Rogue Royalty

by Rebecca Ethington

  "Your brother is fine. He is already healed and back on the front lines."

  "The front lines. That makes it sound like we are at war." The prickles in my neck were stronger than before, I could already tell that pushing the Drak magic away was going to be impossible from now on. "Will you tell me what is going on?"

  "I can't do that, Rowan." She said, leaning back in her seat and pulling her vibrating phone toward her, tapping on the screen again. It was only then I noticed the bloodstains on the top of her fingers, the dried bits still stuck to her wrists.

  I swallowed.

  "You can't, or you won't." The snarl in my voice flared all on its own, the temper that I always had such a hard time controlling rising up in a boiling rage. It had never felt so strong before, so all-consuming.

  It was as though my magic had been sleeping all this time and just woke up. Just like before. With my first sight. I didn't want this. I had worked for years against this. No matter how hard I pushed against the power this time, it wasn't going anywhere.

  "Can't," Wyn said, putting the phone back in her pocket. "Your father bound the truth from you. None of us will be able to tell you what's happening."

  "Well, isn't he a peach." I wanted to use a much more colorful word, but with the possibility that they would show up any second, it wasn't worth the risk.

  "He's trying to protect you, Rowan. He's trying to protect everyone. It's what he's best at actually." She laughed at something I didn't understand, nor did I care to. They were all acting like idiots and I had no interest in dealing with it.

  "I don't need to be protected. I need to know what's going on. My brother was lying on a desk, his chest cut open. Every single one of you were covered in blood--"

  "Well, to be fair you weren't supposed to see that," she interrupted me. I ignored her.

  "And now I am having sights of tunnels flowing with blood and bodies, and laughing men leading armies through the rivers like they are conquering countries," my chest tightened, power spreading through the muscles in my back like wings, everything tensing as I tried to banish the damn stuff.

  "That's what you said," Wyn gasped, speaking slower as she scooted from couch to bed. As if being close to me would buffer what she was about to say. Even with no light I could see the trepidation on her face. I could taste it in the air. "You said 'the man who drips with blood will conquer the world, smear it with ash and paint the future that was once the past.' or something. Hold on, let me check my phone."

  "Stop!" I bellowed, causing her to jump and the phone to fall to the floor as I jerked to sitting, everything spinning. That one outburst reversing any success I had in banishing the powerful flood of magic. It was everywhere, dripping from my pores like poison.

  "I don't want to know what I said,” I heaved, trying to control my temper and my magic. “I don't want to see what could happen. I want to know what is happening now."

  "It doesn't work that way, Rowan. Not anymore." My rampage was drenched in the ice water as my parents stepped into the room, my outburst so loud that I hadn't even heard them come in through the door like normal people.

  They even looked like normal people, well as normal as they did for us. The only exception was that my father's hair was falling out of his braid, the golden ribbon still wrapped around his wrist. It didn't take much to figure out why. Must be hard to fight with long golden strings flowing from you like a tail from a kite.

  "I need to know what's going on." It wasn't a question. I did my best to push the demand home by throwing the blanket off me and jumping to my feet. But the world spun as magic and gravity worked together to take my feet out from under me and send me to the ground.

  I was barely able to catch myself, falling into the bed instead of Wyn who was instantly on her feet. I grabbed the bedspread, pressing my forehead into the cool cotton as I tried to find my balance and tried to release the pressure that was fighting to explode out of me.

  "You've been pushing the magic away too long, Rowan. It's going to take some time for it to adjust--" My mother rushed over to me, hands stretched out to help me to my feet or push me back in bed - she didn't get more than a few steps toward me. I held out my hand, pushing her back as I heaved, everything aching as I forced the magic away.

  Forced everything away.

  "I have to push it away!" I ground out, turning toward my mother, her silver eyes flashing with black as my head spun and my vision flashed to red as her magic tried to join with me.

  Red like blood.

  Like Dramin's.

  Like Talon's.

