Page 206 of Scorching the Alien Empire
I press my palms against the shimmering wall, breathing through the cyclone of fury spiraling between us. The bond blazes like a tornado of crimson and mercury. My fury. Her amusement. Her annoyance.
I pour my will into the prison. Divine power. Purpose. Fire. Flames flicker. For a moment—hope. Then they sputter and die.
Princesa giggles. “Aww. Look at yourwee sparklers... sparking,” she coos, folding over with laughter. “You should’ve seen your face! All serious Mr. Frowny Face, like you were going to actuallydosomething and then—poof! Glow sticks!” Her voice breaks, howling louder.
Her laughter peels the skin from my pride. Every note drives me deeper into blistering rage. An all-encompassing fury that swallows me whole. My fists crash against the barrier, knuckles splitting, green blood smearing across the pristine shimmer.
I snarl. I burn. I bite. But nothing breaks.
Then her head tilts. Her eyes—twin silver stars—dim slightly. She doesn’t mock. Not now. “They always looked down on me,” she murmurs, fingers absentmindedly stroking Todd’s rubbery back. “Thought they were better.”
“I used to cry when I got angry. Remember?” she says, softly now, so softly. “No one listened. It just made them hate me more. Then they left.” Her lip trembles for the barest second before she seals it with a smirk. “But my Divine Mother and Father changed all that. Now I’m strong. Revered. Worshipped.”
She rises, ash falling into her hair like crownless snow.
“Butyou,” she says, eyes burning again, voice sharp as daggers, “you tried to take that away from me.”
She barks a laugh, bitter and bright. “You think I’m stupid, don’t you? Just like those bitches at boarding school. Everyone underestimates me until it’s too late. It’s myLexie-specialty.” Her smile twists into a sneer. She jabs a finger at me. “I should pop your big red grape-self for turning the space-knights against me. I don’t know how you did it, but I won’t let you ruin this for me!”
Her fingers tighten. The walls slam inward. The air compresses. Pain floods my senses—my arms yanked back, my armor carving into flesh. My lungs seize. My vision swims.
Unable to move. Helpless. Pathetic. I will die here. Die to her derangement.
“I... I give you your power,” I gasp, each word scraping raw. “Me. I elevated you. You turned my warriors against me.”
“Hah. Cute.” She flicks the bonding rings I gave her, twirling them like baubles. “You know what? I shouldn’t even be mad. Unlike you hypocrites,Iactually follow the sacred words. The truth is Dracoth, you’re just not strong enough to lead anymore. I mean, that’s why you’re caged like a red gorilla at the zoo, and I’m... well, divine.”
“No,” I breathe, eyes narrowing. “You’re not divine. You’rederanged.You possess power. But I see the fragility underneath. The fear.”
Her gaze falters. Just for a second. Aheartbeat.For one breath—one impossibly fleeting breath—the bond between us quivers with somethingreal.A fracture in the divine madness. A crack in the chaos.
Beneath the heat, the divine delusions, the ache of my splintering fists—I feel her. Not the War Chieftainess. Not the Divine Daughter.
Princesa.
She’s scared. Alone. Trapped behind that silver glow. Screaming inside her own skin.
But it’s gone in an instant. A glimmer of hope so fleeting, I wonder if it truly existed. Her silver inferno roars higher, lashing out like a wounded beast.
“Nice try, gaslighter,” she snarls, snapping back to fury. “Remember that horrible fridge place? You told me to ‘embrace my inner Lexie.’ Well guess what,babes—this is her. Boss bitch. Cosmic Goddess. You just don’t like it now that I’m better than you. So you resort to calling me deranged? Really Dracoth?”
She raises her arms to the broken roof, eyes blazing like twin supernovas.
“This is what Elder Ignixis wanted! Remember? I mean, it was literally scorched into his flesh!” She chants like scripture: “Bathe in the truth. Let it wash away your weakness. You never understood him,” she whispers, her voice suddenly reverent. “You were always too dull. Too slow. So little jealous Dracoth turned allgreeny weeny.” She coos in a loathsome, mocking tone. “Well, I am the truth, and I’m washing away your weakness.”
“Silence.” My voice cracks, pain and fury crashing together. “You did not know him as I did. He raised me. You twist his teachings as you twist everything.”
“See?” Princesa barks a short, scornful laugh. “Exactly my point. You spent all that time with him—but didn’t have the faintest clue who he really was.” Her tone sours, bright and bitter. “He used you, Dracoth. Used us all. And he wasrightto do it.”
She paces like a predator, her runic brand flaring like rivulets of lava. Her eyes flash—silver-crimson storms of conviction and rage.
“He was a true prophet of Arawnoth. Not some meathead-jock like you. He found ways for thestrongto servehisends. And he passed that knowledge onto me. Because he saw in me true strength, not just bulging bone-through-the-nose muscles. Something you, and the others could never see.”
Her voice rises, breathless with fervor. “So yeah, Elder Ignixis is smiling down on the Lexie Show. He and Arawnoth want this. They demand I take control.”
My gaze drops to the ash-caked floor. Ignixis did manipulate. But not for glory. Not for his vanity.
He did it for his people.
