The Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn

Here is a summary with spoilers for The Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn

In a prologue, Neville the fluffin rules his domain, wandering the blowing academy. He wanders around, knowing that he is most likely the only one left of his kind. He eventually makes it to the young girl he likes, but as of late, her eyes look dead and she does not seem like her normal self.

Regan, Medra’s old bully and Blake’s old betrothed, is struggling with her new powerful position. She thought she wanted power, but she did not realize it would come with having to deal with Viktor, including having to be his sexual conquest. She takes it, knowing it is what needs to be done in order to keep her power, but she wonders what else is going to be asked of her.

Medra is struggling as well. She misses Florence, and she has not been able to see her friends, not even Kage nor Blake. She is also devastated that she lost Nyxaris. On top of that, she misses her family back in her old realm. Blake is feeling bad for his choices and that he has lost Medra’s trust yet again. He knows he messed up and is willing to take the consequences that come with it, including taking a few punches from her to make her feel slightly better. The two do finally have a quick chat before one of their classes and one of the funerals of their headmaster. Mostly, they talk about how Blake’s uncle Viktor is actually still alive and that Medra really wants to kill him.

Medra then goes on to her class. She is not looking forward to it, as it is with Rodriguez, the professor who caused the whole fiasco, the reason she no longer has Nyxaris and why Molindra got away. When she enters the class, she decides to have a little fight with him and is dismissed from class. She and Kage then run into some new Bloodguards who are in charge of guarding the academy. Neither of them are very happy with them, as it seems they are just choosing to feed and enthrall anyone they want. Kage and Medra are finally able to talk about his transformation into a wolf. Kage makes her swear a blood oath that she will not tell anyone about his secret. In return, Medra can call on Kage for one favor of her choosing.

Regan is queen and has had a very rough day. An execution did not go right, and Viktor decided to take it out on her and abuse her. As she is outside contemplating what to do and where to go from there, she sees a wolf, and the wolf transforms into Kage. She knows she should go talk to Viktor and tell him what she saw, but instead she makes herself seen, and she and Kage have a quick chat. The two end up making an oath, which she immediately regrets.

In training class, Blake has to stop Medra from killing a highborn. Though he is turned on, he knows he cannot protect her if she kills. Medra needs a distraction, and Blake is there, and he is more than happy to be that distraction for her, and the two share a spicy moment together. Though Blake makes her talk about her feelings afterward.

Florence has been hiding in her mom’s library, not wanting to come to terms with the fact that she is a dragon rider and should be bonded with Nyxaris. But she decides it might be time to get out for a minute. Shelby spies Nyxaris and hopes not to get spotted, but on her way back in she stumbles into two bodies, and Nyxaris’ voice comes into her mind. He starts to think that maybe she is not as little as she is pretending to be, and the two of them might be able to work together.

Blake is struggling with the dragon beast inside him until it finally needs to be released. He runs out of the academy. He wants to feed, he wants to fly, he wants to just let loose this side of him and let it take over. He eventually hears both Nyxaris and Molindra. They are both trying to figure out what he is. Soon after, Blake goes straight to Medra to release more of his energy. Meanwhile, Florence feels something happen between the dragons. Something is worrying Nyxaris, and she eventually has to tell her mom everything that has happened to her.

Regan is enjoying her new higher position as Headmaster and decides to make all sorts of new changes to the school. She does not care what enemies she makes while doing so. This includes making Highborns have an even higher status.

Thanks to these new changes, Medra gets into a scuffle and Blake oversees it. He starts to change into his dragon, and Medra notices his eyes change and tries to stop him. During the fight, Florence comes out, as does Nyxaris. Florence ends up leaving and flying out on Nyxaris, which means now everyone knows that Medra is no longer bonded to Nyxaris. Meanwhile, Blake goes off to Kage to talk about his shifting. He makes Kage promise that if things get bad or he ever tries to hurt Medra because of the shift, Kage should kill Blake. Blake also decides to get more answers, so he goes to the human professor Rodriguez. He gives Blake a book. Blake learns that it is Medra’s blood that is causing him to change.

Florence, meanwhile, has fallen in love with flying and being with Nyxaris. She goes back and moves in with Medra. Florence and Nyxaris continue with their communication bond, and he tells Florence he is very proud of her. Once Kage finds out that Florence is back, he arrives to talk to her. His grandmother wants the two to form a marriage alliance, which will mostly protect Florence. Nyxaris also agrees with everything.

