“Why would you do that?” Without hesitation, I rushed towards him and examined his hand. His eyes locked onto mine, amusement dancing in them as he stood unwaveringly.

  Kale smiled and folded his arms. “Sentia, I guess you’re up first. What are you going to do?”

  “U-um…”

  “Think calmly of your resolve,” Kale spoke evenly.

  My trembling hands were coated with Ray’s blood, sending shivers down my spine. I couldn’t think straight, so I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. “J-Jaisa...” I whispered, but there was no reaction. Frantically, my eyes darted between Kale, Ray, and everyone else. All eyes were on me. I had to calm down. Feeling my heart beat harshly in my chest, I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, letting the wind caress and fumble around me until I could feel my heart slowly settling. In my head, I began to repeat the words until it became easy to say.

  “Jaisa.” The word echoed out of my mouth, carried by the wind as if it had a life of its own. A surge of electricity coursed through my veins, causing my fingertips to tingle. Slowly, the open wound of the stab began to mesh together. As soon as it completely healed, I let out a sigh of relief, overcome with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion.

  I heard Kale clapping in the distance. “Good job! Did you feel it? It’s very important that you remain as calm as possible when rehearsing these spells. Feel everything around you and then release that energy into your subject.”

  Ray pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from my hands. He eyed me and nudged my face. “Good job,” he said in a low voice. I swallowed nervously and suddenly stumbled.

  “Now everyone will practice—Sentia?”

  My head started spinning, and in an instant, the world around me faded into shades of gray, all except for Ray and me. Frantically, Ray scanned his surroundings, bewildered by the eerie stillness of the birds and the people frozen in time. Suddenly, my breath became shallow, and I was overwhelmed by a symphony of celestial noises echoing in my head.

  “Danger,” they said.

  Diamutos. Diamutos. Diamutos. Diamutos.

  As soon as it happened, I couldn’t control the violent coughing, blood pouring from my mouth as I struggled to breathe. I doubled over in pain, my stomach churning, and collapsed to the ground, desperately clutching at the grass in front of me. They kept loudly whispering it.

  Danger. Danger. Danger. Danger.

  What was I supposed to do? I felt beyond sick.

  As Ray grasped me, his touch sent shivers down my spine, and I was captivated by the intensity in his gaze. But just as quickly as he appeared, his image dissolved, and I was left with a different vision.

  It.

  It was a dragon. Two of them. They were roaring, their teeth gleaming like shards of silver and their eyes as dark as midnight. As they stared at each other, their bodies seemed to dissolve and fuse together, creating an indistinguishable entity.

  As I gasped, the world around me transformed from dull shades back to vibrant colors, and I let out a scream of astonishment. As Ray grabbed my face, his voice grew louder, his eyes filled with worry. “Sentia! Look at me and focus. Look at me.” He wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Look.” Holding my breath, I stared intently into his blue eyes. “Breathe.” He leaned my face into his chest.

  Kale rushed over and quickly examined me for any signs of injuries, checking my head. “I don’t think she’s injured. Sentia, what happened?”

  “Diamutos…” I whispered to the both of them, shaking my head in terror. “They’re coming…”

  Kale stood up. “Uh, let’s all take a break. Headmaster, if you could send them for self-study while we get Sentia to Brontu.”

  Headmaster nodded and begun to shuffle the other girls elsewhere.

  “Can you walk?” Ray asked me in a low voice. Ignoring my affirmation, Ray swiftly plucked me off the ground and cradled me in his embrace.

  Everything was a blur from there.

  Suddenly, I felt a gentle hand strumming through my hair. The weight of my eyelids was so heavy that I could barely pry them open, so I simply kept them shut. I detected a familiar scent and sensation, realizing I was resting against Ray’s chest, yet he remained invisible to me.

  “Again, Kale cannot heal her. I don’t know what’s going on either,” Brontu spoke. “When she had that fever, it couldn’t be broken. Can you all tell me the details… her symptoms, anything?”

