by L. C. Mawson
I RETURNED TO MY ROOM to find Lorelei there, waiting for me.
“Hey,” she said with a smile as I entered the room and closed the door behind me. “How did things go with your lesson? Was James there?”
I nodded as I made my way over to where she was sitting on her bed and sat down next to her as she put her laptop aside. “Yeah, he was.”
“How did it go?”
“He... He apologised. He even offered to leave the class, if I wanted him to.”
Lorelei looked me over for a moment. “And I take it that you didn’t take him up on that, despite everything he’s done to you?”
I sighed, bringing my knees up to my chest and holding them tight. “No, I didn’t. He... He really seemed to mean his apology. I don’t think he ever meant for any of this to happen, so it didn’t seem fair to send him away from the only place that he can be properly trained.”
“But you having to see him during your lessons isn’t fair to you.”
I shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll get over it... But speaking of my lessons, there was one thing I wanted to talk to you about. My powers today... I couldn’t get them to work properly.”
“Well, of course you couldn’t. Anyone can see how upset you still are, and our magic is fuelled by our emotions. If you were letting this turn into anger, that would become fire in a second, but... You just seem down.”
I focused on my hands as I picked at my cuticles. “I just... I don’t see how getting angry would help.”
“It’s not ‘getting’ angry if you’re already angry and just burying it.” Lorelei frowned. “It’s strange, I’ve seen some older students act like this before. Ones that came into their magic around Humans but had to suppress it. But you just went through your initiation before coming here, didn’t you?”
“I... Yes, but I still had to hide. I was always stronger than other Humans, even if I didn’t have magic. If another kid pushed me, I could never push back.”
Lorelei looked me over for a moment before shaking her head. “Which is why I could never get under your skin. But Skye... Your magic isn’t going to work if you suppress your feelings. This is James’ fault. But you’re not letting yourself get mad at him, and it’s upsetting your emotional focus.”
“But if I get mad at him, I won’t be able to train with him. I’ll get too angry and lose control. I just need some way to fix my magic before Auntie Nyssa starts to think that I’m not good enough. If she decides not to put in for the High Priestess trials when I graduate, it doesn’t matter if I find a home here, it won’t last past graduation.”
Lorelei sighed. “If we were in Atlantis, I would suggest that you challenge James to a non-lethal duel. That would both unleash your anger and prove that you’re better than him, getting both out of your system.”
“That assumes that I would win.”
“Well, underhanded tactics are considered acceptable in Atlantis, so I would probably resort to them, but I suppose that you would be too honourable for that.”
I sighed. “Even if I wasn’t... I’m just not sure that this would work, Lorelei.”
Lorelei didn’t argue, she just tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear before snuggling close, and I took what relief I could in her touch.
Chapter Eighteen
“Your Mermaid is right, you know,” Xiatyan said as I arrived in his cave. “You need to accept how you feel in order to use your magic.”
“And you know how I feel?”
“Yes, in the same way that I know what Lorelei said. You have been accepting our bond more and more, giving us a stronger link. If you wanted to use it similarly, you could.”
I frowned as I approached him, searching my magic for any sign of the bond.
I found it fairly simple to sense the bond between us, finding it more than simple to peer into his mind as easily as he was peering into mine.
He was worried...
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
He approached with a soft look. “Of course, it is. You’re hurting, and you’re not letting yourself feel it. If someone else was hurting you, it would be easy for me to deal with them, but if you’re hurting yourself by denying how you feel...”
“Even if I don’t deny it, it doesn’t matter. I can’t send James away from Ember. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And as for Lorelei’s plan... How will losing to him make me feel better? I already feel like I’m not powerful enough to belong here, I don’t really feel like proving myself right. Not to mention, if I get overwhelmed, I might accidentally resort to dampening his magic again, and that definitely won’t help anything.”
Xiatyan reached his hand forward to gently cup my cheek. “Skye... You are more than powerful enough to beat him if you’re focused, and I do think that this would focus you. If you let yourself feel your hurt and anger, he would be no match for you. And if you are still worried... If you fully accepted the bond between us, you could draw on my power. That would allow you to deal with a hatchling Wyvern more than easily.”
“And that would fix my magic? That would get everything back to normal?”
“It would give you the surety you need to face James and have an outlet for your hurt, but you do not need it, Skye. You don’t need to form the bond if you don’t feel ready.”
I nodded, but the more I thought on it, the better of an idea it seemed.
If I beat James with magic, it wouldn’t just fix my magic, it would prove that I was a real magical being, who was strong enough to stay at Ember.
And maybe even lead the winter solstice celebrations, proving my strength to the Dragons as well.
Chapter Nineteen
I awoke to see Lorelei still asleep, and I was careful not to wake her as adrenaline rushed through me and I pushed myself into a sitting position.
There was no way my dream was real. There was no way that a Great Dragon had formed a mental bond with me and was offering me his power because he just cared about me and wanted to help me with this problem.