Blake, meanwhile, is still studying the book he got to find out about the twin flame bond and to figure out how to get the dragon out of him.

Regan is once again having a hard time with Viktor. In an inner monologue, she goes over the fact that he abuses her, and this time it was particularly rough. To get away from him and think for a minute, she goes out into the woods, but Kage is there and comes to talk to her. He tells her that she deserves better and that she needs to start standing up for herself. Kage also says that he would protect her because he knows they are mates. Regan says it is a good thing that she is not a wolf because she does not feel that way.

As High Mistress, Regan has to show up to the engagement party for Kage and Florence. She is dreading it. Despite the fact she said she does not feel that way toward Kage, she truly does have a draw toward him. She shows her face, and Kage finds his way to her for a dance. During the dance, Kage says that he does not want to get locked into a loveless marriage with Florence and says that he is going to break the engagement off by the end of the night. This makes Regan excited, but she does not know where this puts her, as she is still married to Viktor and she still wants the power that comes with it.

Kage finds Florence and tells her he is sorry, but he is breaking it off. Though Nyxaris is upset by the news, Florence is actually relieved and says it is fine. Kage does promise that he will continue to find protection for her. Florence tells Medra, and then Florence decides since it is no longer her engagement party, she can leave the party, as can Medra and Blake. Florence runs right into some of the highborn officers, who start to attack her. Regan arrives and tries to stop it, but Florence realizes that they are not attacking her because they dislike her, but rather they are infected and something has taken them over. While protecting Florence, Regan passes out, and Kage comes to rescue both of them. Kage takes them up to his common room house and locks everyone up. He tells them that the highborn are being infected and Florence might have a cure.

After Blake and Medra also leave the engagement party, they go up to Blake’s room to have a moment together. During their moment, Blake’s dragon comes out and takes control, and it goes way too far, almost killing Medra. When Blake is back in control, he sees Medra and decides he cannot take it anymore. The dragon in him needs to be gone. He leaves, and Medra wakes up, and Blake seems slightly different. Medra does not question it because they have bigger problems. They have found out about highborns getting infected as well.

Blake and Medra decide to go out and see if they can help fight, but are quickly captured by some of Viktor’s men. The one who grabs Medra is infected, and that makes Blake angry and Medra cautious of her next move. Viktor then reveals that he wants Blake to transform into his dragon to do his dirty work and destroy a nearby city. Medra is shocked that Blake has kept this secret from her but cannot say much about it. Blake reveals that he can no longer shift.

In a flashback, right after Blake hurt Medra, he leaves his room and takes the book with him. He does a ritual and calls upon an ancient dragon. He asks for the dragon to be taken out of him. The ancient dragon agrees, and Blake is back to his normal self and returns to Medra.

Back in Viktor’s throne room, the man who has Medra finally starts to feel the infection and starts to attack her. Blake shifts into his dragon form, only then realizing that the ancient dragon did nothing to him. Blake gets Medra out and into safety, but now that he is in dragon form, Viktor can start giving him orders. So he leaves Medra behind and goes to start attacking the nearby city.

Florence and Nyxaris get ready to take down Blake, and Medra begs her not to kill him. Florence promises she will do her best. During the fight, Florence is able to keep her promise, and Blake is only injured. But in the process, Nyxaris is also injured to the point that he thinks he is going to die. Neville the fluffin comes and starts to heal the dragon.

Medra is back in the school trying to help protect innocents from being attacked by the highborns who are infected. Everything is looking bad, but little by little they are taking their school back. Regan and Kage have their moment, and Regan even offers herself up again to Viktor in order to save Kage. Viktor agrees.

Medra goes back to Blake’s room to recover from the fight and hopes that she will soon hear about him. When she gets there, he is there. He is sad and angry that his dragon is still in him and took over, and that it takes orders from Viktor. Blake is getting ready to throw himself off the building, and Medra has to stop him. During the course of their fight, other students hear that Blake is there and come to capture him. Blake agrees, knowing that it will save Medra and protect him from serving Viktor. As soon as the cuffs go on him, the dragon takes over, he breaks free, and flies away.