  “I know she hasn’t been sleeping well, Tenia and Headmaster informed me. She also told me she suffers from nightmares. Today, headmaster said she hadn’t slept.” Ray’s voice, I could hear it lift from his chest. I extended my arm and firmly grasped his shoulder.

  “We know she has powers. Could that be what’s draining her? Using them?” Kale’s voice asked. “With abilities, sometimes if you mix them with magic, it can drain you faster. Diaul was one thing, but we won’t be able to keep this secret for much longer.”

  “What exactly is her ability?” Brontu asked.

  “Some type of light magic,” Ray answered. “But it seems she doesn’t use it. She mentioned that she’s unable to most of the time.” I felt him move his hand and pat my forehead with a warm cloth.

  “Light is a rare gift,” Brontu started. “It is not a power that would be dangerous… to the naked eye, at least. So what exactly happened when you were training?”

  “She said the healing spell and then she froze for a few seconds and started screaming. She mentioned Diamutos,” Kale answered.

  I noticed Ray did not say anything, as if he was concealing the fact that he too saw the gray world I was briefly trapped in.

  “I’ve never heard of this Diamutos…” Brontu spoke. “But it sounds like the gods’ language… where would a commoner hear something like that? Half of the gods’ language is not even written down.”

  “Is there nothing we can do? She has a fever again,” Kale asked.

  “She hasn’t been sleeping well. She has panic attacks, something must’ve triggered her,” Brontu thought aloud.

  “She saw Ray stab himself… I know the two of them are close,” Kale posited.

  “It would seem to me…” the doctor conjectured, “from what you’ve told me, she only uses her powers during stressful situations. It could be that the blood from Ray took her to a tipping point. However, using her abilities puts more stress on her and her body, which is why she keeps getting sick.” I heard Brontu start rummaging around. “Make sure she drinks this once a week. It is a power blocker. They primarily use it on prisoners. The only drawback is that if her powers are incredibly strong, it may not work. But this should at least block her powers in time of stress and…” his voice began to trail off as I once again started drifting in and out of consciousness.

  CHAPTER 17

  “Infestation.”

  “What?” Stirring awake, my voice cracked. It seemed like I’d actually had a long, peaceful sleep without any bad dreams. I felt good for once.

  Ray was sitting on my bed, and I was lying on his lap. I quickly sat up and looked around frantically, thankful no one else was in the cabin. “What’s wrong? Scared to be seen with me? Remember, at the end of the year it’s the ranking decision, not the princes’. Whether I favor you or not… doesn’t change a thing.” He stood up. “Diamutos.”

  “That’s what they said to me…”

  “It means infestation,” Ray repeated. He held a small, rustic, black book in his hands. “It’s a dictionary created by those who speak with gods… the rare language has always been within reach, but somehow, we stopped speaking it. We’ve lost so much in translation over the years.”

  “Infestation… I saw a… two dragons… they were,” I used hand gestures, “molding together or something.”

  “You saw a Lorde?”

  “It didn’t feel like a Lorde…” I rubbed my face. “I don’t know.”

  Ray handed me a small cup of what looked like blue water. Without question, I gently grabbed it and began to drink. He raised an eyebrow.

  “So you overheard. This should suppress your powers, or what little you have. Every time you use them, it seems to get you sick.” He pointed to the small bag. “And this should help your sleep.” He set his book down and tucked my coils away from my eyes. “You worry me so much… you anger me so much, too.” He pulled out his pocketknife, putting it in my hand. “Take it wherever you go. It has a spell on it that will let me locate you at all times. I don’t want you to pass out or be in danger without a weapon, especially if you can’t use your powers.”

  Stop making me want you…

  “The others are training with Kale in the study room. They should be done soon. I need to go and seek an audience with my father.”

  Stop looking at me with those sweet eyes, like you care…

  “Don’t get in anymore trouble, crybaby.”

  I beg of you.

