Aria's POV
"Don't embarrass us today, Aria."
My stepmother Helena's sharp voice cuts through the roar of the crowd. Ten thousand people fill the Grand Arena, all waiting to watch us awaken our beast taming abilities. My hands shake as I stand in line with the other twenty-two-year-olds.
"I won't," I whisper, even though she's already turned away.
"You better not," my stepsister Vivian hisses beside me. "Marcus deserves a wife with a good ability. Not some weak Fox Tamer like your dead mother."
My chest tightens. I want to defend my mother, but Marcus squeezes my hand. My fiancé's smile is warm, his touch gentle. "Don't listen to her," he says softly. "Whatever ability you get, I'll love you."
I squeeze back, relief flooding through me. Marcus is from a powerful family, but he chose me anyway. We've been engaged for three years. After today's ceremony, we'll finally get married.
The Examiner's voice booms across the arena. "Marcus Ashford, step forward!"
Marcus releases my hand and walks to the Awakening Stone—a massive crystal in the center of the arena. The crowd falls silent. Everyone knows Marcus comes from a line of rare beast tamers. His father bonded with a griffin. His grandfather controlled storm eagles.
Marcus places both hands on the stone.
Fire explodes from the crystal. Red and gold flames spiral into the sky, forming the shape of a massive bird. The crowd gasps. I gasp.
"Phoenix Tamer!" the Examiner shouts.
The arena erupts in cheers. Phoenix Tamers are legendary—only five exist in the entire world. Marcus's family screams with joy. Helena claps enthusiastically, even though she barely knows him.
Marcus turns and looks at me. But something in his expression makes my stomach drop. He's not smiling anymore.
"Vivian Winters, step forward!"
My stepsister practically runs to the stone. She's been bragging for weeks that she'll awaken something powerful. I've tried to be happy for her, even though she's been cruel to me since our parents married ten years ago.
Vivian touches the stone. Green light bursts out, twisting into the shape of a giant serpent with venomous fangs.
"Serpent Tamer!" the Examiner announces.
More cheers. Serpent Tamers are rare and valuable—they command armies in wars. Helena starts crying happy tears. Vivian shoots me a triumphant smirk before walking back to stand near Marcus.
Too near.
"Aria Winters, step forward!"
My legs feel like water as I walk to the Awakening Stone. My mother was a Fox Tamer—low level, but useful. I've been praying for weeks that I'll awaken something similar. Something that won't embarrass Marcus's family.
Please, I think desperately. Please let me be good enough.
I press my trembling hands against the cold crystal.
Power explodes through my body like lightning. The stone erupts with brilliant gold light—brighter than Marcus's fire, brighter than Vivian's green glow. The light shoots into the sky like a beacon. I hear people shouting, but I can't understand the words.
The Examiner's face goes completely white. His hands shake as he checks the stone's reading three times.
"Dragon Tamer," he finally says. His voice cracks.
The arena falls silent.
Then someone laughs.
Then everyone laughs.
I don't understand. Gold light means powerful, doesn't it? But people are laughing like I told a joke.
"Dragons are extinct!" someone yells from the crowd.
"Three hundred years dead!" another voice shouts.
"She got the most useless ability in history!"
The laughter grows louder and louder until it's a roar that crushes me. I look desperately for Marcus, needing him to tell me it's okay.
But Marcus is staring at me like I'm a stranger. Like I'm something disgusting he stepped in.
He walks across the ceremony ground. Not toward me.
Toward Vivian.
"No," I whisper.
Marcus drops to one knee in front of my stepsister. The arena falls silent again, everyone watching with hungry eyes.
"Vivian," Marcus says loudly, making sure everyone can hear. "I made a mistake getting engaged to your sister. I need a partner with a useful ability. A partner who can stand beside me as I build my legacy." He pulls out a ring—a different ring, not the simple one he gave me. This one has a massive diamond. "Will you marry me instead?"
Vivian's fake surprise is perfect. "Oh Marcus! Yes!"
She throws her arms around him and kisses him. The crowd cheers.
I can't breathe. I can't move. This isn't real. This can't be happening.
Helena stands up in the family section. "The Winters family officially disowns Aria, effective immediately!" she announces like she's reading from a script she prepared. "We cannot support a defective member. She is no longer our daughter."
The words hit me like physical blows. Disowned. Defective. No longer their daughter.
Marcus and Vivian pull apart. He doesn't even look at me. "I'm sorry, Aria," he says without any emotion. "But you're worthless to me now."
Worthless.
The word echoes in my head as the crowd starts laughing again. Some people are pointing. Others are taking pictures with their phones. I'm standing alone in the center of the arena, abandoned and humiliated in front of ten thousand people.
My eyes blur with tears. I search the crowd desperately for one person—one face that might still care.
Kael Draven.
My best friend for ten years. The mysterious man who always appears when I need help. I find him in the crowd, standing perfectly still while everyone around him laughs.
His golden eyes are glowing. Actually glowing, like fire.
And he looks absolutely furious.
But as I stare at him, something impossible happens. For just a second, I see something else behind him. Something massive. Something with wings.
Then someone bumps into me and I stumble.
When I look back, Kael is gone.
I run. I don't know where I'm going, but I run from the arena, from the laughter, from the worst day of my entire life.
Behind me, I swear I hear a sound that doesn't belong in the city.
A dragon's roar.