Chapter 3

Blake marches Medra from the Black Keep back across the bridges to the onyx castle of Bloodwing Academy. When Medra demands answers, Blake confirms their enforced betrothal and blood-binding, flaunting status and insulting her origins. Medra rejects him and the idea of sharing him with Regan, but Blake claims neither had a choice and that she has been elevated among blightborn.

As he hustles her through corridors, Blake explains the Academy’s structure: four ruling houses (Drakharrow, Avari, Orphos, Mortis), alignment of nobles, and organization into squads with subclasses—warriors, healers/alchemists/apothecaries, strategists, and scouts. He declares Medra a supposedly extinct fifth class—rider—derides her utility without dragons, and warns that Viktor’s will placed her here.

Medra needles him about feeding and Sangrathan customs; Blake cuts off, then coldly predicts the Academy will cull her quickly and that he need only watch her fail. He abandons her at a dormitory door, cloak snapping behind him.

Inside the bright common room, conversations still as students stare, Medra is hailed by Florence Shen, a scholarly first-year and dorm warden. Florence guides her to a private tower room with bath, wardrobe of crested clothes, and explains First Years aren’t yet in houses, Orientation is tomorrow, and selections and specialties come later. She notes most students covet admission, though some are conscripted; Medra bristles at the implication.

Alone, Medra bathes and reflects on Camelot and Aercanum, her lost family, and the riders’ extinction. She questions whether her “rider” traits are a Sangrathan misreading of her half-fae nature, wonders about the destroyed village, and decides to comply outwardly—attend classes, learn the system—while secretly planning escape to a world beyond vampire rule. Exhausted, she sets a timepiece and falls asleep.