(Izza)The house was back to working. The voices were back, as well. It had been quiet for a while. But now I could hear footsteps and voices. Back again. Whatever it was, it must have been bigger for them to stop coming here. Here was where all the plots were plotted and plans were drawn. Here was where how to commit treason was explained in great details. I knew more about their plans than they knew themselves.Even though I hated all of them, the silence was even more worrisome. At least when they were here, I could hear them making plans. Not that I could do anything with the knowledge of their plans, but still... it kept me from losing my head completely.Four walls could do that to you. Four walls, no magic and no dragon!“Thalia Red is dead, and the clan Red Thunder wants blood. This is the time to move in, father. Everything is going to collapse, and along with it, the reign of the Firestorms would be over.” I could hear the unexplained glee in his voice.A friend. A lover. A
"All I ever wanted from you was to know that I was wanted by you. That would have changed everything." - Richelle E. Goodrich----(Vera)“But without a dragon, without Nova, I couldn’t fully be your mate!” I whispered as my eyes burned. Mateo quickly pulled me into a hug. I felt so weak, and I had never felt weak in my life. Without Nova, it felt too empty, too lonely. The silence was like a pit, slowly trying to swallow me. I knew I shouldn't give in, but I couldn't help it. "Without Nova, we would only ever know half of everything. I am sorry, I am so sorry."I hated myself for not marking him, and letting Nova mark him the moment I met him again, but I also knew I couldn't have done that. I had needed the time, and I had taken the time, but now, without my dragon's fire, we would always be partially mated, never become strong enough together to rule the realm.Dragons were the only creatures who didn't have fated mates from the other species. A dragon might have a fated mate with
(Mateo)My life was nothing like Vera's. I had been lucky. Feelings of joy and happiness were a constant in my life. I had everything and anything I could ask for. My parents loved me, my brother and sister were amazing, and life had never been so hard for me. Yes, the knowledge of being someone who would one day rule the Draconia was hard, but I knew I would ace it with the help of my family.I always got what I wanted, but everything changed when I met Vera. I had wanted her like nothing in the world, and she didn’t come easy. She was not an easy, serene person. She was thunder and storm. She was demanding, challenging, loud, and everything I had never experienced in my life.But when she finally whispered the words I had wanted the very next day...“I love you, Mateo.”Nothing I had ever felt come close to this one moment. With her eyes so open, so vulnerable. I knew it took her a lot of courage to say that out loud, and I loved her all the more for it.Life was made of pieces and
(Vera)I closed my eyes as the first lick of fire touched me, hissing in pain. Shade quickly twisted around and moved away from the direct line of fire, just before a huge flame hit the ground, charring the emerald grasses. Thank God Shade moved, or I would have become a charred toast.“Who the hell is he?” I wondered aloud as Shade growled under his breath, his voice echoing his rage. I could feel his anger and his fear, as he tried to outrun the other dragon. If I wasn’t here, he could have easily taken the other dragon down. Shade was massive, but I was the disadvantage. “I am sorry you are stuck with me now.”He shook his head, flapping his wings. I held on to him as tight as I could, when he swooped up further, trying to force the other dragon down with his tail and wings.I hissed as the dragon’s tail slammed against Shade’s body and he roared in anger, his voice filling the quiet woods. He opened his mouth and roared once again, and fire, blue and purple, twisted and turned, re
(Vera) I had this urge to say the hell with it and just fly away, but unfortunately, I had no dragon, and I was stuck here as all the other doctors stood around me, looking at me curiously.I was the circus act here.It was really weird, and if Nova was here, she would have probably said something snarky about this."Umm, I want someone to take care of Prince Mateo, he was the one who got hurt," I said with a cough and they all jerked back as if I had punched him. Some of the young doctors looked flustered as they jogged away, grabbing their clipboards."Oh, yeah," Blaine said as he watched his brother. "Who did this to you?""It is Arax, that asshole," Mateo said, making a few women doctors flush before they moved away too. They were probably here just to stare at Mateo and not at me. I bared my teeth at their back as they scampered off and Blaine chuckled as he noticed me."Arax? What the hell is he thinking? His family is already standing on a fucking thin ice," Blaine growled."W
(Faye)My heart was banging in my chest. For a second, everything around me shook, and I saw two of everything.The phone slipped from my fingers as I saw Ezra running out from the kitchen, his hands white with flour, his face pale and bloodless. He looked at me, his eyes wide and worried.My ears were ringing so loudly I couldn't hear anything he said.I knew only one thing. I needed to go."Wait, don't shift yet. Just take a deep breath and now tell him what happened. You have to. And you have to stop panicking." Remi said with a shake of her head. "Faye... you listening to me?""Yes, yes. I am."I could finally hear and breathe."Lili..." I muttered under my breath and he gasped."No, what? Where is she? She was just playing right there, and she wanted cookies. I was just making cookies for her."Nobody, nobody came to our neck of the woods. We had been safe here for years, and then the prince found it. And now these two dragons... My body shook once again, but I knew now was not t
