The Bond That Burns

The second installment of the Bloodwing Academy dark fantasy romance series is set in Sangratha, a realm ruled by highbloods, a vampire-like aristocracy that dominates the mortal population known as blightborn. Medra Pendragon, a half-fae girl who arrived in Sangratha from another world, attends Bloodwing Academy, where highblood and blightborn students are sorted into four great houses. At the end of her first year, Medra accidentally awakened Nyxaris, a black Duskdrake dragon, from a centuries-long enchantment that had turned him to stone. She also discovered that Blake Drakharrow, the highblood House Leader to whom she was betrothed, had bonded with her and fed from her blood without her consent.

The story opens with Medra confined to Drakharrow Tower for the entire summer, a prisoner of Blake's uncle Viktor Drakharrow, the most powerful highblood in Sangratha. The house leaders clash over who controls Nyxaris. Viktor tries twice to break into Medra's mind using thrallweave, a powerful mental attack, but she blocks him both times thanks to training from Professor Rodriguez, a blightborn instructor. Rodriguez warns that the worst outcome is execution of both Medra and Nyxaris and advises her to bluff the highbloods into believing she controls the dragon. During the summer, Blake feeds from Medra weekly in hostile sessions. She vows to break their bond; he reminds her he is the only thing shielding her from Viktor.

When the tribunal convenes, the house regents each state their position: Lady Elaria Avari claims Nyxaris by historical right, Viktor insists the dragon belongs to Drakharrow, Lord Garrick Mortis advocates destroying both Medra and the dragon, and Lysander Orphos proposes Medra choose her own path. Lady Avari suggests Medra select a new archon, the highblood bond-partner assigned to oversee a student, nominating her grandson Kage Tanaka. Medra addresses the tribunal uninvited, declaring she belongs to no house and asking for time. When Lord Mortis demands proof she can control the dragon, Medra calls to Nyxaris through their mental link. The dragon arrives but incinerates Mortis after the lord approaches with a drawn dagger and insults him. Medra climbs onto Nyxaris and flies for the first time. In the air, Nyxaris demands she discover what happened to his kind, revealing his memories were fragmented when he was turned to stone. The tribunal rules Medra may remain at Bloodwing under House Drakharrow's oversight.

Back at school, Medra reunites with Florence Shen, her blightborn best friend now in House Avari. Theo, Blake's kind cousin, arrives with Neville, a fluffin that Medra rescued the previous year; fluffins are small creatures historically bonded to dragons and their riders. Medra also reconnects with Visha Vaidya, a blunt highblood in House Drakharrow, and befriends Lunaya Orphos, Lysander's gentle younger sister, in class. Blake publicly bullies Medra and bans Florence from the Drakharrow table; Kage invites them to sit with House Avari instead, and Medra asks him to arrange her transfer. She also communicates privately with her mother, Orcades, whose soul is trapped inside an enchanted dagger Medra carries, though Orcades grows increasingly erratic and distant.

Medra's private history class with Professor Hassan reveals the tribunal expects her to demonstrate control of Nyxaris in a public evaluation; failure will endanger Florence. Medra secretly reads a dossier describing Nyxaris as a historical enforcer used to punish rebellious dragons and riders. The dossier also evaluates her potential for soul-binding, an ancient ritual in which a highblood merges their soul with a rider's body to control a dragon directly, destroying the rider. Rodriguez confirms the threat and suspects Viktor is behind it, instructing Medra not to complete her bond with Nyxaris.

Medra and Blake's antagonistic relationship shifts when they have sex for the first time, and their physical relationship continues in secret. Kage shares House Avari records about Nyxaris's enforcer past and asks Medra to watch Blake for unusual behavior. When Medra tells Nyxaris the truth about his history, the dragon is devastated but agrees to help her pass the evaluation.

At the evaluation, Nyxaris performs flawlessly but refuses the tribunal's demand for submission, trapping them in a ring of fire and destroying their carriages. On the ride back, masked attackers ambush the group. A mysterious silver wolf helps fight them off, but Medra is stabbed. Inside the carriage, Aenia, Blake's adopted younger sister whose mind is fractured and who can become dangerously feral, has lost control and nearly drained Theo by feeding on him. Kage later tells Medra she has been approved to transfer to House Avari.

Medra moves into House Avari. Blake breaks into the Drakharrow archives and discovers Viktor's diary, which reveals the Dragon Wars were a dragon uprising provoked by highbloods' use of soul-binding on riders; the rider bloodline was deliberately exterminated afterward and the truth erased. Blake warns Medra, drops to his knees, and sincerely apologizes for feeding from her without consent. She forgives him, and they begin a genuine romance. Meanwhile, Rodriguez reveals to Blake and Kage that he is the last member of the Emberwatch, a secret order that once opposed dragons to protect blightborn. He proposes returning Nyxaris to stone on the Winter Solstice and enlists Blake to lure Medra into bringing the dragon to the Dragon Court, the courtyard where the stone dragons stand.

On the night of the Solstice ball, red scales erupt across Blake's body and skeletal wings burst from his back before retracting. At the ball, he asks Medra to summon Nyxaris to the Dragon Court at midnight. Viktor then reveals to Blake that his father underwent the same transformation after feeding from Blake's mother, who carried latent rider blood, and it killed him. Viktor confesses he arranged for Blake to feed from Medra to trigger the same change. Blake's rage triggers a full transformation into a red dragon; he battles Viktor's guards and escapes the Black Keep after one destroys his left eye.

At the Dragon Court, Rodriguez and Kage ambush Medra, shooting Nyxaris with toxin-coated bolts to weaken him. Medra fights back, stabbing Kage. Meanwhile, Florence, Theo, and Visha discover Lace Ironstride, Visha's girlfriend, dead in a corridor, drained of blood. Aenia attacks Florence, but Theo kills the child to protect her. Blake arrives carrying Aenia's body. Marcus Drakharrow, Blake's brutal older brother, then emerges with the ensorcelled Lunaya and Catherine Mortis, daughter of the slain Lord Mortis. Marcus fires a crossbow bolt that strikes Florence in the chest. Blake deduces that Marcus and Catherine staged the earlier carriage attack to obtain Medra's blood, combining it with Lunaya's rider blood to reanimate Molindra, a Luminthar, the dragon breed of House Orphos, once famed for wisdom. Catherine's necromancy corrupts the golden dragon, whose scales are tarnished with black veins, and Molindra attacks the weakened Nyxaris. Kage transforms into the white wolf from the carriage ambush and fights Marcus. Medra drives her dagger into Molindra, and Orcades's soul transfers from the blade into the corrupted dragon to battle Catherine's control from within. Molindra lurches skyward carrying Marcus, Catherine, and Lunaya.

Florence stops breathing. Rodriguez reveals that dragon blood mixed with rider blood could save her but would forge a bond between Florence and Nyxaris, making her a rider. The dragon refuses, declaring he has been betrayed enough. Neville races from the shadows and climbs onto the dragon's foot, trilling a mournful melody. Nyxaris recognizes the fluffin as a species that once tended dragons, and Neville's devotion moves him. Blake offers his life in exchange for Florence's, admitting he conspired against the dragon. Medra places herself between them, declaring she will not let Nyxaris harm Blake. The dragon relents, and the novel ends on this cliffhanger, with the story continuing in The Wings That Bind.