The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4)

by Conner Kressley

  “What does that mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  “It means that love isn’t always the most important thing. Sometimes duty is. Sometimes compassion is. Sometimes truth is.” She moved closer to me, her face and tone softening. “And as hard as it might be for you to admit, the truth is, it might be too late to save Cresta.”

  The door to my room (a welcome respite, given the open air nature of most of the buildings in the Hourglass) slid open and my father strode in.

  Petar Lightfoot had never looked at me with much pride. As a boy, I was an albatrose, a soon to be corpse hanging on long enough to ensure my mother’s heartbreak when the inevitable happened.

  Even after the tattoo, even after becoming the Dragon provided me an exit from my ‘fixed point’ status, he never saw me as his. Not really. Sure, I was technically his son. I had his eyes, his last name, and before too long, I would probably have his grandchildren. But he never treated me like anything more than a subpar genetic placeholder. I was there until something better came along, someone who wouldn’t disappoint him, someone who wouldn’t subvert his expectations. Someone who wouldn’t force him to become a traitor by association.

  For all intents and purposes, he should have gotten that from Sevie. But Fate saw fit to give him a second son whose powerset was placed firmly in the ‘passive’ department. Father never got the action hero son he had always dreamed of. Not until now.

  “There he is,” Father said, a smile so rare that it seemed foreign to me, spread across his face. “The Dragon, the savior of mankind.”

  No wonder Mother wanted to shut me up before Father got here. He was practically beaming, the jackass.

  “Don’t start with me, Father,” I said, instantly shattering whatever delusions of grandeur he might be holding onto. “I want to see Echo.”

  “I think that’s a fine idea,” he said.

  “What?” I asked, furrowing my brow in surprise.

  “It makes sense that you’d want to get a feel about what he knows for yourself before your journey starts. It’s a general’s move, and it’s a smart one.”

  “That’s not-” I sighed. “You know what? Fine. That’s why I want to see him. I’m going to mine his ass for information before I go off to make my killing.” Even the words sent bile rising in my throat.

  “Just because I choose to ignore it, doesn’t mean your sarcasm is lost on me, son. “ My father stated flatly. “It doesn’t matter that you enjoy doing your duty, only that you do it.”

  The idea of testing him jumped to the forefront of my mind. The words ‘And what if I don’t?’ almost came spilling out of my mouth. But I thought better of it. I would never get his approval. Looking at him and my mother side by side now, I realized I would never get either of their approvals. He was staunch and strict, seeing things one way and one way alone. And, massive transgressions on her part aside, she was always going to stand by him.

  But I didn’t need them now. I wasn’t some youngling looking for approval or permission. I was a grown man and a Breaker. I was the Dragon for Fate’s sake. So I bit my tongue and let it slide.

  “The Council is preparing transport for you now,” he continued.

  “Now?” I asked, my head darting toward him. “Isn’t it customary to do reconnaissance for a while before starting a new mission?”

  “This is the end of the world, Owen, not an old world bank heist. The former rules don’t apply, especially now. Have you seen what that wretch has caused? Word just came in that an anchor she caused to fall is responsible for civil unrest in Syria. When will it end?”

  I couldn’t hold my tongue, not for that. “The next time you call her a wretch. That’s when it ends for you,” I growled.

  “Owen!” Mother gasped.

  “It’s alright, dear,” Father said, holding a hand up to silence her. “Our son has grown. He’s the man he is. And apparently, that man is one who would threaten his father over the bedside of his dying wife over the honor of his whore.”

  “Don’t you dare call her-”

  “But that’s alright, dear,” he said, addressing Mother but looking at me. “Because he is also the man who will do what he has to. Not for us, mind you. At this point, I doubt we could convince him to get dressed in the morning for our own sake. No, he’ll do it for the same reason he does everything. He’ll argue and protest. He’ll swear from the top of his head to the tips of his toes that nothing in the entire world could ever persuade him into doing the thing that he must, the thing that he dreads. But he’s wrong, dear. You see, whether he wants to admit it or not, I know my son. I know what makes him tick and I know what he values above all other things. He will do this thing, this thing that he finds so reprehensible, for the same reason that he’ll relent from his self-invoked celibacy and save the life of his wife. It’ll be for the same reason he’ll cross whatever sea and climb whatever mountain he finds in an effort to make whole what’s been taken from his brother. He’ll kill her, my dear. He won’t want to but he will. Because it’s the right thing.” A smile, dreadful and smug, distorted his face. “And he knows it.”

  ********

  I moved through the Medic Bay quickly, anger flaring up hot in my chest. I had to get away from my father. I couldn’t deal with his smugness, with the sense of victory he felt now that he assumed I was going to have to do what I always swore I never would.

  This couldn’t be it. The end didn’t look like this. I hadn’t fought this hard, given up this much, just to be exactly what fate had deemed I would.

  But all of my people were slowly falling away from me. Sevie was fading away, replaced by a vacant eyed douchebag as his brain patterns were rewired. Flora was completely gone, a victim of whatever method of horror her uncle Chant inflicted on her. Merrin was laying half unconscious in a hospital bed, her body betraying her as a result of the bond we now shared. My mother had even left the cause. The truth of what was going on, what bit seemed Cresta had inadvertently caused, was apparently too much for her.

