drawing attention to themselves sooner. Before they started kidnapping Drakán and killing them. It could be too late for us all now.”
He had me by the throat before I could blink and pressed against the hard stone of the fireplace. “Answer me!” he roared. The stone crumbled beneath my back, and the heat of the flames licked against my legs. Blisters bubbled, but I ignored the discomfort. I had to focus on Alasdair—on living.
The room passed by me in a blur as my body was flung in the opposite direction. Plaster and sheetrock turned to dust as my body went through the wall. I hit the marble floor with a jarring thud, but the momentum of his force pushed me another twenty feet or so, tunneling a path of crumbled stone in my wake.
I lay dazed for a minute before crawling to my hands and knees. The damage to my body was so severe the pain wasn’t registering yet. I willed myself to my feet and only had to steady myself against the wall for a moment. The bloody handprint I left on the wall was a stark reminder of the violence I came from. I was Drakán. Not human. And I needed to remember it.
A curl of smoke escaped Alasdair’s nostril as I faced him down. I couldn’t defeat my father in strength. There was no point in trying. I’d been in this position before.
“That’s enough, Alasdair. Don’t damage her too much. She is of need to us,” Calista said.
Alasdair broke eye contact and began pacing like a caged tiger. “Explain yourself, Rena,” he demanded.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t see a need for it before now. You’ve never cared about what happens to the humans. You barely care and provide for your own people. Your father and the Council created the laws we live by. Even now that you and the other Archos make up the new Council, you still uphold the laws of old. And because of this, I’ve been doing my job half blind. I didn’t know of the other Drakán being killed. And that oversight lies at your feet.”
“Don’t push me with accusations, Rena. You have an obligation to inform me when you feel we are in danger. If Drakán are dying then we are most definitely in danger.”
“I can’t predict the future, Alasdair. That’s Calista’s talent. My visions have shown only the human kills, with the exception of the vision I had last night. And I have no idea why I saw her in my vision when we’d had no previous connection. The only conclusion I can come to is I saw her because one of our own was responsible for her death.”
“I’d know if one of our own was the traitor,” he hissed. “They are mine.”
I didn’t have to say the words, “Unless you’re the ones behind the attack,” but by his darkening expression he was able to read the declaration quite clearly from my face. Alasdair and Calista were the only two Drakán I’d met who had that much power, but surely I would’ve recognized their scents at the kill sites.
“I’ve been tracking these Drakán the last two months,” I said. “But their hunger hasn’t dissipated. The kills are more violent. These predators play with their prey, using torture to prolong the death instead of showing mercy. They were close last night—only miles from here—but none of us sensed them. Not even you, Alasdair. I don’t know how that’s possible. The Master’s power must be great to hide from us all.”
The condescension dripped like syrup from my lips, and he absorbed the verbal accusation without flinching. Alasdair stared at me with hatred flashing in his eyes as he walked toward me. I prepared myself for another attack. I’d been goading him on purpose. I always did, looking for the slightest hesitation in the invisible protection around his mind. It would only take once for me to get inside and destroy him completely.
“I will call the Council together and share this news. Whoever is behind this must be stopped. And you must be the one to stop them, Rena.”
I could tell by the gleam in Alasdair’s eyes that
He had me by the throat before I could blink and pressed against the hard stone of the fireplace. “Answer me!” he roared. The stone crumbled beneath my back, and the heat of the flames licked against my legs. Blisters bubbled, but I ignored the discomfort. I had to focus on Alasdair—on living.
The room passed by me in a blur as my body was flung in the opposite direction. Plaster and sheetrock turned to dust as my body went through the wall. I hit the marble floor with a jarring thud, but the momentum of his force pushed me another twenty feet or so, tunneling a path of crumbled stone in my wake.
I lay dazed for a minute before crawling to my hands and knees. The damage to my body was so severe the pain wasn’t registering yet. I willed myself to my feet and only had to steady myself against the wall for a moment. The bloody handprint I left on the wall was a stark reminder of the violence I came from. I was Drakán. Not human. And I needed to remember it.
A curl of smoke escaped Alasdair’s nostril as I faced him down. I couldn’t defeat my father in strength. There was no point in trying. I’d been in this position before.
“That’s enough, Alasdair. Don’t damage her too much. She is of need to us,” Calista said.
Alasdair broke eye contact and began pacing like a caged tiger. “Explain yourself, Rena,” he demanded.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t see a need for it before now. You’ve never cared about what happens to the humans. You barely care and provide for your own people. Your father and the Council created the laws we live by. Even now that you and the other Archos make up the new Council, you still uphold the laws of old. And because of this, I’ve been doing my job half blind. I didn’t know of the other Drakán being killed. And that oversight lies at your feet.”
“Don’t push me with accusations, Rena. You have an obligation to inform me when you feel we are in danger. If Drakán are dying then we are most definitely in danger.”
“I can’t predict the future, Alasdair. That’s Calista’s talent. My visions have shown only the human kills, with the exception of the vision I had last night. And I have no idea why I saw her in my vision when we’d had no previous connection. The only conclusion I can come to is I saw her because one of our own was responsible for her death.”
“I’d know if one of our own was the traitor,” he hissed. “They are mine.”
I didn’t have to say the words, “Unless you’re the ones behind the attack,” but by his darkening expression he was able to read the declaration quite clearly from my face. Alasdair and Calista were the only two Drakán I’d met who had that much power, but surely I would’ve recognized their scents at the kill sites.
“I’ve been tracking these Drakán the last two months,” I said. “But their hunger hasn’t dissipated. The kills are more violent. These predators play with their prey, using torture to prolong the death instead of showing mercy. They were close last night—only miles from here—but none of us sensed them. Not even you, Alasdair. I don’t know how that’s possible. The Master’s power must be great to hide from us all.”
The condescension dripped like syrup from my lips, and he absorbed the verbal accusation without flinching. Alasdair stared at me with hatred flashing in his eyes as he walked toward me. I prepared myself for another attack. I’d been goading him on purpose. I always did, looking for the slightest hesitation in the invisible protection around his mind. It would only take once for me to get inside and destroy him completely.
“I will call the Council together and share this news. Whoever is behind this must be stopped. And you must be the one to stop them, Rena.”
I could tell by the gleam in Alasdair’s eyes that
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