The Wings That Bind

The third installment in the Bloodwing Academy dark fantasy romance series continues the story of Medra Pendragon, a half-fae young woman from the world of Camelot, now enrolled at Bloodwing Academy, an elite school in Sangratha, a realm where vampiric highbloods rule over ordinary humans known as blightborn. In the previous books, Medra formed a bond with the ancient dragon Nyxaris and watched her best friend, Florence Shen, nearly die. To save Florence, Medra sacrificed her connection to Nyxaris, transferring the dragon's bond to Florence instead.

The novel opens with two prologues. The first follows Neville, a small magical creature called a fluffin, as he patrols the academy's halls, sensing deep fear. The second reveals that Regan Pansera, Blake Drakharrow's former consort, has been claimed by Blake's uncle Viktor Drakharrow, who has seized control of the school. Viktor holds Regan's younger brother, Persis, hostage to ensure her compliance. Regan submits to Viktor while dissociating, telling herself that every moment of obedience buys Persis another day alive.

When classes resume, Viktor installs Regan as headmistress and displays the severed head of former Headmaster Kim in the courtyard. Regan announces sweeping restrictions on blightborn students, enforced by highblood alumni called the Bloodguard. A blightborn servant is publicly executed via thrallweave, a form of vampiric mind control. Regan freezes when ordered to perform the killing, so Viktor does it for her, compelling the woman to tear open her own throat.

Medra reunites with Blake and is shocked by his appearance: Viktor gouged out one of Blake's eyes during a fight between them. Despite her anger over Blake's earlier betrayal of Nyxaris, Medra redirects her fury toward Viktor. She reconnects with Theo Drakharrow, Blake's kinsman and close ally, and witnesses the Bloodguard feeding from blightborn students and killing those who resist. Medra's rage boils over in a sparring class, where she beats a highblood opponent nearly to death before Blake carries her from the yard. Overwhelmed by grief and reckless need, Medra pulls Blake into an empty classroom, and they have sex for the first time. Blake feeds from Medra during their encounters, deepening their blood bond.

Meanwhile, Florence hides in her mother Jia Shen's apartment, refusing to acknowledge her bond with Nyxaris. She senses the dragon constantly but is terrified of what the bond means. When Nyxaris confronts her at the cliffs, calling her a coward and daring her to rise, Florence gradually begins to accept the connection. She returns to classes and starts daily riding and training sessions with Nyxaris, who teaches her mental defense and archery.

Blake hides a dangerous secret. Consuming Medra's fae rider blood has catalyzed a transformation: a violent dragon consciousness grows inside him, manifesting as red scales on his arms and involuntary shifts into a red dragon form. Professor Rodriguez, the school's blightborn history teacher, diagnoses Blake's condition as soul-splitting, a fatal process in which his human and dragon selves are tearing apart. Rodriguez gives Blake an ancient book containing the Spell of Twin Hearts, a dangerous ritual that might grant control by merging with another dragon.

When Viktor discovers that Florence, not Medra, is bonded to Nyxaris, he uses thrallweave to invade Florence's mind. Nyxaris responds by smashing through the headmistress's office window and incinerating Professor Hassan, the faculty member who revealed Florence's secret. Florence climbs onto Nyxaris and flies for the first time, formally accepting the rider bond. To shield Florence from Viktor's plan to soul-bind her to a highblood, a ritual that would let a highblood control Nyxaris through Florence's bond, Lady Elaria Avari, Kage Tanaka's grandmother, arranges a betrothal between Florence and Kage, the House Avari leader. Florence reluctantly agrees.

Regan's storyline traces her growing rebellion. She discovers Kage's secret wolf-shifting ability, and they seal a Blood Vow, a magically binding oath made by mingling blood, in which Regan pledges not to reveal his secret. Despite her captivity under Viktor, she finds herself drawn to Kage, who tells her that surviving Viktor's abuse is itself a form of rebellion.

At the engagement ball for Florence and Kage, Kage ends the betrothal, telling Florence he cannot live a lie but promising House Avari's continued protection. That same night, Florence encounters a Bloodguard with black-veined skin and milky white eyes: the first sign of a plague that transforms infected highbloods into mindless, violent feeders. The plague spreads rapidly through the school. Blake, Medra, Theo, and Visha Vaidya, a highblood ally grieving the murder of her girlfriend Lace, sweep the Drakharrow tower, killing infected students and locking down the building.

Desperate to destroy the dragon within him before it harms Medra, Blake performs a modified Spell of Twin Hearts in the Dragon Court, addressing the stone statue of Vorago, an ancient dragon imprisoned in stone for centuries. Blake asks Vorago to devour his inner dragon in exchange for release. Vorago agrees, and the statue crumbles to dust. But Vorago has deceived him: The ancient dragon absorbs Blake's inner beast and takes its place, hiding inside Blake's body.

Viktor ambushes Blake, Medra, and Theo with Bloodguards and drags them to the refectory. He feeds Professor Allenvale, a visiting scholar captured for leading a rebellion funded by House Orphos, to an infected Bloodguard, then demands Blake transform and fly to Veilmar, the great highblood city, to burn it under the pretext of containing the plague. Viktor's true aim is to destroy the rival Avari family. When Blake refuses, Vorago seizes control. Blake transforms into a massive red dragon, mercy-kills the dying Allenvale with fire, then crashes through the wall and flies toward Veilmar.

Florence and Nyxaris pursue Vorago into the burning city. Armed with crossbow bolts coated in Godsbane, a substance that penetrates dragon hide, and bolts tipped with emberfern, a plant-based compound she believes can reach Blake's buried consciousness, Florence fires from Nyxaris's back. After Nyxaris wounds Vorago, Florence shoots emberfern bolts into the wound while Neville, riding alongside her, sings a healing lullaby. The red dragon falters and retreats toward the sea. Viktor then appears as a second red dragon with black-veined wings. Nyxaris engages him, and Florence lands a Godsbane bolt in Viktor's chest. Nyxaris's fire burns through Viktor's wing, sending him crashing onto Peacebringer's Hill.

Kage and Regan reach the hilltop, where Kage attacks Viktor in wolf form but is hurled against a boulder. Regan plays her final card: She pretends to submit, and when Viktor reaches for her hand, she bites into his wrist and forces her own blood, which carries Kage's wolf blood from their Blood Vow, into his veins. Wolf blood reacts catastrophically with dragon blood, sending black veins toward Viktor's heart. Before collapsing, Viktor slashes Regan's throat.

Florence treats Nyxaris's grievous neck wound with wild emberfern, and Neville glows with golden healing light, stabilizing the dragon. Back at Bloodwing, Medra leads students from all four houses against the remaining Bloodguards, who have barricaded the school doors to keep blightborn refugees out. Using speed granted by Blake's blood, she forces the Bloodguards to stand down. Professor Sankara, Visha, and other allies declare house boundaries dissolved and the doors opened to refugees from Veilmar.

Blake returns to Bloodwing devastated by the destruction Vorago wrought through his body and contemplates suicide from his windowsill. Medra finds him and refuses to leave, declaring she loves him and that their bond is unbreakable. She pulls him from the ledge. But when Sankara and Rodriguez arrive with chains to restrain him, Vorago seizes control once more. Blake transforms into the red dragon mid-leap from the window and flies into the sunrise, leaving Medra screaming his name.