Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

M y eyes cracked open in the darkness of my room. Sticky poultices and wraps covered every inch of my body except for my lips, nose, and eyes.

But I was alive.

I wonder how many people who took dragon heat at close range could boast the same.

And M had gotten me help. L had gotten me help. It felt strange and odd. I never thought of myself as having friends before, but it felt … nice.

Almost like having a family again.

Footsteps shuffled outside my door and the door creaked open slightly. M's wide, dark eyes peered in at me.

"Hey," I whispered into the darkness.

He took small, hesitant steps into the room, eyes trained on the floor. I thought he'd be more … excited to see me. I had saved his life, after all, and he mine. He only had a poultice patch on the bottom of his long legs, likely the only part of him that had stuck out from my body when I'd laid on top of him.

"Thanks for getting L," I said, though I'd literally sacrificed my body for him. I was gracious, after all, and Vession said to always be gracious. Though I wouldn't soon forget how much agony it had been when M had pried my body off of his to get away.

I could forgive that, though. It had been necessary in order to retrieve help.

M froze, not meeting my gaze.

"How are you alive?" he finally managed. "I didn't think …"

I burned to tell him about my rituals and experiments, but hesitated at his tone. He was upset I was still alive. Frustrated.

"M, I—"

"I've never been big and strong like B," he interrupted. "I'm not funny like some others. I'm not smart like you. How am I supposed to survive?"

He finally met my eyes, deep, deep sorrow etched into the lines of a face too young.

That happy feeling inside of me popped like a ruptured waterskin.

"What—"

"I have to survive here. You agree that we each gotta do what we gotta do, right?" He stepped forward, hands laced together as he pleaded with me.

I agreed with him and his sentiment. I was just too confused and stunned to do so out loud.

"I thought you were dead , Z. I'm sorry."

My confusion turned to dismay, morphing into bleeding, hot anger as B pushed his way into my tiny room, shoving M to the side to make way for three more of his goonies.

"I see," I deadpanned, something important inside of me shriveling up and dying. "I see."

I saw, finally. M hadn't hurt me to get away to get help. Leaving me for dead, he'd fled like a coward, eager only to shore up his new alliances now that I was no longer alive to protect him.

Supposedly.

"I'm so sorry."

M turned tail and fled.

And this time, there wouldn't be any Fireguards around to save my ass. They never came down to the dormitories. This was our domain.

Pain worse than the dragon's fire assaulted at M's betrayal. I broke it away from me and shoved it down deep. This was what happened when you trusted people. This was what happened when you relied on others.

I vowed never to do so again.

"Hey, book runt." B sidled up next to my bed, his friends crowding around him. It was claustrophobic with so many people in my tiny room, but I fought to remain calm. "Finally, get our day, don't we?"

I said nothing. It pissed me off beyond reason to know I'd survived a goddamn dragon, but would end up being murdered in my bed by this fucking mouth breather.

I shoved all my fear deep down and relaxed my body as much as I could, and added M to the list of people I'd kill slowly with bloodmagick:

The queen,

B,

M.

"This shouldn't take long. Vession is away for the night. We've taken care of everything. Good bye, bastard boy."

It didn't take long; perhaps only ten minutes to break every bone in my body they could. It felt like hours, though, as B and his friends systematically dragged me out of bed and beat me until I was sure my kidneys were bleeding out of my ears.

Luckily, they were stupid, and didn't know where to aim to take out any vital organs. It was the only time in my life I'd thanked the gods for mud boy ignorance.

They left me broken on the floor, and I held my breath and kept still to sell it even more. I waited an agonizingly long time, pricking my ears for the slightest sound to ensure they'd gone down to dinner or even to bed—time didn't exist in the stuffy depths of my little closet bedroom.

When I judged it as safe as I was going to get, I flung out my hand, placing it flat down on the floor, cool to the touch under my palm. Agonizingly, I dragged myself forward.

