The papers on the rock-desk contained the list of my last orders before I left the Academy. Still there was one more thing that had to be addressed.
Silver Circle.
With Red Mark and Children of Entropy banned, Lotian and Saaron divided over Flare, the unicorn’s faction would climb to its glory. I had to stop them before that happened.
I flicked my fingers, causing the content of the papers laying on the cold rocky surface to be magically sent to the board and other Heads of the Houses, and beyond. I hoped that the information would suffice to sink Silver Circle before they became unstoppable. Maybe it was already too late. Maybe I was played and Red Mark and Children of Entropy had been fated to fail? A disturbing thought.
The consequences of this made my cold flesh tremble with fear. They outsmarted me. Still I had documents. They would wreak havoc for weeks onward. Enough time for Flare to come to her senses.
My mind drifted for a moment in the direction of that young flame-haired beauty. She was such an unlike candidate for having this much unicorn’s blood. So much anger in her. I hope she believes my lie. Pregnancy at the time as this? Oh, Flare. Breaking that engagement would be an act of war. A war we aren’t ready for.
Chapter 13
Lotian
Saaron’s angry frown used to be an outcome of my pranks on him. It was no longer the case. It held contempt now.
My green-haired brother sat in a patterned armchair watching flames play in the fireplace. The two Dragon Soldiers that had escorted me here kept their distance. Even after surrendering, their swings hadn’t ceased and so I got tired and showed them a demi-dragon’s strength. In truth, old Hugman was stronger than them. It was embarrassing for professional soldiers.
“Leave us,” Saaron murmured to them. I heard a deep exhale and faster than normal steps. They couldn’t be blamed though. To us, they were like ants between the elephant’s feet. “One fucking day and you are already causing trouble.”
Saaron’s leg crossed the other one, his elbow rested on the armchair’s armrest while his hand looked as if he held an apple in it, except it was empty. I didn’t remember the set of golden rings to ever be on his fingers.
“I surrendered, but they kept attacking. Should I have let them beat me?”
My angry question floated in the space between us for a moment. Saaron behaved as if he was a director of the Academy himself. I used to look up to him, follow him, mimic him. I loved my brother, but he has become something else. Someone I didn’t recognize anymore. I almost asked who was he.
“You should think of your little girlfriend. You may be a demi-dragon but she is a mere dragoness.” What was this supposed to mean? A bait? A threat? I said nothing, observing him with scrutiny. Saaron’s cold facade remained uncracked. Only Flare knew how to push him beyond angry frowns and creases on his forehead.
“I see that you made up your mind, brother. You gave up on the family to please… her.” And there it was. A flicker of rage beneath the perfect mask. It clicked then. Saaron hated when others showed him a lack of respect, and Flare was excellent at this. Wasn’t this the reason why she’s ended up in the Academy? Yeah, she stood up to Dramer. Saaron couldn’t tolerate her attitude for too long. Speaking of the family… I heard what our father said about Dramer, Nix and Bastiel, and in extension about us, we aren’t sons to him, only mere tools. Fuck this.
“What do you want from us … from Flare?”
He touched one of the golden rings and gently moved it.
“I don’t want anything from you because you betrayed me. But from Flare? That I will tell you. I want her broken, snapped, cracked, and begging at my feet for forgiveness. She has forgotten her place as you have. But her, I will have laying at my feet with a collar around her neck!”
I surged forward as the rage overpowered my sense of rationality. I knew Saaron said those things only to provoke me, to cut and tear at my heart. Knowledge now useless, as my extended arm and the rest of my body caught in the invisible web. The golden ring he’d been playing with shone with blueish light.
“You never cease to amaze me, brother,” Saaron said. “You must have noticed that things have changed. You’ve been outstripped of your privileges and status and still you behave as if nothing had changed.”
“This won’t last long!” I snapped, keeping a groan of the pain out of my mouth. The web tightened.