  I found myself heading to the stables again. Since everyone was busy catching up with training, I decided to distract myself. Usually, we got a break before our self-study, anyway. As always, I used mine to visit Lixir.

  “Psst, Lixy!” I whispered. His head popped out of the black mist. “I haven’t seen you in a while.” I sat down in front of the cage as his eyes stared out at me. “You’ve been lonely, huh? Ray hasn’t visited you.” I heard him grumble. “Hey, you spoke to me once, didn’t you? Can you do it again? Am I able to talk to creatures like you as well as the gods… or was it a god then too?” His giant eyes narrowed, and I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be rude like Aiya.” Remembering my own dragon, I waved to her as I walked past, but she simply huffed and looked away. The little bastard. I still loved her though.

  “I remember this dragon,” Ruella piped up from behind me. “My sister loved this dragon.”

  I swiveled to see Ruella walking into the stables with folded arms. I sighed and rolled my eyes, my mood shifting. Lixir’s eyes shifted to resemble a snake, as if he was focusing on her. I tipped my head in curiosity, as most of the time Lixir hid from everyone but me.

  “Ray certainly likes broken things, doesn’t he? You can see from the dragons he chooses, the villages he helps... the people he fucks.”

  My head turned sharply away from Lixir to look at her. “Ruella, you are not my enemy. I don’t understand why you feel the need to be such a bitch to me.”

  “Simple.” She tipped her head. “I want to be queen.”

  “You can be queen. I don’t care,” I proclaimed, turning away.

  “No, I can’t. You won’t let me. I see the way you look at him. You’re so smitten by that man, it’s pathetic. You get jealous when I touch him. Your eyes turn so dark. But what you don’t realize is that you’re no more than a tamed dog. A plaything so he can get to his true goal… whatever it is.” She came closer, lowering her voice. “He is using you.”

  “I don’t care!” I yelled.

  “Yes you do,” she affirmed, “you want to be his, and you want him to be yours. Those selfish thoughts won’t disappear. You don’t want to be used, you want to be his alone. The problem is that you’re settling with being used because it’s the only thing that gets you in his graces.”

  Lixir vanished quickly within his cloud of smoke, catching my attention. I stood up and confronted Ruella, glaring at her. As she looked down at me, her towering height made me feel small and insignificant.

  “No matter how many times you pass out or get sick, Ray will not give his heart to you.” She smirked. “And I… will not let you become queen.”

  She read me very well, I had to give her that. But I hated that she pretended to know what Ray wanted. Or perhaps I hated that she may be right. Maybe it was true that Ray only wanted to use me.

  “Ruella… just how cruel do you think you can be?” I asked. “Because I can assure you, as someone who has killed a lot of people, I can be crueler.”

  “Killed?” Ruella scoffed and then started laughing. “I doubt someone like you has killed anyone… At least on purpose. The only thing you know how to do correctly, and purposely, is spread your legs.”

  Out of nowhere, Lixir began vigorously pounding his head against the bars. We both flinched as the ground rumbled and a loud roar echoed through the air. I met Ruella’s eyes, and without hesitation, walked up to the metal bars, urgently calling out, “Lixir... Lixir. Calm down!” The sound of his roar was so deafening that we immediately covered our ears for protection. With a thunderous bellow, the dragon burst through the top of the stable, the sound mimicking an explosive eruption. The harsh impact of the falling wood practically sent vibrations through the ground. In a rush, Ruella and I dashed out of the room and into the bustling main part of the stable. As Ruella burst out of the stable doors, I observed the other dragons, their eyes narrowed and scales bristling as they emitted hissing sounds towards the ceiling. I looked up and couldn’t help but notice the stable was trembling, as if it were on the verge of collapse. I ran to each cell, hastily opening them one by one, setting free the dragons inside. One by one, they all flew out as I made my way towards Aiya, the last remaining. The moment she emerged, a colossal log plummeted to the ground. I covered my head with my hands while Aiya sheltered me, extending her wings to shield us from the flying debris.