I didn't think about my injuries.

I didn't think about anything except what I had to do, or I wouldn't be able to do it.

I had to do another ritual: one to increase my stamina. Or healing. I wasn't sure. It was hard to piece thoughts together, but I'd have to figure something out.

Doing a ritual in this state was stupid and would likely kill me.

But if I didn't, I was pretty sure I'd die before morning.

Kill them all. Kill them slowly. Make them feel the same pain you feel.

The anger kept me going while hatred gave me strength.

The first drag took everything out of me, and I'd only made it a few inches. I stuffed the urge to cry down far inside of me until nothing existed but a disassociated numbness.

I threw out my other arm, and grunting, dragged myself forward another few inches.

I'd only made it a quarter way to the door.

"No, no, no, no, no…"

Tears dripped down to the floor, utter desolation taking over. I was exhausted after moving just a few yards. There's no way I'd make it.

Footsteps clicked down the hallway. Too many to be Vession, and too measured to be boys.

Fireguards.

Either my salvation, or something much worse.

I closed my eyes and went still, ready to accept my fate.

L was in the lead, flanked by three others. By the look on his face, I knew it wasn't to rescue me. Not this time.

"It's ok," I croaked. "You tried. Others tried harder."

He winced, but nodded to the others. They picked me up none-too-gently and took me off down the hallway. Every step rattled my bones and jarred my injuries.

"Queen's orders. I'm sorry."

A dark laugh escaped my cracked lips. Apologies were all I'd gotten from anyone lately. They meant nothing.

"Are the archives all right? Were the scrolls saved?"

He shook his head.

Bitter disappointment and regret burned at my insides. The archives were damaged and many scrolls were destroyed—because of M. I refused to take the blame. I hope B turned on him and bashed his brains in.

The queen was likely blaming me, and was going to use this moment to sentence me in front of her entire court as the embarrassment she wished me to be.

But the soldiers didn't take me to the throne room. We went down a side corridor of the palace, and they kicked open a small door.

Bright sunlight splashed across my face.

It was high noon.

I was outside.

I was outside!

I'd never been outside the castle; there'd never been a reason! Confusion warred with amazement as we kept going. I wanted to ask what was going on, but I was too busy staring at a world I'd never been a part of. The Seat was a bustling city with people everywhere in bright cloaks and jewels. Children ran past the guards, eyeing me with interest but ultimately caring more for their games than my troubles.

Women shouted as they haggled for meat and bread, fabrics and eggs. The smells of vendors cooking met my nose, reminding me it'd been awhile since I'd last eaten.

The Fireguards carried me to the edge of the Seat, pausing in front of a large shaft. I'd read about such things—elevators. The Fireguards used them to get up and down the wall quickly. We all crowded in, and an iron grate slammed shut behind us. Impossibly, we rose straight up into the air. It was hard to believe, even though I was experiencing it! The pulley system was intricate, but I'd only glanced over the plans I'd seen, and not studied them in depth.

If I wasn't literally dying, I would have loved to commit every detail in front of me to memory. We were going up to the wall!

But … why?

The mood in the elevator was tense. No one spoke. Whatever was about to happen, it was clear all of them disagreed with it, but weren't about to do anything to stop it.

Which didn't bode well for me.

We hit the top; the platform swayed side to side in the open air as it came to a stop. Carefully and meticulously, the Fireguards stepped over a large bit of open space from the elevator to the solid rock of the wall, lifting me over with a practiced air. One wrong move could send the shaft tumbling to the side, and possibly flinging us to our deaths.

Well, falling that far would be a far quicker death than the one I was currently experiencing.

I thought about struggling and forcing them to drop me, then dismissed it. I didn't want to take any of them with me. I didn't have the energy or strength, anyway.

I was also still curious. I was on the wall !

The dragonsbane dome stretched overhead, the bronze sparking in the sunlight. The dark outline of the dragon was visible above us, likely sleeping or lazily bathing in the sunlight since it laid there without moving, the top of the dome only a few feet above our heads.

