Page 25 of The Cursed Queen

"No," I declared, before crushing the cup in my hand. The remnants of the tea plus droplets of my blood from the sharpfragments stabbing into my skin dripped from my clenched fist to the ground.

"I'm growing tired of you feigning ignorance, Mother. I want the truth!"

As if my outburst was a signal, an explosion sounded, causing the ground beneath our feet to rumble. The crowd's cheering died down, replaced with confusion and panic. Mother rose to her feet and looked off as guards ran out of the arena to find a solution to what had happened. But I knew. The confusion hadn't lasted long before three dragons soared through the sky and circled the arena, Andriel leading them. I smiled as the dragons shot flames across the field. The crowd dispersed and ran out of the stands as fast as they could to get away from the destruction. My mother was trying to bark orders for the dragon riders to do something.

Meanwhile, I calmly stood from my seat and turned to leave so I could regroup with Andriel and get them all back to their home.

"Hold it right there, young lady," Mother growled at me.

I stopped but didn't bother to turn back to face her.

"You did this, didn't you?"

"I did," I simply said. "And as much as I'd like to stay and demand you answer some questions, I have somewhere else to be."

"You're not going anywhere, you bitch!"

I heard Mother's footsteps coming to me. I turned and waved my hand out, releasing my magic and creating a wall of amethyst flames to shield me from her. Mother shrieked and backed away.

"I don't think so," I growled.

"How dare you? After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me?" Mother asked, like I had the audacity to be appalled by her actions.

"Drugging me my whole life? Lying about enslaving shifters for your own selfish purposes? Playing the victim while ruining several lives? You're right, Mother, how rude of me not to be on my knees thanking you for all your sacrifice." I shook my head. "How could you? How could you toy with people's lives? I may not have the power to undo all the wrongs you have committed, but I promise you this, Queen Verania, you will never capture another dragon shifter again. I shall see to it."

"Impudent child!" my mother spat with venom. "You care more for those tenacious beasts than you do for your own family. You're no better than your father."

"What?" I gaped at the mention of my father. "My father? What are you talking about?"

I heard nothing about my father before, other than he passed away after I was born. But why was she bringing him up now, and what did she mean when she said I was no better than him?

My mother smirked devilishly. If she were a fisher, she would've already hooked me with a bait like that hoisting me out of the water, gasping for oxygen.

"Oh, so therearethings you still don't know," she said, taunting me.

I growled and stepped closer to the flames. "What don't I know? Tell me!"

She never got the chance to tell me before another explosion sounded. This time, the ground quaking was strong enough to knock me off my feet.

"Princess," Andriel's voice rang in my head. "We must leave now."

Damn it, I was wasting time. As much as I wanted to force my mother to tell me what she knew about my father, Andriel and his group of dragons needed to escape more. From where I sat, I could already see a battalion of dragon riders taking to the sky to subdue the escaped dragons.

Mother also looked behind her at the rising number of dragon riders and began laughing. "You may as well surrender now, Seraphina. Your new friends have been captured once, and we can do it again. For once in your life, do as you're told and give up this ridiculous plan of yours."

I didn't bother to respond. I merely pushed myself back to my feet, pulled off the tiara from my head and tossed it to the ground, watching as it slid to mother's feet. My time as the Zeffari Kingdom's princess was at an end. I refused to be part of this. Now I would do everything in my power to see that the dragon shifters would never fall into captivity again.

I didn't even say as much as a goodbye before turning and running out the door. I could hear my mother screaming for the guards to stop me as I ran down the steps. As I was heading down, a group of knights were running up to aid the queen and stop me. While I may have had some combat experience, even when I was still believing I was cursed, one versus many were still not good odds. Referring to my next plan and praying to the gods that my slow-growing magic wouldn't fail me now, I recalled a flash bomb enchantment from my studies. Holding my hand out, I cast the enchantment and reveled in my success before the narrow corridor was illuminated by white flashing lights.

Several guards groaned and shouted, covering their eyes, and backing away, trying to regain their sight. I guess they were still expecting me not to use enchantments. I cast another enchantment and dashed past the guards, still in a stupor. Once I was past them, I jumped off the wall and landed back on the ground before running the rest of the way down the steps. Two guards had already regained their sight and continued in their pursuit of me. Waving my arm behind me, I cast another wall of fire to stall them longer.

Finally, I made it outside where hundreds upon thousands of people were still running mad. Up in the sky, I could spot two of the dragons Virgil released, trying to lose three dragon riders following behind them. Enchanting flames spewed from their mouths, but the riderless dragons scattered to avoid a direct hit.

"Where are you?" I mentally called out for Andriel.

Worrying that Andriel had been captured when there was no answer, I felt the sudden sting in my skull, then heard his voice. "Head for higher ground. I'm coming to get you."

Higher ground? I looked around before spotting the closest spire for me to run up to. Unfortunately, I had to shove my way through a crowd of panicked spectators, but I had no choice. Before I was in the clear, I muttered an invisibility enchantment under my breath, feeling a cool sensation running over my body as it went into effect. So, this was what it was like to freely cast enchantments. I could get used to it.

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