Page 17 of Rejected By Dragons

Heaving out a sigh, I scrub my hands through my hair. Every luxury imaginable is it my fingertips.

So why do I feel as if my life is slipping through them?

Over on my night stand, my phone buzzes.

My heart leaps for a second, impossible hope taunting me as my gaze darts to the lit-up screen. I've barely heard from Ember for the past two weeks. I've touched in with her a couple of times, but I haven't been able to sneak away for a rendezvous, and I'm too paranoid to put everything I want to say to her in text.

My heart constricts as I cross the room. The last time I saw her was in that stupid boutique when Fury dragged me along to go shopping with his friends. I hate those assholes, but I have to play my part. Pretend to get along with the elites of this town. It's my only way of holding onto what little power I have. If Fury suspected where my allegiances really lay, he'd cut me out of the inner circle. I can't speak for my people--can't protect the ones I love--can't do anything to curb my father's most tyrannical impulses. Not from the other side of a slammed door.

I've learned that much the hard way already.

And yet...

I nearly threw it all away that day. Ember's look of betrayal is burned into the backs of my eyes. The worst part is that she wasn't even shocked by my failure to defend her. She was just fucking resigned.

And then when Fury threatened her... When he told her she faced exile if she dared to stand for the flames again and failed...

My blood boils even now. The useless, impotent rage wants to burn me to ash. I need to talk to her. I need to convince her to stay away from the Emergence. She may be forsaking the chance to summon her dragon, but she'd at least have a place here. A home.

The thought of her being banished... Of losing her, when she's the only thing that makes my life bearable in this bullshit town...

Pulling my phone off its charger, I flick open the message. My hopes are crushed as quickly as they'd appeared.

Fury: Dining room. Now.

"Good morning to you, too," I mutter, setting the phone back down. It's bad enough that the message isn't from Ember. My brother doesn't have to be such a dick of a communicator, too.

Just as a fuck you to my brother, I'm tempted to climb back into bed. I'm the opposite of sleepy, though. A run might help clear my head. A trip into the canyon to let my dragon stretch his wings would help more. No way I can sneak out of the mansion without somebody noticing, though.

My phone lights up again.

Fury: Seriously. Dad's here.

Shit. All thoughts of brushing off my brother flee my head.

Our father is a constant presence in our lives. He summons us into his office or his study on a whim. He has his talons in so many pies, they're honestly hard to keep track of. Some dragons hoard gold. He hoards power and influence. In his dealings both within our realm and with the Fire and Stone Kingdoms, he sends us as his emissaries.

What he doesn't do is just randomly show up for breakfast.

Another message comes through.

Fury: And he's not alone.

That makes me both more and less worried. Maybe this is just another pointless political meeting. There's something about Fury's urgency that says there's more going on than Dad dragging one of his economic advisors to brunch, though.

I get dressed in a hurry, chucking my pajama pants for a pair of well-fitting jeans and an ice blue, button-down shirt that Ember told me brings out my eyes. A quick tousle of my hair and an expensive watched strapped to my wrist and I'm out the door.

Downstairs, a few people from the house staff shoot me glances that are a mix of caution and sympathy. That really makes me feel great. I jog the last few steps to the formal dining room and throw the doors open. The cavernous space is set up as elegantly as ever, with the good china out and the crystal chandelier overhead blazing.

But I can't concentrate on the linens. My father has taken his place at the head of the table, and in any other family, you'd think it was a normal morning.

Only nothing is normal. My father is King Zephyr of the Air Kingdom.

And beside him...

All the air leaves my lungs.

Beside him is a face I haven't seen in years.

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