Page 222 of The White King's Favorite

From where she stood, it was difficult to spot, but Cessilia did notice the large, burgundy mark on her dragon’s throat. It was one perfect line, almost like a collar, but to her, it had a terrible significance. As if, even if she had retrieved her dragon, this scar was to stay as a reminder never to make the same mistake again. Cessilia sighed. She had no idea why Cece had come back so different, but she could feel their bond stronger than before. Her dragon was stronger than before. Like the Sea Dragon God of the legend, the Silver Dragon was flying above the sea with shining scales and an imposing presence. Cessilia could almost feel the power in each movement, and she could feel, deep inside, Cece’s strength adding to hers. They were one, once again. Her dragon flapped its gorgeous wings, taking a more horizontal position, and she sat on its nape.

It didn’t take long to find Jinn; the Red Dragon’s figure was standing out against the dark gray and blue background of the raging sea and thundering storm above them. Cece let out another unique high-pitched growl, and jumped down in that direction. Either Jinn felt the other dragon coming or was trying to flee anyway, but both dragons accelerated, and the hunt quickly began in the sky.

It was a furious race against one another. Cessilia had to hang on to her dragon or, at the speed Cece was going, she’d be violently thrown off. Still, she kept both eyes open and fixed right ahead at Jisel and her Red Dragon. Unlike them, the connection between those two was obviously off. In fact, whenever Cece got close enough, Cessilia could hear Jisel’s furious screams, and see the fear in Jinn’s eyes. The Red Dragon was just terrified. Cece was much, much bigger and in a predatory position too. Claws out, if the Silver Dragon got close enough, no doubt blood would soon flow. As young of a dragon as Jinn was, its goal was most likely to survive and protect Jisel too. Sadly, that woman looked beyond mad now. Something seemed to have snapped in her, enough for her to curse at her dragon that was fleeing this fight. Either she truly believed they had a chance, or she just refused to back down, she was just vociferating at Cessilia and Cece, shouting for Jinn to turn around and fight. That wouldn’t happen as long as the Red Dragon was in its right mind.

“Get them, Cece.”

Her dragon let out another long scream in the sky and accelerated again.

The two water dragons’ bodies seemed to be dancing in the sky now, their wings flapping at a quick speed to try and hunt or flee the other. They didn’t hesitate to dash through the thick, humid clouds, or fly low to the Capital’s rocks. It was a terrifying game of hunt, or even hide-and-seek. Every time Jinn tried to find a place to hide, to cover itself, Cece would inevitably appear, with those ruby eyes glowing in anger. The Silver Dragon was now mimicking its mistress’ wrath, and just wouldn’t stop until it got its prey. The two of them flew in between the bridges, and even dived into the sea. Perhaps Jinn had hoped to swim faster than Cece, but it turned out to be another mistake. In fact, with its wings closed and its body slithering quickly, Cessilia’s dragon was even faster as a swimmer. The raging waves were no problem, and the dragons brutally clashed for the first time underwater.

The impact was violent. Cessilia had just enough time to take a deep breath in, and when her dragon suddenly attacked Jinn, she almost breathed it out from the sudden impact. A thick trail of blood appeared in the water. Cece was like a snake, trying to use that long silver body to corner Jinn and find the first opportunity to violently bite. The Red Dragon growled furiously and fought back, unwilling to admit defeat. The violent exchange ensued for several seconds but soon, Jinn somehow managed to get away, and Cece swam back to the surface so Cessilia could breathe.

When they breached the surface, the Princess took a deep breath in, grateful. Holding her breath so long underwater sure was different when she had to hold on to a rowdy dragon at the same time... She pushed her hair back, suddenly remembering it was half-cut.

“Let’s go up,” she said.

