by G. Bailey
“Naughty princess, tut tut,” I hear a deep, throaty voice say, and I turn around Dagan to see Elias Fire walking towards me, burning footsteps in the ice as he goes. He has a leather jacket on, and a cigarette in his hand which he drops on the floor, crushing it with his boot.
“I didn’t mean to–” I start to try and explain, and he grins at me, lifts his hand and places a finger against his lips. I step back as he swings his arms out, and fire shoots out of them in the shape of a dragon as he stands still. He burns away the ice, never harming the fireproof students, who fall of their chairs or collapse to the ground. The doors bang open behind Elias, just as his fire passes them, and there my uncle stands. He has a strained expression on his face, and his hands firmly planted on his hips.
“My office, now,” My uncle demands, as he walks further into the room, with Thorne at his side, and watches Elias put the rest of the fire out. Dagan falls to the ground when he is free of the ice, and Korbin following moments later.
“This is your fault,” Dagan snaps, glaring up at me.
“Dagan, Korbin, Elias, Thorne and Isola, get to my office. Everyone else to the medical bay to be checked over,” my uncle shouts as Elias lowers his hands. I look around at the students on the floor, wiping ice off themselves, and struggling to stand up. The hostile glares they gave me when I first walked in here are replaced with pure hate now. Best first day ever.
“Such a naughty little princess, aren’t you?” Elias taunts with a low chuckle, before turning and walk straight back out.
Chapter 7
Isola
"You froze the entire room! A goddamn room full of fire dragons...who you nearly killed Isola!" My uncle shouts, while I look down at the floor. It was an accident, but I doubt telling him that will make a difference at the moment. He has been shouting at me for the last twenty minutes, and nothing I’ve tried to say has made even a little difference. If anything, me trying to speak a word just annoys him more.
"All because I called you stunning," Dagan says in a cocky tone, speaking for the first time. Both my uncle and I turn to glare at him. That was not all that he said, and the ass knows it. He holds his hands up, "Well you are."
"Congratulations Dagan, you and your friends have a new job. You are not leaving this school for the rest of the year," my uncle says clapping. “You can forget that assignment in Florida.”
"What new job?" Korbin asks, moving away from the door he was silently leaning against.
"Watching my niece, the goddamn princess who is meant to be able to control her powers,” he stops to glare at me again before continuing his rant, “and making sure she doesn't freeze everyone...again.”
“No,” Korbin says firmly, making my uncle laugh coldly. I look over to see Elias and Thorne just staring at me, both of them on either side of the room and neither are listening to my uncle.
“Also, if I catch one of you calling her stunning, flirting, or breaking any of the rules, I will personally kick you out, and none of you will stay in Dragca. I don't give a damn who your parents are," he tells the four most dangerous dragons in this school. You don’t tell the royal guards’ sons what to do unless you’re the king. The royal guards only protect my family because they are cursed to do so. Until we are all dead that is. It doesn't mean they would be punished for killing my uncle as he isn’t a royal, so I'm surprised he just told them what to do.
"Hell no," Dagan chuckles, which dies away when he looks at my uncle.
"Now get out..." my uncle commands, a dark sounding threat lacing his words and to my surprise, the guys walk out without a word. I go to follow them but my uncle stops me.
“Isola, you will stay. Shut the door behind them,” he says. I shut the door, but not before I see Dagan pulling Elias away from Thorne. They are both glaring at each other with anger in their eyes, and look close to fighting. What the hell is that about?
“You will need constant supervision now, and I am trusting you to get your powers under control. We need you to be strong, not out of control,” he says, and gets up, walking to the window. “Every Sunday morning you will fly to the mountains with Dagan and Korbin, and train with them, because they are the best fighters we have. Every Saturday you will spend all day with me, and I will teach you valuable lessons. Thorne can teach you the history of Dragca after classes on Friday, your least busy day of the week. I trust him, and he is smartest of them all in history anyway,” he tells me.
“And Elias?” I ask.
“Is too out of control to be trusted to train or teach you anything. He will protect you, as he is a dragon guard, but I don’t trust him alone with you. I wish for you to stay away from Elias, unless you need him to save you from danger,” he says, growling slightly.
“Fine,” I say, wondering what exactly Elias has done to make my uncle trust him so little. Also, I’m hating the small part of me that wants to spend time with Elias, just because my uncle told me not to. Like he is forbidden fruit or something.
“I hope I don’t have to remind you that relationships between the royal family and the dragon guard is a death sentence for you both. The curse–” he starts off and I cut him off.
“–I know all about the curse, I read it this morning,” I tell him.
“Good, then you understand why it is so very important that you stay away from them, and keep your relationship strictly business. Think of them as bodyguards, nothing more,” he tells me. I don’t say anything as the words run around my mind, this is why my family has never mixed with fire dragons, because of the risk of this curse.
“I still love Jace,” I admit.
“The dead do not need your love,” he states, almost gently but still strict with every word like I'm coming to expect from him.
