Chapter 6

Rushing to Restoration after a fraught morning, Medra nearly collides with Blake Drakharrow. With Quinn’s taunts and Coregon’s cool nod, the encounter reinforces hostilities before Medra escapes to class and sits with Florence and Naveen.

Professor Gabriel Rodriguez introduces Restoration’s importance, notes the absence of vampires among healers, and pointedly recognizes Medra as Blake’s consort. Seeking to redeem herself, Medra asks about healers and dragon riders, freezing the room. Rodriguez, clearly stung, demands to know who prompted her, then chooses to answer publicly.

Rodriguez recounts how his great-great-grandmother, Isabella Rodriguez, a famed healer, died attempting to save a riderless dragon—a mission doomed by limits the highbloods refused to accept. He condemns the expendability of healers and the erasure of their sacrifices. He orders Medra to stay after class as consequence for forcing the painful topic.

Class resumes with fundamentals of healers’ roles and vampire versus mortal physiology, ending with instructions to bring brewing tools next time. When the noon bells ring—bells Medra failed to hear earlier—Florence offers future help and to fetch food, but Medra faces an upcoming combat class on an empty stomach.

In the private confrontation, Medra insists she neither chose Blake nor her status. Rodriguez, mistrustful, suggests Viktor Drakharrow may be leveraging Medra’s rider blood, hinting at a hidden plan and potential dragon-related danger. To curb the perceived threat, he assigns lunch-hour storage cleanup and a term-end fifty-page essay on dragons with emphasis on healing riders, asserting his authority as Medra protests hunger. He leaves for lunch, warning her to make significant progress.