Cece immediately obeyed and flew up again, away from the waves. Jinn wasn’t in sight anymore, but the duo couldn’t have gone far. All their surroundings were in view, and Cessilia suspected they had found a temporary hideout. Pulling on her dragon to direct its movements, she got Cece to fly above the rest of the Capital. She looked for her allies at the same time as they searched for Jinn. She spotted the two distinct battlefields and, a bit more worrying, the numerous fires that were spreading across the Capital. Ashen’s home was bleeding out... Luckily, it looked like the situation was tilting to their side. Downtown, a large but ravaged battlefield was clearly more dominated by the locals than the Yekara colors. Cessilia even recognized her brothers, and Tessandra, all three of them absorbed in their fighting, but still raising their heads when they saw her or heard Cece. She was too high to see their expressions, but she was glad they all seemed fine... Moreover, her dragon was still focused on its prey, and barely glanced down toward the humans fighting below. With another impatient and irritated growl, Cece did a new loop around the Capital. Feeling her dragon’s impatience, Cessilia was looking all around too. It was quite nerve-wracking. The difference in size between the two dragons was huge, but if Jinn found a way to hide, this hunt could potentially last a while, and that was the opposite of what Cessilia wanted. She wanted to end this fight soon and return to Ashen’s side to check on him. That whole battle against Jisel had lasted too long already.

Suddenly, a furious growl came from behind and above them. Cessilia felt the sudden wind blowing from behind, and turned around just in time to see Jinn jumping on them, all claws out.

Cece didn’t have time to turn around, but Cessilia did. Without hesitation, she grabbed her smaller blade and plunged it into the Red Dragon’s incoming paw, impaling it to the hilt. Jinn let out a furious growl of pain, but not without managing to scratch Cece with its other paw. However, the Silver Dragon wouldn’t have it. Furious, Cece turned around and violently bit back, its fangs crushing Jinn’s front paw in one bite.

“My dragon!” shouted Jisel, furious.

“If you’re sorry for him, come and fight yourself!” retorted Cessilia.

She pulled back the blade, the only weapon she had left, and violently kicked the Red Dragon’s snout before it could even think of trying to bite her. Jinn growled and tried to retreat, but Cece wouldn’t let go of its limb. Dragon blood suddenly rained down as the two intertwined dragons battled one another furiously, one trying to get away, the other refusing to let go. It had become a chaotic mess of scales and blood flying, ferocious growls and dragon screams. Cessilia tried to run down the dragon’s back to get to Jisel, but everytime she moved, the two dragons changed positions again, making her lose her balance. She could only hold on to Cece every time, or risk being thrown off. Jisel, on the other hand, had barely moved, if not to retreat away from Cece’s fangs now digging into her poor dragon’s shoulder. By now, it had bitten down on more than enough of the Red Dragon’s flesh, and they could hear the sounds of bones being crushed under the pressure. Cessilia couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Jinn’s suffering.

“Cece!” she shouted.

Her dragon grunted, and brutally ripped off that foreleg. Cece spat it out while the injured Jinn was retreating, completely terrified, its limbless shoulder pouring thick dragon blood into the river. Cece let out another long scream, and flew back to face Jinn, showing off its still blood-stained fangs.

“Get the hell down from that dragon, Jisel,” Cessilia said, “or I’ll have to kill him too.”

Jisel’s horrified eyes were on the dragon’s injury. If she felt sorry for Jinn, she also looked more worried for herself, and how her dragon looked like it wouldn’t be able to defend her for much longer.

“You wish!” she screamed. “This dragon is mine! He’s mine and he will defend me even if he has to die doing it! That’s the only thing he’s worthy of! That’s the only reason I kept him!”

Cessilia glared at her. She could see Jisel’s survival instincts building up in a horrible manner. That was the look of a woman absolutely terrified by the mere idea of her death. She wouldn’t give up, ever. The only way of life she knew was to survive, at absolutely any cost. She would lie, run, hide, cheat all she could rather than give up or die. Even if she had to sacrifice a loyal dragon in the process. Cessilia took a deep breath, and slowly, put her open palm against Cece’s cold body. She could feel all of her dragon’s emotions like her own... Impatience, frustration, stubbornness, resolve. The rage built up from the adrenaline of the fight. Anger, and that strong desire to protect Cessilia too. The disgust of the taste of dragon blood... Cece was sick of this fight too.