“Yes. I agree with you. Soon, I will get what I want, while you, Slacker and Iron Head will waste away elsewhere. I could—”
“What about Bastiel?” I interrupted.
“What about him?”
“He’s in the city and he likes Flare. I cannot picture you talking to him with such bravado.”
This earned me more pain as the web tightened further, cutting through my thick dragon’s skin. What is that spell? It smells of fairies but something is not right.
“Bastiel…” Saaron’s control slipped for a second. Somehow, his spies missed us parting for a week. How? Yes, we had spells and barriers in place, but I’d expected that a word would get out. “If not for your bond with Flare, you’d die this night, in this room. But I need her alive. I want her to suffer…”
The sense of squeezing was unbearable and I had to pass out because my vision dimmed and his words turned quiet. “…in the end, there is a hard way. Even the dragon’s bond can be broken. But then you have no need to know anything else.”
A flash of light … and darkness.
Chapter 14
The fourth floor swarmed with Dragon Soldiers. In its haste, the Academy forgot to spellbound this corridor. I held my dragon’s fire at the tips of my fingers ready to strike. If it came to that, the only option was to run away. It was clear that this place was a death trap and so I needed a way out. If my three demi-dragons and Bastiel agreed, we could leave the city and venture far away from it. Bastiel revealed that farther away from the city teleportation was either impossible or very risky. The Titan God’s minions were active in many places all over the world.
Sharp as a knife, Verax pressed ahead. Some Dragon Soldiers showed her respect while others pointedly ignored.
All the way to the third floor, I hoped to hold onto my powers. The first step onto the dragon section’s floor severed the connection with my magical core. I wanted to howl.
“Why are we spellbound?” I asked.
“For your own safety,” Verax admitted.
I snorted, considering the use of some very nasty words that fit perfectly for the situation. The dragoness led me to my room where I hoped to find Lotian. It was empty save for Rebecca.
“Where is Lotian?” I repeated my question from the cell on the fourth floor.
“I told you, he’s with Saaron.” The door closed, cutting off my retort.
“Oh, Flare!” Rebecca landed on the small brown commode. “You have to start avoiding troubles. Your behavior points were cut by ten. The new rules…”
I raised a hand, dismissing her babble. “I don’t need a speech, Rebecca. You can tell Saaron he can…” Exactly! Selene’s and Bastiel’s words flashed in my head. Both of them warned me against meddling with Saaron’s matters. I couldn’t help myself. The voice from that fireplace didn’t sound happy. I had to solve the mystery. It was a bit shameful on my part, but I expected demi-dragons’ help in case things went terribly bad. “Request an urgent meeting with Saaron.”
“But Flare…”
“Do it!”
Her tiny figure hunched and she went silent for a moment then perked up. “Granted. Here.” Her arms spread and a piece of paper appeared on the table. “It’s a permission to enter the fifth floor and visit the office of your House.”
Lotian is still with him.
I grabbed the permission and ran back the way I had come. An amazing plan of how I was going to crack Saaron’s secret, unraveled in my mind. The paper granted me a seamless
passage down to the fifth floor and to the reception, where the same bored dragoness secretary waved me into the office. I wondered where he would welcome me. One of the glass rooms or would he renounce his deceit? What I found arrested my heartbeat. Lotian lay in the middle of the room, breathing weakly. I shot toward him oblivious of Saaron sitting in the armchair.
“Get medic, Rebecca!” I snapped at my personal assistant. Her harpy face went white and she only shook her head. “What the fuck?!”
“Relax, Flare. He’ll live. For now.”
“What did you do to him?” I rose, anger boiling beneath my skin. I couldn’t use my magic, so what? I could still fight. In five fast steps, I crossed the distance between me and Saaron. He didn’t move. Not even, when I gripped the front of his jacket. “What did you do to him?” I repeated.
His red eyes looked at me, they were diluted.
“It’s too late for him. He will stay here until I am able to break the dragon’s bond and then … he will die.”
