t miss how the vein in the side of his neck stood out, pulsating as his gaze remained on my father.
‘Dude just said ‘princess’, right? I’m not the only one who heard that.’
Paulo’s voice rang inside my thoughts, loud and clear—an ability we developed at the formation of our hive. It could be turned off and on at will, but came in handy at times like this, when the four of us needed to communicate without the outside world butting in.
‘Yup. Definitely said princess,’ Rayen confirmed.
‘Perfect. As if we aren’t already under enough pressure,” Ori added.
“Chief, with all due respect,” Rayen interjected. “I understand that this girl is important to her people, but things are changing here. We’re getting hit every day with new incidents. We can’t expect the other hives to pull the load without us.”
My father’s gaze locked with Rayen’s, and I knew nothing good would follow that look he gave.
“She’s important to … her people?” Chief inquired, slowly linking his hands behind his back. “There is no distinction between their world and ours.”
“You know what I mean, Sir,” Rayen clarified.
Arguing this point was futile, so I had to bite my tongue. My father knew as well as I did; we had never considered ourselves one with the mainlanders. And only since the inception of the academy had they even acknowledged us. Our chief wasn’t fooling anyone. He was only catering to their royal family because having their princess here was good press. And good press meant more exposure, more funding.
At some point, our island’s advisors had become greedy, forgetting the values on which our tribe once stood. To put it plainly, lately, it all seemed to come down to money.
“There’s nothing more to discuss,” Chief practically barked. A dismissive wave was meant to shoo us toward the long road that led to the academy. “Don’t keep her waiting and remember to try and keep a low profile. The less attention you call to yourselves the better,” were his final orders.
Our steps echoed across the dock as we made our way, realizing we weren’t even being given time to shower first. The closest we would get was a quick dip in the lagoon, so that’s what we did. Diving in, we swam to shore with hopes of getting clean-ish. I suppose this wasn’t the best first impression we could make on a spoiled princess, but a group of sopping wet, exhausted dragons was as good as it would get for her today.
Chapter Four
Noelle
Things were already going well. The