But what if it was? What if Xiatyan existed and would truly help me?
Surely it wouldn’t hurt to just try to form the bond.
If he didn’t exist, then nothing would happen.
I focused on my magic, just as I had in my dream.
I didn’t find anything at a surface look like I had in the dream, but I kept searching, desperate for some trace as I realised just how much this hope meant to me.
If Xiatyan was real and could help me fix this...
That’s when I felt it. The briefest flicker of Xiatyan’s magic, burning hot and bright, but distant.
I reached out, and within moments, I felt the magic surge through me.
Bonding with my own.
I gasped, the fire scorching me from the inside out as I grasped at the bedding beneath me, hoping that the fire wouldn’t explode from me and hurt Lorelei.
But it didn’t, and eventually died down as I gasped for air.
The magic still hummed through me, and I was sure that I would erupt into flame at any moment.
My Dragon form seemed to growl within me, desperate for release.
I couldn’t transform in my room, though. I didn’t think I would fit...
“Skye?”
Lorelei’s voice distracted my inner Dragon with the memory of our encounter in the gardens the last time I’d been close to losing control.
And the way she’d given me another outlet.
I grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head while I straddled her, though I reined my instincts in, giving her the chance to object.
But she just took one look at me before melting beneath my touch. “Well, something riled you up this morning, my Dragon.”
I leaned in and kissed her hungrily, only pulling away as I realised how sharp my teeth were, checking that I hadn’t hurt her.
She just grinned as she realised what I was doing. “I have scales of my own, Skye. You don’t have to worry about my durability.”
I took
that as in invitation, keeping one hand pinning hers as the other went down between her legs until she was writhing beneath me.
Despite me holding them down, however, she still had enough use of her hands to control her element, making sure that she wasn’t the only one being brought to the edge.
Eventually, we were both reduced to an incoherent mess, my arms giving out so that I had to roll to Lorelei’s side to avoid dropping straight onto her.
Lorelei just propped herself up on her elbow, turning to me with a smile. “Well, that was an unexpected wake-up. What riled you up so much? Half your face was practically scales.”
My hand went to my cheek, but felt nothing but skin, and I wondered if Lorelei was just messing with me.
But the concerned look she was giving me when I turned back to her said that she wasn’t.
“It calmed down, but it was clear that you needed an outlet.”
I frowned. “You know, if I seem like that, and you don’t want to have sex, you don’t have to.”
“Oh, I know. If I didn’t want to, I would just fight you instead.”
“And that would work just as well?”
She nodded. “You just need an emotional outlet, and those are the fastest and most effective. But I think this way is more fun, don’t you?”
At that, she leaned forward and kissed me, and I had to agree.
“So,” she said, “you never did tell me why you were so riled up.”
“Because I realised you were right,” I said, deciding not to mention my weird dreams. Even if this surge in power was proof that Xiatyan was real... I wasn’t really sure how to explain that. Especially not the part about him wanting me to be his ‘bride’. “I’m going to challenge James to a fight, and I’m going to prove once and for all that I belong here.”
I SWIFTLY GOT CHANGED into my work-out gear – a black tank-top, training leggings, and trainers – before heading down to the gardens, barely able to contain the fire coursing through me as I approached the training grounds.
As anticipated, James was already there and practicing his magic.
But no amount of practice was going to help him win this.
“James,” I said, drawing his attention as Lorelei hovered at the edge of the training ground. “I challenge you to a non-lethal duel.”
He just stared at me for a moment, but the moment he seemed to understand what I was saying, he nodded.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s duel.”
I hadn’t been sure what I was expecting – probably for him to argue against the idea – but it wasn’t this instant agreement.
Why was he so eager? Did he think that he would easily beat me after my failures earlier?
Well, he had another think coming...
I lit both of my fists in flame, the fire wrapping around me in a scorching storm that I remained in perfect control of.
James then coated himself in fire, and I didn’t hesitate, sending a barrage of flame towards him.
He managed to dodge out of the way, not risking taking my fire head-on.
I growled as it took me a moment to find him again, my eyesight becoming sharper as my teeth lengthened in my mouth.
I spotted James just as he threw a small blast at my face.
I knocked it aside, but some flames still reached my skin.
I braced for a burning sensation, but nothing happened.
I looked down, only to see that the tan skin of my arms had been replaced with deep red scales.
I was shapeshifting...
James tried to use my distraction as an opportunity, sending another barrage of flame towards me.
This fire wasn’t aimed at my face, however, but my legs, and I barely managed to leap out of the way.
A sharp pressure appeared in my back, almost painfully, and as James sent another barrage of flame at my feet, a pair of large, deep red wings flapped out behind me, lifting me from the ground, away from the flames.
Wings... I’d grown wings...
It wasn’t just the wings, I realised as I found myself flying higher, my face was changing as well, my teeth even sharper.
