Chapter 119 CHAPTER 119
I remembered the last time I was here.
During the day, it was way bigger than I thought and I didn't even know where to begin searching for Florian.
What if he wasn't back yet?
Also, those three dragons, what if I did something wrong if they come out again?
I can't say I've been paying proper attention to Dragon Theory so I don't really know all the rules.
In fact, that first time, I'd disobeyed one.
Don't look them in the eye but I'd been so shocked I was staring into their orbs like I had a death wish.
They probably didn't kill me because Zade was here and Tharagaun is inside.
Now I'm alone and the dragon pen was alive.
I hid behind a boulder as I watched soldiers mount different dragons and fly off.
My breath got caught in my throat as I watched uniformed men manoeuvre atop the dragons.
I imagined myself like that, strong, agile, confident.
And telling a powerful dragon where to go.
“That's not how it works, child.”
I jerked up, looking around for where the voice was coming from.
Then from where I hid, I saw her, the red dragon, prowling at the edge of her cave, and then she sat down.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to think of it that way” I quickly apologised before I'll become roast duck.
“It's alright. We learn every day. I quite like this way of talking. More expressive.”
“Why don't you speak to everyone else the same way?”
“How then will they know you're special?” She chuckled lightly, her eyes blinking.
Even from a distance, I could see her skin shimmering and the details of her eyes.
Enthralling.
“Oh.”
“Also, very few people will appreciate power once they get too comfortable with it. This privilege is only for the select few. The fearless. The brave.”
All things I'm not.
“All things you will become one day if you persevere.”
“Have you seen Master Florian?” I quickly asked, forcing my mind not to reveal what I knew.
“He's with Zephyr at the back. I've told him you're looking for him.”
“Can I… is it okay if I ask for your name?”
She laughed.
“Your tentative approach to me is very funny. You all always start like that, scared as shit and then you become mouthful. What does as shit mean? It just came out of my mouth.”
“Oh um, it's like a curse word but it's also for emphasis. It's like your mind is interpreting your brain or something.”
“Yes. And my name is Valyra. Mother has a thing for V names.”
“Thank you for the honour,” I mutter, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“It's alright, I know we'll become best friends one day. Your male is here,” she said, her voice playful.
Nothing like the mother-like, pensive voice that had told me I was a chosen one the other night.
True to her words, Zephyr flew out from the back of the immense mountain, Florian's nearly silver hair visible from where I hid.
He manoeuvred the dragon until he landed a few feet away from me.
“Hello Princess, why are you hiding there?”
“Am I supposed to be here? I'm in my first year,” I whispered, yelling.
“You are not really one for rules Alira. Come on, I want to show you something.”
I looked at the beastly thing and saw others flying high in the sky, the wind in their hair.
I shook my head.
“What? Come on, you don't want to… Wait, are you scared of heights?”
“No! Um… a little?”
I'm trying to lie less because I'm going to be hurting everyone I've met here very soon.
“A dragon kin scared of heights. I've truly seen it all. I blame your parents for dropping you in that boring world,” he said, getting down from the Dragon.
“Where are you going?”
“I'm not going to start teaching you flying yet, it's banned for a reason. So I have no choice, we'll just have to walk.”
“Where are we going?”
“My room, where I shall ravish you,” he whispered, pulling my white hair out and playing with it.
“What…” I gasped, my body heating up.
“Relax, I have pure intentions,” he chuckled. “But I heard you love climbing mountains and I wanted to show you somewhere with an amazing view.”
I thought about it, I'd come to love climbing, each foot up always felt like a small victory and every time I made it to the top, it always felt like all my problems fell away.
But I promised to be back early.
Well, it's still early in the day and once I see the suns coming to the middle, I'll head back to Zade.
No harm in delivering the news in a calm environment.
“Okay,” I said, placing my hand in his.
The climb took about thirty minutes, my claws were hurting a bit by the time we finally got to the top of the mountain.
While the other mountain we climbed for classes was taller, this one had a very comfortable top.
The second I pushed through the last stone, a pebble falling to the far end below, I smiled.
“You did this?” I asked, breathless.
There was a tent and a fire was on.
“I liked to stay here when I'm not clearing out dragon faeces,” he grunted as he also got to the top.
“Oh.”
I didn't know he was also on cleaning duties. It irked me how much he had to endure because he was part Fae and it made what I needed to do more difficult.
But I can't go back to Earth with two men with clear supernatural abilities. Zade might be able to stay still in one place for years but not Florian.
And he couldn't leave his dragon either, they both enjoy the sky way too much to be caged on earth where everything was…normal.
Zephyr landed on the ground a bit farther from us, smoke puffing from his nose and mouth. I shivered a bit and went closer to the tent.
The beasts still scared me.
Florian came around to me and sat down at the edge, taking in the view as well.
“I still can't believe all of this is happening, this view alone feels like a fever dream.”
“I can't say I understand how you feel,” he said, “but this is what motivates me to keep fighting. To keep taking every crap dolled out to me even by the people I fight with.”
I looked up at him and I realised he was shaking.
“Florian…”
“Even my own Mother is tired of me, I kind of expected it but she looked at me and told me not to come back. Her drunk of a husband doesn't want to see the result of her mistake feeling free and relaxed in his home. A home I paid for, one that is standing and being well fed because of my sacrifices. I've been cast out for something that wasn't her fault or mine. That bastard forced himself on her, what was she supposed to do?!”
My heart broke into tiny pieces.
I engulfed him in a hug, tears pouring from my eyes, not just because of his pain.
But because I couldn't tell him no, I can't stay either.
I'll be breaking him further and I don't know how not to.