  “Aiya!” I called out, filled with concern. Standing up, she exerted all her strength to push the heavy log off her back. I motioned for her to keep going before the rest of the stable collapsed, and I followed. Upon exiting the doorway, my eyes immediately landed on Aiya, who had slumped to the ground and was audibly groaning in pain. As I checked her wound in the clear sunlight, I realized that the log had grazed her delicate wings. Placing my hand on them, I could feel the powerful energy coursing through me as I prepared to cast the spell Kale had taught me. As soon as the words left my lips, her wound started to mend. She examined it closely, gave it a small lick, and then turned her attention towards me, showering my face with affectionate licks as well. Laughing, I felt a surge of happiness knowing that I had been able to use the spell effectively, even in stressful situations, and I quickly wiped my face clean of her slobber.

  My head snapped around as I caught sight of the great black dragon gracefully gliding through the air around the palace. With a forceful exhale, the dragon unleashed a torrent of black flame, conjuring a dazzling display of a shimmering, polygonal light that encircled us. It appeared as though there was an invisible force field preventing the dragon from escaping. I finally saw Lixir in his full form, and I couldn’t believe how massive he was, nearly the size of the palace itself. The black mist had always shrouded him from view, making it even more remarkable when I finally caught this glimpse of him. All of him.

  “Sentia, you again?” I swiveled around, and the sound of hurried footsteps alerted me to the headmaster running towards me. She let out a sharp bark, catching the attention of one of the guards, who quickly went to retrieve Prince Ray. She then came to a stop beside me, the other girls following closely behind. They must’ve just finished their lesson.

  “It’s not me this time! The dragon just burst out of the stables.”

  “Were you there?” she asked with a frown.

  “Y-yes… but so was Ruella!” I pointed to her. She was standing in the middle of the field, staring at the dragon as it roared angrily. As the dragon began to pivot, its massive form slowly advanced towards us.

  “Why does it look like it’s coming here?” Mia gasped behind me.

  Tenia started to back up. “Because it is!”

  “Everybody move back!” Headmaster yelled.

  In the midst of the chaos, I glanced back and saw Ruella standing motionless, mere minutes away from being caught by the approaching dragon. As I ran towards her, I couldn’t help but notice the intense glare in Lixir’s eyes as he charged straight towards her. His mouth opened wide, and it seemed to emit a warm glow, illuminating his throat. With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I pushed myself to sprint faster, reaching Ruella just in time. As the dragon descended, Ruella’s eyes widened in terror, barely escaping its razor-sharp claws as I pushed her out of the way. I held my hand up, trying to shield myself, while the dragon hovered effortlessly in mid-air. I almost stumbled backwards from the forceful wind caused by the simple flap of his wings. The sight of his mouth opening so close to me caused my hands and arms to tremble involuntarily, and as he closed his jaws with a deliberate slowness, his sharp, observant eyes locked onto mine.

  “Lixir… calm down… please. It’s me,” I tried. In my ear, I was bombarded with a cacophony of loud, indistinct whispers, causing me to furrow my brow in confusion. “What? Protecting a… what?” With another mighty flap of its wings, the dragon took to the sky, causing a gust of wind that sent me sprawling to the ground. As I turned on my side, I caught a glimpse of him disappearing into the dense foliage of the forest behind us. The last time I had been there was during my harrowing escape from the Gapi forest. As he vanished from sight, a sudden, thunderous boom filled the air, causing me to instinctively shield my ears. The forest became shrouded in a mist of his black particles, obscuring him from sight. I stood up and ran towards the forest. My mind and body screaming at me to follow. As he spoke to me, I strained to catch every word and understand his message. I froze in my tracks as a hand swiftly grabbed hold of me and looked up to see Ray, but I quickly pushed him away and continued running.

  “Sentia! Don’t! Get back here this instant!” he yelled out.

  “I can’t!” I yelled back, twisting my head to see him actually following me.

 

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