  Like Angie's.

  Like Gemma's.

  Like mine.

  I roared in agony, my heart bursting from the images, from the pain, from the tears that were dripping from my cheeks.

  "I don't want this, Mother. Nothing good comes from seeing the future. Nothing but pain comes from knowing someone's past. Not when you can't change it. Not when those images, that pain. It's real. It's real. It’s everywhere. Take it away." I tried to push the emotion down with the agonizing power, but everything kept bubbling and tensing against my spine until I was starting to lose control of my body.

  “Rowan, we can’t. I can’t” My mother whispered, moving closer, her hands reaching again.

  “Take it away,” I sobbed, my back arching as the magic flared again, connecting to something I didn’t understand. “Take it out, please.”

  "Rowan. You know we can’t do that. Let us help you," my father whispered, leaning over the bed towards me. His hands were warm as he wrapped them around mine. His magic was already plunging into mine to help me calm, to help me control the overwhelming power of my magic, of the Drak as he used to do when I was little.

  I didn't have another choice. I let him in, his hands holding mine, my mother's wrapping over my bare shoulders. Everything slowly began to ebb, and for a brief second I felt human.

  Normal.

  “I can’t watch this destroy you. How much longer are you going to do this, Rowan?" my mother whispered the moment my breathing returned to normal, her warm cheek pressed against my slick one.

  "Just a little longer. Please." It was the only answer I could give her. I wanted to say forever, I wanted to have been right and to be able to push it away, to never see, to never feel that overwhelming power of a Drak again.

  I was starting to think that wasn't possible anymore.

  I knew that wasn’t possible anymore. This was my new reality. This was the hell I was born into.

  “When you see…” I asked my mother, still heaving. “Do you see good too?”

  “So much good,” she said, her hand rubbing up and down my spine as she tried to calm me. “Yes, there is bad. But there is also good.”

  I nodded into the bed. “I know.”

  I did. Because as much as I had seen and pushed away, I had still seen Gemma. I had still been able to help her, even if it hadn’t gone perfectly. Even if she didn’t know.

  "Well, when you can no longer hold it in. Let us know." My father whispered, his hands tightening around mine as he pulled himself over the bed to be closer to me. "Me, your mom. All of your family. We will all be here for you when that time comes."

  "When the end comes," I whispered, able to finally take one breath without my magic feeling like it’s about to devour me.

  I didn't know if it was dramatic or not, but at that moment, it certainly felt closer to the truth.

  "You don't have to hold the world, Rowan," my mother whispered, pressing her lips against my cheek for a fraction of a second. "Not on your own."

  All I could do was cry.

  24

  Sia

  I hated that I still looked for him.

  Everything had shifted, the world had changed and opened up in a whole new realm of possibilities. I didn't need that spoiled prince anymore, but my eyes still scanned the halls. I still lingered at the edge of his hallway, waiting for him to emerge. The hall remained empty all weekend and into the school week.

/>   He had been missing for nearly a week, six days, starting on the day my father had raided the tunnels and cleared the scourge from two cities. Six days from when my phone had burned white-hot and the deep voice had burned a new place in my soul. The two had to be connected.

  Not that I cared.

  I shouldn’t care.

  I shouldn't be concerned with the sickly, pathetic, royal. I had bigger things to worry about, especially since tonight was to be the first meeting with the owner of that voice. Every muscle in my back was tightly coiled, my stomach dancing as the hours clicked closer to the end of school. To the weekend, when it would be appropriate for me to leave the school.

  When no one would know or care where I was going or why. My nerves had clearly gotten the best of me. I hadn't felt excitement like this since the Gauntlet, which was possibly why I had chosen to sit in a different seat than my usual for this class.

  Why I had placed myself right beside the pink-haired anarchist who had made my life a living hell the last few months.

  She had almost lost me my birthright. Lost me the respect of the only people who mattered in this world. Thanks to Analine’s gift, she was no longer part of my task but I sure as hell wasn't going to let her get away with all her shit. Besides, this was the best way to pass these last few anxious minutes.