“But he has it, and my vow of revenge,” I say, and he bows his head to me.
“Revenge is a much better feeling than love. As you already know, love is a weakness to us. Revenge is a strength, it gives you determination, a reason to fight,” he comments.
“Love is not a weakness,” I argue and he laughs, looking back at the window.
“It is the weakness of every dragon and human alike. Every species known to us that can love is weak because of it. Love makes you weak, and you are proof of that. You are weak because of Jacian’s death,” he says.
“That’s not true, I am not weak,” I insist, my dragon backing me in my mind.
“You are, and you being weak makes the whole of Dragca weak,” he scolds me as I cross my arms and glare at him.
“Focus on revenge Isola, not other feelings,” he tells me firmly before I can reply to him. I walk to the door, looking back at my uncle as I rest a hand on the door handle.
“Who did you lose?” I ask, hearing the pain of his loss behind his angry words. No one is that angry without losing someone close.
“Everyone I've ever loved is dead, every person I consider family. Now leave,” he demands. His voice is so detached that I don’t how to reply to him. Instead, I choose to just open the door and walk out. Thorne is leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets, and his brown eyes look up at me.
“Interesting first day, Issy,” he says, walking over, and stopping right in front of me.
“Only attempted to kill my whole class, got myself extra training, and I bet I made a whole lot of enemies here,” I shrug, making him laugh. I feel my lips turn up in a smile before I end up laughing with him.
“Classes have been cancelled for the day and–“ he stops when he sees my hands and he picks them up.
“How did you do this?” he asks, looking at my blood covered knuckles and I flinch when he rubs a finger over one of the cuts. I had actually forgotten about them.
“I had to break through the wall of ice I made, well, that my dragon made when she got mad,” I respond automatically. I see the realization float across Thorne's face at what my words mean. My ice can hurt me, and my dragon healing doesn’t work to fix the cuts. It’s a well-kept secret of ice dragons, not many
people know it and for good reason.
“I don’t know much about ice dragons or anything, but come back to my room so I can clean that up. I can stitch a few places up to stop the bleeding,” he asks gently as he lets go of my hands.
“Alright,” I say, knowing I can’t go to my uncle for help, and I don’t want anyone else knowing how vulnerable I am to my own powers. Thorne walks close to my side, our arms brushing as we walk up the stairs, and past my bedroom. We walk past the others until we get to another staircase. This staircase leads all the way up to the top of the tower, and you can see all the way up, and the hundreds of rooms.
“All the guards staying at Dragca Academy live in these rooms,” he tells me as we start to climb. We pass two doors on the walk up, before he stops, and gets a key out of his cloak. He opens his door and waves me in. Thorne’s room is just like mine, but he has a tiny window and a small bed with blue sheets. There is a pile of books on his bedside cabinet, with one still open. I walk over and see it open to a page on the history of ice dragons.
“Sit, I have a first aid box in the bathroom,” Thorne instructs as he shuts the door and undoes his cloak, hanging it over the bathroom door. I keep my eyes on the way the tight leather is stretched across his muscular frame, showing off his toned stomach and chest. When I look up, he is watching me as he sifts through a cabinet above the sink, but he quickly glances away. I shake my head, reminding myself that he is just helping me, and it doesn't matter how damn hot he is.
“What happened in the lunch room?” he asks, as he comes and kneels in front of me. I watch as he opens the box, pulling out everything he needs and laying it out on the floor. He gets some alcohol and pours it on a cloth, before he grabs my right hand. He starts cleaning it as I bite down on my lip from the stinging pain.
“If I answer that, can I ask you something?” I ask. He looks at me, and nods once before focusing on my hands again. He wraps the knuckles, clearly deciding they don’t need any stitches before taking my left hand, which is the far worse of the two.
“Dagan and Korbin, they said something about Jace…I lost control,” I say, not being able to look at Thorne as I speak.
“Understandable, it hasn’t been long since you lost him,” Thorne says gently. When he tilts his head to the side, I see a smudge of what looks like brown paint on his neck.
“Do you paint?” I ask, pointing at it and he quickly rubs it away.
“No,” he says, his voice colder than before.
“Why do you hate Elias?” I ask, watching how he completely tenses up and squeezes my hand a little tighter.
“He killed someone close to me,” he says, his tone gruff as he reaches into the box and gets some butterfly stitches out, sorting my left hand before wrapping it up.
“I’m sorry, who was it?” I ask.
“I don’t owe you another answer, Isola,” he snaps, the iciness of his tone makes me pull my hands away from him. I stand up, walking around him, pausing as I open the door.
“No, you owe me nothing, but I am sorry. I know what it’s like to have the people you love murdered when there is nothing you can do to stop it,” I tell him. I quickly walk out the room before I do something stupid, like let him see me cry.
