Page 114 of Fear the Flames

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We take the steps two at a time, and Cayden presses his ear against the door at the top. He holds up a hand, telling me to wait, then slips through the door before me. I glance around to get my bearings, conjuring my memories from when the snakes led me through the castle. The ballroom fizzles with excitement to our right, which means the dragon chamber is to the left. We’re not far, and most guards are stationed in front of the castle for security precautions or overwatching the ball.

I take off in a soft, silent sprint. We halt at every corner to make sure nobody is coming but keep our pace swift. I don’t want to risk someone finding the guard before we get to the dragons. My skin heats, but not from running; it’s from something else. It tickles the back of my mind like a soft brush of a talon. I’m not leading myself; something more powerful is. It’s pulling me in, and I’m powerless against it. I don’t resist it; I listen to it. It feels natural to accept the guidance. Cayden reaches out a hand to stop me before turning the final corner. He peeks around to gauge our odds.

“Six guards,” he says. The odds aren’t terrible, they’re not great, but the odds are rarely in my favor. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do; we’ll charge them head-on, but the first chance you get to run inside the chamber, take it. I’ll follow you after I’ve killed them all.” He reaches into his pocket to pull out the ruby amulet and the key, pressing them into my palm. I close my fingers around the objects, letting the darkness that lurks within me rise to the surface. The part of me that revels in things like this. I look to Cayden with determination evident on my face. “Bloodthirsty angel,” he mutters.

“You adore it,” I smirk, tucking the objects into my pocket and pulling a knife free from my holster.

“You take one on the left, I’ll take one on the right,” he says while pulling a knife from his thigh and rounding the corner with a lazy swaggered strut. I follow beside him and throw my knife in tandem with him. They sink into the two outer guards’ throats, killing them instantly. Cayden must have hit a blood vessel because the blood from his downed guard sprays into the eyes of the guard next to them.

“You’re guarding something of mine,” I state as the guards rush forward and Cayden draws a second sword, “I’ve come to claim it.”

The fight erupts in a sea of steel that’s drowned out by the music of the ball. Garrick made the mistake of focusing his guards on himself; he’s not worth the success of the heist. I’ll kill him one day, but first I’m going to become the spitting image of his deepest nightmares that the prophecy implemented in his twisted brain. Fate won’t come true for the sake of fate. I’m making this fate happen on my own accord. I choose my fate, and my fate lives in the realm of flames and revenge.

One guard advances on me while three rush to Cayden, most likely because of how much broader he is than me. People have underestimated me for far too long. Cayden slices through one of the guards like butter; guts fall to the polished floor, and crimson droplets splatter the walls. I drag my sword from belly to chin, slicing my guard down the center. I kick him backward before his blood can spray directly on me; instead, it mists down on me in an arc of my dark deed.

“Go!” Cayden barks, fighting the last two guards.

“You’re sure?”

“You’re forgetting something, angel,” Cayden begins while stabbing one of the guards in the leg, “I enjoy this.” A blood-stained smile spreads across his face. The guard in front of him flinches, and Cayden unleashes himself onto them.

I pull the key and amulet from my pocket and rush toward the door. The blood on the tile has made it slippery, but I manage to keep my balance, holding my breath while slipping the key into the hole and twisting the lock. The door creaks open, but no alarms shatter our semblance of stealth. I shut the door behind me and leave it unlocked for Cayden.

A low, rumbling growl comes from the room that looms in front of me. A confusing mixture of self-doubt and belonging stabs me in the chest. I’ve dreamed of hearing that growl again. Sometimes I would turn around in my house, thinking I heard something. The memory of my dragons has haunted me for years, but tonight I will perform necromancy and raise my ghosts from the dead.