My hand slapped him with all the might I could muster. Saaron smiled. The fucker smiled. Without magic, I suddenly felt naked. Shit. I was naked. All my clothes were gone. A weird feeling around my neck brought my hands there and I found a collar.
I was leashed to his armchair. I pulled on the leash, but as well I could pull a steel cable. “What is this? Are you insane?” I didn’t bother with covering my intimate places. I didn’t care. “Saaron, are you fucking mad?”
“You shouldn’t go to Selene!” he snapped, suddenly enraged. “That fucking horse whore did it. We expected something from her, but no one … no one had believed that she was capable of this. I had to act fast and conclude my part of the deal.”
“You need help!” I said. Saaron made no sense. What did he refer to? Did he mean the fact that Selene was retiring? “What does mean the conclusion of the deal?!” I had some very bad feelings about this. Dread flushed my veins.
“Nothing that should concern you,” he waved his hand. “Just killing the Iron Head. The last attempt failed, this one will not. Now sit!”
A sudden pull on the leash dropped me to my knees.
Tears exploded in my eyes. I cried.
“Shut up!” Saaron jumped to his feet. For a moment, I expected he would kick me and maybe he considered just that.
“Nix and I are bonded,” I said between sobs.
“No.”
“Yes, if you kill him, you kill me and Lotian.”
Saaron shook his head in denial, and as fury swept his composed expression, he kicked Lotian.
“Stop it!”
“You are a filthy liar!”
In the maelstrom of shock, terror and sinking feeling, tranquility descended on me. Calmness spread to every cell in my body. I stopped sobbing, wiped my eyes and lifted myself up and straight, showing my contempt for him.
“I bonded Nix right after your failed assassination on him. And if you so desire me to live… you’ll lose even in your triumph.”
The chamber, I paid little attention to, looked slightly different. There were expensive furniture, the same massive fireplace with flames dancing inside. I couldn’t place what was different about his office. A vaulted ceiling? Stripped walls? Paintings?
Saaron jerked his forearm and runes swirled around it. This was new. He began pressing them in an unexplained sequence.
Stay quiet now. A woman’s voice spoke in my head. It was the same one from the Lincoln Room. What was it? I wanted to snap at Saaron, push him further into the madness that has been consuming his dragon’s mind. But the voice stilled such notions.
Saaron’s wrath erupted, as the connection he tried to make, failed. I saw the pure desperation in his red eyes. He was trying to stop the assassination and he couldn’t. I almost burst out laughing but it was my life he was trying to preserve. I wonder, should I die just to glimpse the agony he brought on himself. It struck me then that even in the position I’ve found myself, I still felt a pull toward him. Though distorted by ire, his face was still handsome. He was the enemy. I should have nothing but resentment and outrage for him. Clouded by the conflicting emotions and despair, I failed to notice his departure. Teleportation out of the Academy has been blocked. If Saaron wanted to save me, he needed to stop the murder by himself. A part of me refused to accept the slightest possibility that Nix could die. Not him. No. He was tough, strong, a fucking demi-dragon. One of the mightiest beings on this tormented planet.
Without Saaron in the room, the flames in the fireplace froze and then slammed against an invisible magical field. Similar to the one used in the cell. There was intent in the movements of the flames.
Despite curiosity that burned every inch of my brain, I set off toward Lotian. He was more important. The leash had a different idea, it halted me four steps from him. I pulled with all my strength to no avail.
“Lotian! Lotian, wake up!”
Lotian, can you hear me? You have to wake up. You must!
Flare? To my shock, the mental connection we possessed, thanks to the dragon’s bond, worked. Shit, if it worked with him, I should be able to warn Nix!
Nix! There is an attempt on your life! Do you hear me? Nix!
Nothing came from him, instead, more words poured from Lotian, Flare, my mind … it’s muddled. Saaron … Saaron cast a spell on me. Something very … nasty. Where … where are … you?