  But what did she know? She had never looked into Cresta’s eyes and seen what I’ve seen in them. She didn’t know her heart. She didn’t believe in her the way I did. I couldn’t fail now, not with so much at stake.

  I pushed back out into the Meditation Grotto. The last time I was here, Sevie had very nearly put me on my ass. I wondered what he was doing now. Was he afraid? Was there even any of him left anymore? What was I going to do? How could I help him, Cresta, Merrin, Flora, and the entire world when their interests were at odds with each other?

  “You’re not,” A voice that stuck into me like a dagger made of ice cut through the air.

  I turned. Luca, the Council’s new pet seer, stood there all white eyed and sneering at me.

  “What in Fate’s name are you talking about?” I asked, tensing as I caught sight of him.

  “The question you’re asking yourself right now,” he answered, his voice low and monotone. “The answer is that you’re not. You’re going to do what you have to, of course. And by the end of our conversation, you’re going to want to.”

  “The hell I will,” I said through gritted teeth. The idea of me murdering the woman I loved in cold blood was ludicrous, but the idea that I’d want to do it was even crazier.

  “I miss being like you, Dead Boy,” Luca said, circling me and shaking his head. “When I knew nothing, I thought I knew everything too. Now that I know everything, I realize how horribly shortsighted we all still are. You are going to want it Dead Boy. Not only that, but by the time this is over, you’re going to beg me to let you do it.”

  Rage spiked up in me, hot like fire. “I wouldn’t wait on it.”

  “We all wait,” Luca grinned. “Your brother, he’s waiting for the statues to speak. He told you that, didn’t he?” His hand grazed a particularly large statue and continued. “It worries you. Does it not? It shouldn’t When they start answering him, that’s when you should be worried.”

  “Cut the nonsense, Luca!” I war
ned. “I’m not interested in your hyperbole and I’m certainly not interested in your opinions. You might have gotten a plush spot in terms of the Council and all of that, but all you’ll ever be is a bully to me.”

  “Well then, I have a proposition for you.” He leaned down. Picking up a staff from behind one of the statues, he threw it to me. It stung my hand as I caught it. The wood was cold for some reason. Ice cold. When I looked back at him, he was holding a matching staff.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “What does it look like?” He answered.

  “Striking a Seer is punishable by death,” I said, tightening my grip on the staff, more out of frustration than anything else.

  “I won’t tell if you don’t.” He grinned. “Besides, you couldn’t be killed if you were angling for it, not when you’re this necessary. You know that.”

  “What do you want from this?” I asked, eyeing him up and down.

  “Do you think you’re the only one who has frustrations that need venting?” He cocked his head to the side. “I hate you. I always have. You’re useless, a vestigial tale. And now, your bitch mother has literally brought about the end of the world just to save your sorry hide. I want to beat your face in. I think you can understand that.”

  “And what’s in it for me, besides giving you the thrashing you deserve?” I was already moving closer to him. He was right. I was a ball of stress and anger. And the chance to let all of it out on the first person in the whole world who I ever hated was too good to pass up.

  “As if that’s not enough,” he smirked. “If you beat me here, then I’m yours to do with as you please.”

  “And what the hell would I do with you?” I asked, bile rising in my throat at the thought.

  “A seer with the ear of the Council? I can think of more than a couple of things that might make me useful.” A harsh chuckle escaped his lips. “My word is gospel,” he said, twirling the staff in his hands. “They believe everything I say without reservation. Such is the nature of this place.”

  “Are you suggesting that you’d lie to them for me?” I asked, staring at him like he had just offered to part the Red Sea or something. “You understand how big a transgression ever suggesting such a thing is?”

  “What can I say? I’m not what one might think of as a traditional seer,” he laughed.

  He wasn’t lying. Seers, of course, were traditionally kept away from the general population. They were hidden in invisible towers because being too involved with others weakened their potency. Because of this, they were raised in isolation. Any and all experiences they had were byproducts of the visions. The extent of their knowledge of the world almost always came primarily by what they saw of the future. Because of that, the idea of lying to the Council (or anyone else) would have never dawned on a regular seer.

  But Luca wasn’t raised as a seer. His powers didn’t manifest until well after his birth, and his lack of a proper upbringing was beginning to show.

  Or was it?

  “You’re trying to trick me,” I said sharply. “You want to paint me as a traitor, like I’m angling to convince you to deceive the Council.”

  “You’re already a traitor,” Luca scoffed. “We both know that if you weren’t who you are, your head would already be on a spike. So why not go all out? Pull out the stops as the Neanderthals like to say.” He shook his head. “It’s the only way you’re going to make it through this.”

  What did that mean? Did he know something about me? Had he seen a glimpse of the future that he was keeping all to himself?

  “No deal,” I answered. “I’m not interested in you or the Council. Tell them what you want.”

