Hidden Flame: Bound to the Triplet Dragon Kings

Chapter 24: Starting Fresh

Conner

Since Avery nearly died, I have seen her differently. Her body might be frail but her spirit isn’t. She keeps pushing forward no matter what has been done to her. She more than deserves the surprise in her locker that my brothers and I arranged. As I think back to how I have mistreated her, I/recall a quote from Pride and Prejudice I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit,” Mr. Darcy said in that book. I am just as guilty as he is and so are my brothers. We let our titles and pride keep us from knowing the real Avery. We judged her by her appearance, not her character. Maybe it is too late for a truly fresh start because of all of the damage that has been done, but that won’t stop me from trying.

Before the bell rings to signal us to go to our first–period classes, Hedi walks over to me with a fake smile plastered on her face and a seductive glint in her eyes. She puts her hand on my arm and 1 fight the urge to slap it away. Pretending that we don’t know what she and the other girls did might prove harder than I thought. “Meet me under the bleachers after school since there’s no practice. I have something that I want to show you,” she says. I only nod in response because I won’t be meeting her. Instead, I will be taking Avery home.

Avery

To my delight, my day sped by plus it was great not having to go to PE. I skipped lunch because I was still full from breakfast. When I get back to the palace, I will have a care basket sent to Momma June and Poppa Anton. They cared enough to come and check on me, so I will make sure their kindness doesn’t go unrewarded. So far the Hags have kept their distance from me but I have felt their furious gazes when I traversed the halls. They must be pissed that I didn’t die or get withdrawn from school because I was in a coma, a coma that they tried to cause. I have always continued forward even when I have tried to kill myself, fate intervened. I survived my parents‘ deaths, that dragon in the woods, my own feeble attempts at suicide, and this latest attack by the Hags. Fate wants me alive for a reason and I won’t disappoint her again.

I entered Mr. Chen’s class and he greeted me. He remarks on how well I look and attributes it to me having a good weekend. I assume that only the headmaster knows what happened besides those that were involved. After I take my seat, Cassius comes in and sits beside me at our lab station. Mr. Chen hands out the necessary items and encourages us to begin the first part of our study on genetics. We are going to use an equation involving our physical traits to craft what our offspring would look like. He wants both human and dragon offspring to be revealed during this experiment. I sigh and look down.

his finger under my chin. Our eyes meet as he says, “Use your imagination. What would

like?”

want a dragon, but The Trio did save me. I will try because I am alive because of them. “She would have blue eyes because I love blue eyes,” I began to blush as his blue eyes twinkled at me before a bit of red dotted them. “Her scales would be

Asher’s. Mr. Chen came over and congratulated us on creating a beautifully unique wormling.

confidence. He’s nervous. Why? He clears his throat, “Because we just made a true queen. We

the Supreme Mother has been extinct for

bond. That can’t

the results,” he suggests. I nodded because I didn’t use any

try silver eyes on a sky–blue dragon.

put in the new information. However, we ended up with nearly the same thing. I took the first one and he took the second. He put his paper into his backpack and I carried mine out of the

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