We paused in front of a ladder. I used the last bits of my strength to bend my head back and glance up. The ladder ended at the top of a large hatch.

A hatch to the outside of the dome.

"L. What are you doing? Where are we going?"

L's jaw tensed, but no one spoke. He stayed down at the bottom of the ladder while another Fireguard climbed to the top, stopping just below the hatch. The third guard went halfway up the ladder and stopped.

The one carrying me went to the bottom and handed me up to towards the third guard in the middle.

It was at the moment I truly freaked out.

I didn't think I had it in me, but it was all or nothing. I flopped and writhed, tried to use my nails to gouge his eyes and scratch his skin, and even tried to bite.

There was dying, then there was being eaten by a dragon.

The Fireguard slapped me so hard I saw stars.

Taking advantage of me being stunned and dazed, they made quick work of passing my broken body up the ladder. The Fireguard up top twisted the latch with quick, practiced movements and pushed up.

Hot sunlight bathed my skin, the first time I'd ever taken direct beams to my body that hadn't been filtered through the dragonsbane dome or the archive window.

The Fireguard shoved me through the hatch, the dragonsbane dome under my skin warm but not overly hot to the touch.

The latch slammed shut behind me, then clicked with a finality I felt in my soul.

I couldn't even stand up to tug at it. Logically, I knew it wouldn't matter. I could see the Fireguards underneath me, pulling each other away. L was standing resolutely, but the other three hauled him out of there.

No sense seeing the dragon physically tear me limb from limb, after all.

I rolled onto my stomach, with herculean effort, trying to get my bearings. My hand landed on bleached, broken bones. Glancing up, the dome's surface was littered with them. A human skull lay in two pieces just inches from my foot.

Fuck.

Growling filled the air, and I no longer cared about a few bones.

The dragon was awake.

How had I thought he was ever small? The creature raised himself up on all fours, towering over me like the god of fire he was.

"Just make it quick," I said before I could help it. One bite to the back of my neck, then sweet oblivion—

A long femur bone caught my attention from the corner of my eye. The dragon growled, hunching low like a cat about to pounce.

In that split second decision, I decided I wouldn't let an overgrown lizard with wings decide how or when I'd die. I had just enough adrenaline and preservation instinct left to give it one final go.

I lunged for the femur, slamming it as hard as I could over my knee, ignoring the pain and protest in my body. It shattered in half, leaving a nice, sharp edge.

Whipping around, I pointed it at the dragon, still laying on my back.

The dragon's head tilted to the side comically.

I didn't disagree. All he had to do was let loose a puff of fire, and it was over. My little sharp stick wouldn't have a damn thing to say about it.

But it made me feel better.

"Nice dragon. Pretty dragon."

Flattery hadn't exactly worked on the queen, but I had nothing to lose.

The dragon exhaled through its snout, throwing a few red embers my way. I watched them fall at my feet, the red glow quickly dying away as it cooled to a charred black.

I tried to stand, but only fell over.

Fuck, everything felt broken.

"I hate B. I hate the queen. I hate EVERYTHING!"

I threw the bone spur away, watching with satisfaction as it skittered over the side of the dome. The dragon followed its progress until it disappeared over the edge, then whipped its head back around to me.

The look in its eyes wasn't that of a mindless beast. And it had lost the glimmer of hatred that I'd seen in archives.

It was studying me.

Maybe I could reason with it?

"Hello. I'm Zephyr. What's your name?"

The most amazing thing happened. The dragon shrunk before my very eyes until a small figure stood before me, most definitely not a dragon.

He could have been my younger brother with his dark hair and identical jawline, but he had the queen's eyes. He looked different from when I'd last seen him in the throne room, but it was still unmistakably him.

"Prince Zion," I gasped out.

The naked boy frowned, sitting back on his haunches.

"No. I am Zariah."