  “And what if I could tell other people?” He winked at me. “What if I could use my considerable powers to let Cresta know that the boy you sent off with her isn’t who he says he is? What if I could show her what I showed you? I wonder if she’d think he was cute after she watched him poison your brother.”

  My muscles tensed. He had me and he knew it. Of course he did. I had to do this now, to play along with Luca’s game if it meant a chance at warning Cresta about Royce.

  “So that’s what happens if I win,” I said, digging in my feet where I stood. “What about if you win, not that that'll happen.”

  “If I win?” He asked slyly. “Then I get to show you something.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that and I honestly didn’t believe that Luca would hold up his end of the bargain if he managed to pull out a win. But what the hell. I was frustrated and the idea of knocking this smug bastard out.

  “You wanna show me something?” I asked, tightening my grip on the staff. “Let me show you something first.”

  And then I charged him.

  Chapter 22

  The Wave and the Mountain

  I swung the staff at his stupid seer head. All the frustration I was feeling- years and years of frustration- all let loose in one terrible, fluid movement.

  He swung back the instant my body twitched, as if he knew it was coming.

  Of course he did.

  My staff hit nothing but air and I wrenched, stopping myself from spinning all the way around.

  “Somebody’s upset,” Luca grinned, backing away and undoubtedly readying his own attack.

  “And somebody’s about to hurt,” I answered, charging again.

  He twisted an instant before I reached him, sweeping his staff at my knees and knocking me to the ground. I hit hard, the breath stopping short on my throat and cursing my luck.

  What was I thinking? Sure, I had pretty much thrashed Luca back in training. But he wasn’t a seer then. He couldn’t do what he was definitely doing now; literally seeing my moves before I made them. How was I supposed to compete with that?

  He grinned at me from above, and I was a child again. He had stood over me like this so many times, grinning at me, exalted in my misery- misery he had caused.

  And what had I done all those times? I bit my tongue and took it. I laid there, taking the beating, feeling like I would rather die than deal with him for one more day. He made me feel like I should have died back then, and that was when I realized it. I didn’t hate Luca, not really. He was a non-issue. Seer status aside, he was an idiot. The Council saw it. That was why they hadn’t even bothered to learn his name before his recent transformation. The genetic testers knew it. That was why they assigned him to a low level security position that a trained dog could do. And the thing that really mattered, the thing that was no doubt fueling his hate, was the fact that he knew it too.

  It was in his walk, his talk, everything about him. He was lacking. He was completely ordinary, and he knew it. That made me feel sorry for him, but it didn’t make me hate him. No, I hated myself. I was the one who allowed him to treat me like that. I was the one who was too weak to stand up for myself. And worse than that, I was the one who actually started to believe all the garbage he threw at me.

  But I was a boy then. I was a youngling who knew nothing of the world, of duty, of loyalty, of love. But I did know. Cresta had given me that, and damn it, I had given it to her too.

  I would never be the boy I was before. I would never be Dead Boy again. I was a man. And I was very much alive.

  Heat coursed through me, burning me up from the inside out. But it didn’t hurt, not like before. The fire wasn’t burning through me. It had already done that. It was a part of me now. It belonged to me, inside of me. And right about now it was begging to be put to use.

  “Really?” Luca scoffed, looking down at me with white, empty eyes. “I saw that as taking much longer.”

  “Don’t worry,” I answered, the fire in me tinting my vision enough to be able to say that I was actually seeing red. “It’s about to.”

  When the words left me, so did a surge of energy. Fire, dragon fire as bright and hot as anything that existed on the planet.

  Though his eyes held no expression, I could tell by their widening that Luca hadn’t seen this one coming. He threw his
hands up and fell backward.

  The flames tickled at him, catching his sleeves and spreading to his shirt.

  “Damnit!” He screamed as he dropped to the ground and started rolling around in an attempt to doubt the flames. But they didn’t go out. The more he rolled, the bigger they got, the more they consumed. This wasn’t regular fire. It was the flames of the dragon, and it was under my control.

  “This isn’t right!” He screamed. Jumping up, he ripped his shirt off, throwing the flaming thing to the ground. “That bitch lied to me!”

  What?

  No, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything he was saying or ever would say. This fire felt too good. It made me feel powerful and in control, like I might have a say in all of this for once. I burned as it burned, brighter and brighter, stronger and stronger. And I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

  My eyes darted from the burning shirt to Luca. The flames followed my unspoken command, jumping from the shirt to Luca’s pants. I wasn’t quite ready to burn the bastard to death, but I’d definitely give him the scare of his life. Fate knows he deserved it.

  “Stop this!” He screamed. “I am a seer, you worthless mound of flesh. I’m a-“

  But the flames kept growing and, with them, so did the panic in Luca’s tone.

  “You lied to me!” He screamed to the skies. “You can’t do this! This isn’t what we agreed on! You put a stop to this right now or I’ll do it myself!”

  “Who the hell are you talking to?” I asked through gritted teeth. I wanted to put the flames out, to stop before I did something I couldn’t take back. But it felt too damn good. I couldn’t force myself to free him. I just couldn’t.

  “Screw this!” He screamed, still looking at the skies. “You don’t want to make this right?! I’ll do it myself!”