  “You know,” I sneered, leaning over the side of my desk towards her. “Just because you can’t write and read doesn’t exempt you from the work.”

  She froze, the pen she had been using to carve some grotesque shape into the surface of her desk stilling as she turned, her ugly purple eyes narrowing at me.

  “Just because your head is full of air, doesn’t give you an excuse to fail.” Her smile spread as my jaw dropped, my breath catching as my magic sparked in my chest and pulled my muscles tighter.

  The smart-mouthed bitch! She had gotten away with that stuff long enough. I heaved, nostrils flaring as I forced through a cleansing breath. I knew exactly what I wanted to say. Knew all of the nasty torments that had been brewing in me for months. I was better than her pathetic, childish games.

  I was winning. It was time she knew that.

  “You won’t be singing the same song tomorrow, trust me,” I let the warning drip from my smile, my eyes flashing as I let slip the threat that should have sent her running. Instead, the corner of her mouth pulled up in a smile.

  “Why? Am I scheduled to kick your ass again?” she whispered, still not looking at me. Like her ugly doodle was more interesting than what I had to tell her. “I didn’t have anything in my calendar. Or did you only tell your boyfriend, so he knew where to save--”

  “Can I help you two with anything?” Professor Gregario boomed from right above us, sending both of us jerking, Gemma's pen breaking in two and spreading ink all over the place. “Cheating is not tolerated in my class.”

  "Shit!" she screeched, attempting to clean up her mess and instead staining her hands with ink the same shade as the foul tattoos that lined her arms.

  “Oh! I wasn’t cheating professor.” I turned to professor Gregario, giving him an innocent smile as I waved the still empty page of the pop quiz we were supposed to be working on. “Gemma here was asking me about question one. I told her I don’t give out answers to people who don’t do the work.”

  My voice lowered as I turned to the now ink-smudged Drain, her eyes narrowing as I threw her to the wolves. This had worked out better than I had planned. I had simply meant to taunt her. Instead, I was going to do my best to send her cowering to the corner.

  Take that bitch.

  I waited for her shock as Gregario turned, ready to punish the bitch. Too bad we weren't in Analine's class, the backlash would have been even more glorious, this would have to do.

  Instead of cowering beneath the stone-faced teacher, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the crumpled piece of paper from the corner of the desk and handed it to the old man.

  “Question One. Describe the bite of a Vilỳ. The bite of a Vilỳ is often denoted by a raised brand-like scar on the skin," she rambled, already going back to cleaning up the ink as Professor Gregario unraveled the paper. "Often, they can take shapes that reflect the power of the giver, or of the receiver. Would you like Question two as well?"

  My teeth ground together as I stared at her, as Gregario chuckled and walked away saying, “Quiet please, while others complete their work.”

  I ignored him and leaned closer to her. I had enough of her. This weekend couldn't come fast enough.

  “Nice try, Sia,” Gemma whispered before I could say anything, having finished cleaning the ink up and going back to her drawing. “Shall we add this to your list of losses.”

  “I can lose all I want, I’ll still win.” My lip curled as I leaned closer, thinking back to all I had helped create last weekend. All the deaths, all the slaves, knowing that this week, after tonight's meeting, was going to be even better.

  “Seriously?” Gemma said, not even a drop of fear on her face as she chuckled. “Is there something wrong with you, or are you just incapable of making a logical comeback.”

  I jerked against the desk, the feet squeaking against the stone floor as I controlled my raging temper. I needed to fight, to hurt, to maim. I wondered how bad the punishment would be to end her now. Not worth it.

  Not anymore.

  “I can never lose,” I hissed low enough that no one around us could hear. “Even when you think you have won, you still are below me. Ten feet under like the Drain you are, watching as I send a thousand loaded guns towards your people. Marching them toward certain death, filling your pathetic shit-filled drain with blood.”