Instinct took over, telling me exactly what to do.
“I’m ending this,” I growled, my voice sounding nothing like usual as I opened my jaw wide.
All of the fire that had been building within me, my frustration and fury at everything that had happened since James had learned that I was Enhanced unleashing into raw flame that engulfed James.
And then my vision blurred, and I was overcome by a sudden sense of vertigo before the world went dark.
Chapter Twenty
I frowned as I arrived in Xiatyan’s cave. When had I fallen asleep? The last thing I remembered...
The last thing I remembered was fire swelling through me until I opened my mouth to release it.
And then the world had spun around me, and my vision had gone dark as I’d been overcome by vertigo.
As I’d fallen to the ground...
“You’re all right,” Xiatyan said as he held me in his arms, and I realised that I was shaking.
“What happened?” I asked. “I was fighting James and then...” I remembered the flames, far hotter than anything I’d even thought possible. “Is he okay? Did I hurt him?”
“You give him too little credit, my love. He is stronger than I think even he knows. He’s fine, and he took you to get help.”
“Help? Why do I need help? What happened?”
“I am so sorry, Skye. I should have warned you, but I didn’t think the bond between us would be so strong, so fast. You drew on too much of my power at once. You’re still getting used to your magic, and it overloaded you. I’m sorry, I really didn’t think that it would be so strong.”
“Why not? Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because the strength of the bond is dictated by how strong you want it to be. How much you have accepted me, and our future together. My love,” his hand went to my cheek, “if I had known that you returned my affections, I would have cautioned you.”
Heat rose to my cheeks as I realised that he was right. I had grown to care about him in our training sessions, and the idea of him becoming his mate and bride... It no longer terrified me.
I closed the space between us, kissing him with everything I had as dream logic melted away our clothing and it felt as if he spent the next several years showing me just how exactly the Great Dragons could sate their mates.
Chapter Twenty-One
I groaned as I awoke, every muscle in my body aching.
Still, I forced myself upright as I realised that I was lying on a small sofa in the corner of an office.
Nyssa was sitting behind the desk at the other end of the room and jumped to her feet as soon as she saw that I was up.
“Skye! Are you all right?”
I nodded, despite my head throbbing. “I feel like I was dragged through a hedge backwards, drowned in the bottom of the ocean, and then force-fed several litres of vodka, but I think I’ll recover with some more sleep and coffee.”
Nyssa sighed as she moved over to the chair next to the sofa and sitting down. “Skye, why didn’t you tell me about Xiatyan?”
I just stared at her. How did she know about that? “I... I wasn’t even sure that he was real. Not until...”
“Not until you formed the bond and drew on his power?”
I nodded. “That was just before the fight with James. I... Is James okay? That blast seemed...”
Nyssa smiled. “He’s fine. He managed to deflect the blast, and he was the one who brought you here.”
“Creator, he must think I’m a monster... Again...”
“No, he doesn’t. He’s just worried about you. As is the Mermaid who accompanied him, and I believe Naveen is now also waiting with them to see how you are.”
“I... Really?”
“Really. They all care about you, which I think will be important, given everything with Xiatyan.”
“How do you know about him?
I mean, I didn’t tell anyone...”
Nyssa’s gaze turned dark. “No, but I could sense his magic on you. And also...”
“Also?”
“Well, it got stronger when you were passed out and I assume that you were with him again. And that the two of you...”
Heat scorched my cheeks as I realised what she meant.
“Dragons have a keen sense of smell, Skye, I could tell from your pheromones.”
I held up my hand. “Yeah, okay, let’s not go into more detail than that.”
“Skye, I need to know that you understand what’s happening. How dangerous Xiatyan is.”
I frowned. “Dangerous? What do you mean ‘dangerous’? And how do you know about him enough to recognise his magic?”
Nyssa sighed. “Do you remember Renan? You met them when you were younger.”
My frown deepened as I searched my memories. “They were a friend of Auncle Hell’s, right? The leader of the Dragons’ city.”
“Yes. And do you know what happened to their mother?”
“Vaguely. She was in charge before Renan, right? But then she got ill, and Renan had to take over.”
“That was what we told everyone else, but she wasn’t ill. She was Xiatyan’s last bride. Renan worried that Xiatyan – their father – might have been locked away for good reason, and if he was released, no one could stop him, so they challenged their mother, and when she drew on Xiatyan’s power in the fight... It wasn’t just his power she drew on. He took over her mind and tried to force her to hurt Renan. She clawed her mind back from him, and any trust in him was now lost.”
I shivered at the tale. “He can really do that? Take over your mind?”
“Yes, if the bond is strengthened enough. It should work in both directions, but... Clara didn’t have the fortitude, which is why we think he chose her. We were relieved when he severed the bond with her, but the relief was premature. Not long after, you started talking about talking to your new friend ‘Xiatyan’.”
“I... What? I don’t remember that...”