(Faye) "If you don't remove that thing off of her, I will kill you.""Mate..." Remi said in a deep growl. My eyes widened. Mate? Him? I looked up at him and his dark eyes were staring straight at me and I gulped. My heart raced, and I became sweatier, as if I wasn't already bathed in my own sweat. This wasn't the ideal situation to meet my mate.His eyes were swirling with too many emotions as he grabbed Arax by his throat. "If you ever go near her, if you ever look at her... I will not let you live, Arax."Some things in life happened when you least expected it.I was not like Vera. While she had always been so vehement on not wanting a mate, I had always wanted one. The anger she felt towards her father was not wrong, but I also felt that the love her father had for his mate was not wrong, either.I hadn't known my parents. I had grown up in a shitty orphanage until one day I met Vera. Nobody cared I walked away and took my brother with me. It might have been reckless, but all my l
(Vera) Arax stared at me for a second before he nodded, his head making these quick bobbing movements. I bared my teeth at him and he shrunk back into the chair."Vera, love, you are scaring him. He is a dumb idiot, and he has seen the error of his ways," Mateo said as he sighed. "Don't make her mad anymore, Arax."Arax nodded quickly."But he almost killed me. He needs to stop being a dumb idiot.""I am sorry. Tyrell told me you are the one who killed Thalia and I lost it. She is- she was my sister and-""Tyrell this, Tyrell that. It makes me even angrier," I said. "I think he is the one who killed your sister. He definitely knew her before all of this. Did he tell you that he met her in Zarique?"Arax's face paled and a small growl left his lips."No. I don't. He told she was like a sister to him and... I will kill that bastard.""No, you are NOT killing him. Not yet, okay?" I frowned at Arax."He told me so many lies and like an idiot, I believed it.""Yes, he lies. He always does
Warning: This is the same scene from last chapter, from Vera's pov. It is not officially a different chapter. It is just the same scene told from Vera's perspective. If you don't want to read, do not read.This chapter will not clear everything up, because like I said, I still have another book to write.With that being said, go on, and you will see some of you confusions answered here. ONLY SOME, though. Wink, wink.***(Vera) I saw Orna's body going still in my arms as her eyes stared straight into mine. There was no anger left in her eyes, and mine, as well. I gently closed her eyes as I looked at her.I could hear her softly reading the stories to me. Soft and gentle. Her eyes would always be fierce though. I remembered the marks on that special book. She called it her special book. I had never seen a book like that anywhere else. One time when I asked Orna about it, she said there was no other book like this in the entire universe."Sleep tight, auntie. May you find your peace i
(Mateo) The dragons were vicious, but Shade was just as vicious. He bit, tore and fought like the he was possessed.I was worried about Vera, though. I heard the growls and roars and ear-splitting cries, but Shade couldn't get away from the dragons continuously attacking Raek and him.When I saw Vera going into the clearing and Orna's dragon following her, my heart fell to my stomach. I was nervous, agitated. Shade tried to break away from the dragons around us, but I just couldn't. They were fast, fierce and unrelenting.I had a feeling they wanted to keep us away from Orna and Vera for whatever's reason they had."Don't worry, she can take care of herself," Shade said as he took a swing at a massive green dragon. She was quick, and she was ruthless, but Shade was hungry for blood. "I am going to kill this bitch and bury her in her own blood," he hissed with anger as he wrapped his tail around the massive Black and yellow dragon's leg and tugged. The dragon roared as she twisted awa
(Vera) Orna shrunk her nose, her eyes flashing in irritation."Just hand me the crown, Vera." I looked at the woman I had once loved with everything. I loved her just as much as I loved my mother. I looked more like her than my own parents. "I don't want to hurt you. I never wanted to-"I scoffed. "Liar."She gave me a frustrated groan.I couldn't forget the nights she sat by my bed, reading me stories and how much I enjoyed every moment I spent with her. Now, there was nothing between us. Only this chasm of anger and rage and bitterness. She would never understand why I hated her so much. Not just because she used me, but because she chose something else over me. Not because she wanted the crown, but because she wanted it, knowing that my death was the payment for her power.Was she that power hungry?I shook my head with a glare in her direction. "Why? I would be dead either way, wouldn't I? You won't care what happened to me. As long as you get your power, you have no qualms about