Next to you.
No. Please. No. Sweetheart. No.
Saaron’s gone. He sent killers after Nix. But he didn’t know I’m bonded to Nix. I love you, Lotian. I love you.
Don’t say it. This … can’t be the end. This…
Outrage poured out of Lotian. Fury so intense it burned through the bond. I wanted to scurry off, run from that molten core, which like an asteroid, smashed where Lotian lay. For the first time, I feared that the fire pulsing out of my lover would burn me to crisp.
“Lotian!” My scream drowned in the whine of the spell that held Lotian’s body in the fixed position. Quickly, not really thinking clearly, I backed behind the armchair. While Lotian fought with the bounding spell, I had to find a way to release myself from the fucking leash.
The flames beat at the shield and it became clear the barrier would hold. I focused back on my own problem. If Saaron returned before I got free, I’d spend the rest of my life as his slave. This will never happen! I reminded myself. But without magic, I had no way of escaping. I considered calling Rebecca, but I feared she might inform Saaron.
The cord, that imprisoned me, was magical. That was obvious. How do I snap something like this without magical power? In front of the armchair, on the floor, Lotian blazed like a small sun, a terrible temperature coming off of him. I peeked over and saw a blackened wooden floor around him. It had to be rune-enhanced to keep the wood from catching fire. Was the cord the same? It was a soft tangle of small golden ropes. I couldn’t see any runes, though many of the runes were often rendered invisible. I had to do something though, and so I put everything on one bet.
If I do this. I may not survive. Fuck. I jumped out of the protection of the armchair. It felt like diving headfirst into a furnace. My instincts flared and my foot trembled, it required a self-loathing to keep it steady. Only people with suicide thoughts could stay in such a position for longer than seconds. I pushed forward, heat grazed at my skin.
I heard the howl of the creature imprisoned in the fireplace. It whined, mixing delight and terror. I was burning. My naked skin caught fire.
L… My thoughts turned to ash. I believed I’ve been ready for the pain. No one ever is. Lotian lost control. The armchair, I used to hide behind, turned aflame. I didn’t see Lotian anymore. Only a smudge of brightness laying on the floor. Was it what we turned into while having sex? Fucking bombs. Pun intended.
At some point, my knees buckled. I realized that the scream that filled the scorching air, belonged to me. My neck
felt tired, felt weak, my tears had turned to hot steam before they left my eyes.
I screamed lauder, howling, begging for the final embrace of death. The pain of being burned alive was too much. Too much for a single soul to bear. Before my sight was gone, I saw a sharp movement, a door opened and closed even faster.
I hit the blackened floor. Flames boiled my blood, tore at my flesh, vaporized my skin. For the first time in my life, I turned coward. I knew my death meant the deaths of my lovers. I knew it. But I couldn’t bear the pain anymore. My bones caught fire. I was burning alive.
Burning.
Burning without end.
Nerve ends should melt by now. My brain should be turned into a delightful cuisine of some cannibal culture.
It didn’t cease. The pain was everything.
The pain became a friend in the adventure through hell. It accompanied me until the last cell in my body was consumed by fire.
It only stopped when I became a fire.
Returning to the world was strange, stretched in time, an odyssey of fast-fading memories of a torment that couldn’t be real. Eyes snapped open, they were mine. Were they? I was everywhere in the room that burned. I touched every surface that fire, my fire, consumed. Somewhere in the middle of the room, lay a person very dear to me. He was the source of that unbelievable heat. I reveled in it now. The fire was my domain. The fire was me. I was the fire.
Princess? Daughter of Fire? Is that you? Your fire brings me hope. Let me out of this cage. It’s killing me. They are draining me until my flesh withers away. Princess…
I remembered the voice, it’d spoken to me the other day. I couldn’t understand it then. I understood it now. My consciousness existed all over the room, where ever the flames danced, there I danced.
The Flesh of Titans Page 10