My eyes slowly adjust to the dimly lit chamber and are immediately met with a pair of orange irises. The only light that streams through the chamber comes from the moonlight that pools through several windows at the front of the room. I know the placement of the windows is not a coincidence. They pan out above the forest that leads to the Seren Mountains. The dragons were forced to look at the skies they could never fly in ever since they were babies. My first instinct should be to grab my knives, but what are knives to a dragon? Who am I to raise a weapon against a creature I abandoned to the cruel fate of this castle?

Silver chains are locked around the necks of all five dragons. I take a step forward, and the rest of the dragons glance my way. I raise my hands, trying to show them I mean no harm, but their eyes don’t reveal anything. They just track me, my breath, my steps. Each dragon has different colored eyes that seem to glow in the dark. The first one, the one I had seen in my vision, is sunset orange. Orange is followed by ocean blue, plum purple, coal black, and ruby red. The same ruby red as the amulet.

The amulet.

It’s supposed to help me with the chains. The dragons regard me with skepticism. The red-eyed dragon growls at me while I reach for my pocket.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” My voice is surprisingly calm. “I’m trying to get you out of here.” The red-eyed dragon ceases growling, and I finish reaching for my pocket, pulling out the amulet and holding it up to the moonlight. The dragons shriek in unison, and I drop to my knees from the sheer magnitude of the sound waves assaulting my ears. They fight against their chains and struggle to get toward me. I look at the amulet, still in my hand, and their shrieks only get louder. They continue violently thrashing their mighty bodies against the chains that restrain them.The chains glimmer in an obscure way, and it’s not the way steel usually shimmers; this steel sparkles.It’s enchanted.The amulet begins to burn my palm, and I briefly recall the amulet burning Cayden…because the amulet wasn’t meant for him. It was meant for me.

Now, the amulet isn’t meant for me; it’s meant for the dragons.

I toss the amulet in the space between the five of them, and fire blazes through the chamber. My arms rise to cover my eyes from the heat and brightness that streams from the flames as I flinch back. I can’t believe this is real. My arms slowly lower from my face, and I watch the five dragons illuminate the chamber, mesmerized by the way their fire dances together. Sparks drift from the flames and wisp together through the air. Red sparkling streaks that resemble the gold snakes that once wrapped around my arms now slither to their collars and ankles. The more they blow onto the amulet, the stronger the red streaks wrap around their chains.

My eyes water from the heat, and I choke on the smoke that floods through the room. When I think my ears and eyes can’t take any more of this, the red streaks flash to gold, and the chains that held them shatter and fall to the floor. They toss their heads back and let out a mighty roar, fierce enough to make their enemies flee before ever seeing these magnificent creatures. Tears slip from my eyes, they’re extraordinary, and they’re alive.

I get to my feet, but the unchained dragons whirl on me. I stand my ground, unsure of what’s the next correct move. I don’t want to hurt them, but by reflex, I pull two knives from my holsters. My knives are pathetic in comparison to the dragons—they’re smaller than a single dragon fang. The dragons keep their wings tucked close to their bodies as they circle around me. I spin on my heels as panic rises in me, but there’s a new pair of eyes wherever I turn. A hard hit connects with my ribs, and I fall to my knees, doubling over in pain as a tail slithers away from me.

I may be sorry I left them, but I will not submit.

I get to my feet again. If they want to beat me, so be it.

The tail from the dragon behind me slams into the other side of my ribs, but I grit my teeth and stand my ground.

“I’m sorry,” I ground out, unsure if they can understand me. “I tried to come back for you.” A shriek sounds through the air, and a tail collides with my left thigh. I stumble to the side but regain my balance. “I never wanted to leave you.” The smoke from the blazing fire makes my throat feel raw, like it did the night Ailliard took me away from here.

I deserve this.

I deserve the pain, the hits.

For so long, I hated myself for being unable to get back to them. I hated that I was safe in Aestilian while they lived here in chains. Some nights I felt so guilty that I would wake up and run to the bathroom to cough up whatever dinner I ate.

I deserve their anger; I deserve to feel their pain.