  Gemma shot to her feet, the desk overturning behind her at the aggressive movement. Everyone turned as she roared, her hand wrapping around my neck as she pulled me up. My own desk clattered to the ground as she gripped me, blocking off my breath as she tightened her fingers. Murder painted her eyes, the color darkening as her magic raged under her skin. It felt like poison. Festering, vile poison. Fitting. I tried to laugh, but all that came out was a muffled gasp and a choking noise.

  “Miss Gemma!” Professor Gregario yelled in alarm, everyone else gasping and moving away in a panic. I stayed still, letting her magic curl through me, feeling the vile heat of her hatred.

  “You will never be above me,” Gemma snarled, not even turning to the teacher or the students who were now screaming. I tried to grab her, to claw her eyes from her head, but she had wrapped something around me, her magic pressing against me from all directions. I couldn't move. I was frozen, choking, as the bitch snarled and spit in my face. “I know what you are. You will not live to face your own sins, of that I promise you.”

  “Gemma!” Gregario was screaming now, more and more students pressing against the side walls with wide eyes, like they were looking at a demon.

  Maybe they were, I could see it peer through the near black of her eyes.

  “Gemma! Stop this!” Someone yelled as I pushed my magic out with all my power, snapping her binds and sending her stumbling, although she didn't let go of my throat.

  “Wait, bitch, tomorrow you will cry like the rest of them,” I said with the last of my air, pushing at her hands to get a bit more. “Tomorrow you will remember how pathetic and useless you are.”

  She didn’t get a chance to respond before a white slice of magic slammed into her side. Gregario’s magic sent Gemma soaring through the air and against the back wall, and me to the floor to gasp and sputter. Everything burned and ached as oxygen flooded me, Golden’s running to my side as Professor Gregario rushed her.

  "Are you okay?" Miko asked, the first to reach me. I gave him a deep glare and focused on my breathing. What use was he in this game if he just stood against a wall and watched.

  “They told me you were controlled,” Gregario said from the other side of the room, his massive frame towering over Gemma as she untangled herself.

  “I am controlled,” she hissed between clenched teeth. Her entire bod
y was shaking as she stood. He must have hit her with something hard, good. I gasped a few times and pushed tears to the surface, my wails pulling back the focus of everyone who had turned to them. They shouldn't forget the victim so easy? Forget the victim, forget the crime, forget how dangerous and out of control the Drains are.

  “Go visit the headmaster,” Gregario snarled, the guy still clenching his fists. “Have him check your magic and find your keeper.”

  I pushed out another cry to mask my smile, leaning against Miko as Gemma stomped back to her overturned desk, and her bag that was lying innocently on the floor. Even through the burning in my chest, it only took a flick to upturn the bag and empty the contents all over the floor. Goldens giggled as Gemma snarled knowingly. I cried louder.

  “You deserve what’s coming to you,” I said between heaving breaths, watching her stuff her things back in the bag.

  "Likewise," she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder and bolting out the door. Everyone around me cheered as she left, her ugly pink hair flashing through the door as she walked out the door, nose in the air.

  "Perfect," Miko said from beside me, his hand running up and down my arm in a way that was starting to feel more than comforting. I muscled him away and pushed myself to my feet, bee-ling toward Gregario who was still snarling in the corner as he repaired the broken plaster in his wall.

  "Professor?" I breathed out with a sigh, forcing my voice to shake. His irritation melted to worry the second he turned, his eyes dropping to my neck and flesh that I was sure was marked by both the hands and magic of the Drain. Lifting my chin so he could see better, I let out another shaky breath.

  "Would it be alright if I left for the day? I had plans to go home this weekend and I feel that I need to leave to be safe. The king..." I purposely let my voice catch. "The king promised me I would be safe. I don't feel that right now."

  "Yes, yes, of course," Gregario said, panic sliding across his features for a moment. "I'll make sure to inform Cail of what happened today."