(Vera) "Your queen is dying.""NO. I am not." Nova looked smug as hell. My claws lengthened as I looked around the room, my eyes assessing everyone. I didn't know who talked, but I had a feeling they were hiding in the crowd.I closed my eyes as I felt the magic of the crown. A soft chant left my lips. "Please protect them, Freyr," I whispered as I shook my head.There was another loud, thunderous explosion that rocked the ballroom, causing the chandeliers to sway and the guests to scream in terror. I stood up, my heart jolting in anger. I had anticipated this, but it still made me angry.Chaos erupted around as people scattered away from their seat and clamored around in fear. There was too much noise, too many people, but I knew that I had to stay calm. I looked at my family and friends in the front of the line and they all nodded as I saw them moving between the panicked people, trying to talk to them and calm them.Mateo immediately stepped in front of me, shielding me from harm,
(Vera) "You look like a queen. You are a queen." Amyra said as she handed me a box full of accessories that looked like it would cost me a lifetime to pay for that. Oh, yeah, no, I could just steal some Euvens and pay them back in a blink."Oh bitch," Nova said with a smile.Faye and Bianca helped me with the necklaces and rings and bracelets. I was shining, and my heart was dancing. It looked beautiful. I looked beautiful."I am grateful to have met you when I was just sixteen. It was destiny, Vera. And I am grateful to Maseir for that one moment in my life that had gone right despite every bad thing," she said as she hugged me sideways and wiped her eyes. It made me want to cry too."Bitch, I am not going to go in front of everyone with black stain on my cheeks," I teased Faye and she let out a quick burst of laughter.Tatienna laughed as she handed me something. "This is what I gave Esmeralda when she become my son's queen. Now it is yours." It was a beautiful hairclip with emeral
(Orna) "So Estrild said to Sabius, I will come back a million times, even after death. I will destroy everything you have built, and then Draconia will be mine. Her voice rang above the silence of the night. Sabius cut his fingers on the crown's sharp edge and looked at Estrild's vanishing figure. She wasn't really there, but he could feel the ice running through his body, despite the fire that was always burning inside him." I read from the book, and the girl grumbled under her breath, pushing her plate back. I ignored her as I turned the page. "With this blood and the last of my daughter's blood, I bind your daughters' powers to the crown. As long as the magic hums in the crown, as long as Azura's blood runs through the veins of her children, you will never get what you want."Estrild's laughter rang out as she watched her three daughters grabbing on to their stomachs. The pain in their eyes was evident. She felt their pain as if it was hers.""They deserve the pain," Lili said as
(Vera) I shook my head with a growl as I wiped my tears away. I was done crying. No. I wouldn't cry anymore. I would make Orna cry.Mateo had a troubled look on his face when the same guard ran towards us again."They are here," the guard said."Who is here?" Mateo asked as he looked at him."Lord and lady of the clan Red Thunder. Their family too."That made me look up. Mateo stood up and gave me his hand. "Let's go see now, okay? Don't jump to a conclusion before here and there."When we walked out, the queen also joined us. The queen hugged Arax's mother before she turned to his father."You can live here, Rosalie, Kenneth, as long as you want. I am so sorry you lost your home. We will bring them to justice."Rosalie Red, Arax and Marvis's mother looked at the queen, her eyes shining in gratefulness. "I know, Esmeralda. We are fine, thanks to Sun God. We are so sorry for my daughter's part in this.""She was only a young girl who had been brainwashed. I am sorry you lost her. Come
(Vera) My fingers trembled as Mateo grabbed the note from my hands.Blood. Lili's blood.Every bone in my body burned in rage. If I saw Orna now, she would die a painful death. I wouldn't spare her, not at all. Mateo growled as he finished reading the note."Monster," he said with a dark rumbling growl. "How can she play with a little girl?"Oh, yes, she would. She didn't have any qualms about using a little girl to succeed in her plans."Lili is another one of her pawns," I hissed. "Lili is the pawn she made to control me."Amyra and Mateo nodded."She is undoubtedly smart," Amyra said with a frown."She is. She has always been."Orna didn't decide to steal the crown out of nowhere. No, it wasn't random. Nothing she had done was random. Everything was moved in such a way that when we came to this place we were in right now, she would have the King, that she would be the one calling check mate.She didn't decide to send Ezra and Lili to me, just for the heck of it. No."She knew Lili
(Blaine) The anger inside me was like a roaring sea and I feared that it might destroy me, destroy everything in my path.I wanted to burn everything down. As Raek soared above the cloud, his massive wings flapping in a frenzied motion, I wanted to ask him to let out his anger.He felt agitated and restless too.Mateo's dragon, Shade, followed us close behind. I was grateful he was accompanying me. I knew I couldn't do this alone.I needed Mateo here with me. My eyes burned from the tears I didn't want to shed. Not yet. No. If I cried now, it would mean that she was no more. I didn't want to believe that.She was my best friend, and I made a mistake when I didn't look for her when she was first gone. I should have. This would stay with me, this immense guilt, all through my life, if she was really gone, and if we had absolute proof.I was so angry back then, but now, I regret my every decision, my every action. She didn't deserve that from me, her best friend.When she suddenly disap