Chapter 8
Isola
“Wake up,” a voice shouts, and then there’s loud banging on my door. I roll over and groan into my pillow as I rub my tired eyes. I look over at the gap in the curtains, only to see that it's still dark out. Sliding myself out of bed, I move to shout at whoever is stupid enough to wake me up this early. It’s inhuman, that’s what it is, no one should be awake before the sun rises. I walk over to the door, pulling it open, and glaring at Korbin who is jogging on the spot outside my room. He has a short vest on, showing off white tattoos that trail up his arms and disappear into the vest.
“Eyes up, doll,” Korbin says, laughing when I glare at him and rub my eyes.
“I’m half asleep, and this doll is not fucking impressed, what the hell do you want?” I snap, making him laugh louder.
“I like you already, but we have a two-mile run to do. So, Doll, get some running gear on as we only have two hours before class,” he says, making my jaw drop open.
“I don’t run, not unless something is chasing me, and even then, I’d rather take my chances with it,” I grumble. He steps closer to me, before leaning down to growl into my ear.
“You can get your butt in there and get changed for our run, or I can throw you over my shoulder, take you to the woods, and throw fireballs at your ass to make you run,” he warns me.
“Seems like you’re focused on my ass a lot in that sentence,” I respond, making him grin at me.
“Get changed, flirting with me won’t make me be any nicer to you,” he says, moving back and starting to do that annoying jogging thing again. Why is he so happy, and more importantly, awake at this time in the morning?
“I wasn’t–” I snap and he interrupts me.
“–Get changed,”
“So, bossy,” I groan, giving up because I’m pretty sure he would throw fireballs at me, and enjoy it. I’m also pretty sure I wouldn’t. I turn around and walk back into my room, slamming the door shut behind me. I quickly dive through my suitcase to try to find my activewear. I really need to unpack. Finding what I need, I pull the yoga top, leggings and small jacket on.
“Hurry up,” Korbin shouts, banging on the door once. I resist the urge to throw my trainers at the door, deciding to put them on, and pull my hair up into a ponytail instead. I brush my teeth, then throw some water on my face before walking out the room.
“About time,” Korbin begins before pausing. His eyes trail over me, starting at my feet and making their way up my body slowly, as he rubs his beard with one hand.
“Is this what humans wear? Tight, bright clothes?” he questions, and I look down at my bright pink leggings and black crop top.
“Some people live in clothes like this, but never actually work out in them. They are designed for working out,” I shrug, so used to seeing humans wearing them that I never considered that it would be weird at all.
“Humans are strange,” he states before turning and running down the stairs. I start after him, but he goes so fast that he is stood leaning against the wall when I finally reach the bottom. He smiles arrogantly, before taking off running out the room. We run straight down the corridor, to the entrance hall, where he holds the door open for me.
“So, where are we running?” I ask.
“In the forest. Don’t worry it’s protected, and Dagan is out flying in dragon form, keeping an eye out,” he says, just as a loud roar shakes the trees.
“Well, he is closer than I thought,” Korbin laughs, before running straight towards the trees. I run after him, getting to his side as we get to the path in the woods. He keeps at a steady pace as I take the opportunity to look around. The path is smooth, and there are little hills at the side that drop down into more trees. I look up at the sunrise, seeing the pinks and purples spreading across the sky around the two suns. The large green trees stretch so high that they almost look like they are touching the sky, it’s amazing. I have to look down and focus on my breathing when running gets harder, making me realise how out of shape I am. I seriously don’t run.
“How much longer?” I ask as the trees all start to look the same. I stop, breathing heavily as I put my hands on my knees.
“The path takes an hour and a half to run at this speed, and we have been running for twenty minutes,” he says plainly.
“Oh my god,” I pant out. “It felt like forever, I’m done,” I state, making him chuckle and I look up.
“We have an hour left. Don’t make me get the fire balls started,” he threatens and I just glare at him.
“I’m not going to do this every day. What is the point?” I ask as I get my breath back and lean against a nearby tree. Korbin sighs, holding his hand in the air and making a small fireball.
“Now doll, I wasn’t kidding abou
t throwing fireballs at your ass if you don’t start running. I’m not paid to explain anything to you,” he says, making the fireball in his hand larger. I move away from the tree, walking straight up to him, and placing my hand into the fire. It warms my hand, but it doesn’t hurt me one bit.
“Fire doesn’t hurt me, so there would be no point, other than burning my clothes. Do you really want to see my ass that badly?” I ask, watching his eyes widen in shock. I lower my hand when he stops the fire and steps closer. I have to tilt my head up to meet his eyes as we both glare at each other.
“I think you’re the one obsessed with your pretty little ass, not me. You keep bringing it up,”
“I think you’re in denial,” I chuckle, and he narrows his eyes at me.
“Well being princess and all, I guess you would be right about everything,” he says, the amount of venom and sarcasm in his words makes me want to back away from him. I don’t, I just end up staring into his green eyes. They are a dark green, with black around them and in places they have little tints of hazel. They are amazing, so deep and different from anyone else’s I’ve seen.