“...We need to separate those two,” muttered Cessilia.

Her dragon growled in agreement. Cece was mad at that brat that refused to submit and kept running away. Dragons weren’t meant to run away or avoid fights. If it knew it were the weaker one, it should have simply conceded defeat, and this would have all been over. This whole chasing and hunting of a peer was annoying, frustrating. Moreover, the dragon and its mistress’ anger were directed at the same person: that mad woman on the Red Dragon’s back. Cece was mirroring Cessilia’s anger toward her, and her conflicted feelings toward the unfortunate Red Dragon. The pair understood each other perfectly with just a few words and a touch.

Jisel then proceeded to have Jinn turn around and fly away again. Of course, the Red Dragon was trying to get as far away from Cece as possible and delay its inevitable demise. Cece didn’t start the chase right away, but instead let out another long scream, and took some height above the fleeing Red Dragon. Jinn was considerably slowed down by the terrible injury. Its flying didn’t look as precise as before, almost as if it was on the verge of collapse. It was flying lower and lower and, at the right moment, Cece dove. The Silver Dragon came down from the sky like another lightning bolt, and the hit was just as brutal. Cessilia had to stick to her dragon’s back for the impact, and even like this, she was brutally ejected. Luckily, her body landed on the sand, right below them. Irony had it that they were back on the beach where she and her brothers had let Jisel live once before. The tide had already washed away all traces of the previous fight, and the sand was wet under their feet. Cessilia felt the waves caress her ankles as she quickly jumped back on her feet.

She heard the screams of two dragons fighting, and the waves of sand violently thrown in all directions. The fight was incredibly brutal, with their bodies rolling in the sand, silver and red scales mixed at such a speed, she could barely see who was on top. From her dragon’s angry growls, Cessilia could tell hers was mad and frustrated, but not in pain. Jinn was desperately trying to survive the attacks, and Cece was trying not to kill. It was absolute chaos, but in the midst of this, there was no way Jisel was still on her dragon’s back. Cessilia looked around and spotted her on all fours in the sand, yards away from her, almost on the other end of the beach. She must have been hurt from the fall, seeing how that woman struggled to get back up. As soon as her eyes met Cessilia’s, though, she found the strength to stand up again and run. This time, she couldn’t fly away, and she was cornered on the beach. Only the distance and the two dragons fighting between them kept Cessilia away from her.

“...Ah,” Cessilia heard her laugh. “You’re too weak, Princess! Too weak to kill another dragon, aren’t you?! Look! Jinn will fight for me to the end, and you’ll let him kill your dragon because you’re so weak!”

“...No,” Cessilia muttered. “Not again.”

She turned her green gaze to the two dragons. As if they had heard the two women, the two of them separated, still furiously growling at each other, but putting a bit of a distance between one another. Even if they didn’t finish, Cece was the clear winner. The Silver Dragon only had a few bite marks bleeding on random spots of its body, and a slight limp in its rear paw, but that was it. Jinn, on the other end, was in a pitiful state. On top of its ripped off limb, the Red Dragon was also now missing a large portion of its left wing and eye, and had deep lacerations all over. The red of its blood was transforming its scales into a darker red shade, and staining the sand beneath. Upon seeing Cece retreat, it kept growling, slowly retreating toward Jisel with a defensive stance.

Meanwhile, Cece’s silver body curled up around Cessilia, still letting out furious warning growls right back at Jinn. However, the Silver Water Dragon was obediently standing behind its mistress, leaving her the space to walk up closer to Jinn. The Red Dragon didn’t seem much more enthusiastic to face the woman. It kept retreating, looking like it didn’t know which one of the pair to growl at.

Cessilia kept marching toward the dragon, a bit exhausted by all the fighting, her arms sore from hanging on to Cece so tightly, but incredibly calm and composed. In fact, her glowing green eyes were somewhat scaring Jinn more than her dragon counterpart. The closer she came, the more the Red Dragon felt the need to retreat and growl. It was obvious its goal was still to protect Jisel somehow, but fear was dominating in its eyes.

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