Page 51 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
FWOOSH.
The fire pummeled the windows. I expected heat. Fire. Flames and agony. I grit my teeth and turned away, Zariah’s arms holding me steadily in place. Wasn’t he going to shield himself? Wasn’t he going to run?
Wasn’t it supposed to hurt?
Zariah’s laugh jolted me enough that I opened my eyes. The glass stayed intact in front of us, whole and not singed or melted. Zion still stood on the dome, his neck spikes raised like the hackles on a dog as he breathed fire at us over and over again.
I was too shocked to speak. What magickal glass was this? Why didn’t we use it instead of the dome?
Zion gave up on his ineffectual flames and rushed us with his entire body, slamming it into the windows over and over with his wings flared to keep him in the air. Zariah kept laughing as the walls shook, but there was nothing funny about the bruises and blood forming on the skin between Zion’s scales.
“Stop it! This isn’t funny! He’s hurting himself!”
I ran from the windows without looking, ducking behind shelves and getting lost in the rows.
“Mari! Wait!”
No.No.
Hot, angry tears gathered at the corner of my eyes. Why had I thought Zariah would be any different from Zion? They were both asses in their own way. Did Zariah even want to show me the library or was taunting his brother his only goal?
My stomach flipped over and over, bile rising in my throat. I found a shadowed desk in an alcove and dove under it, pulling my knees to my chest.
I wasn’t a commodity to be plucked from my home and paraded around the nobles, only to be given to the highest bidder. I wasn’t a piece of flesh to be toyed with, existing only to make other people jealous.
I was Marigold Mudthrice. I was born in the mud district in the third row, and I was done with riddles and boys with their smirks and smug looks.
“Coming out?”
The bored voice was far enough away that I scowled.
“I could sniff you out, but that’s no fun. Zion’s flown away if that’s what you’re worried about.”
There was a pause.
“I’ve pulled out a few of the scrolls that talk about building the dome. Would you like to see them?”
Manipulative. Self-serving. Effective.
I crawled out of the desk space and brushed myself off. Fists clenched, I slowly made my way back out of the stacks, and back toward the center of the room. Zion was gone. Zariah waited impatiently, tapping his foot and gesturing to a pile of parchment he’d put on a long table.
“If you look here, I think—”
WHAM.
The moment I was close enough, I punched him in the nose as hard as I could. His eyes flashed with shock, then dilated as they shifted dizzyingly between gold and silver, and back again. Blood dripped from his nose, but I don’t think he noticed.
Zariah just gawked at me.
“You don’t use me to taunt the bloodthirsty dragon who is also your twin brother.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I raised my fist again threateningly. Zariah slammed his mouth shut.
“No more vague answers. Tell me what is actually going on. Then you will describe these parchments. I can’t read.”
Zariah blinked rapidly, then flushed red from his ears down to his chest. With one hand, he pinched his nose shut, trying to stop the flow of blood.
“Sit.”
