Chapter 268: CHAPTER 268

"What exactly is your problem?"

"Erin explained that –"

"Why can't you fucking concentrate in class?!" He cut me off, the rage pouring out of him like a pipe bursting.

"But I try to –"

"You're always going on and on about all the responsibility on your shoulders! You keep whining and complaining about what the realm demands of you, but you won't even put your mind to simple training that might give you an edge. Do you want to get killed on that battlefield? Do you want to give the Fae army a free chance to kill us all? You want us to lose?!"

"Draco.." I breathed, tears falling from my eyes, unbridled.

"I have been soft on you, hoping you'll get the message, but it's clear you're not deserving of that. Let me give it to you point blank, Alira. You're carrying a power that wasn't meant to be inside of you. If your parents weren't such self-absorbed people and they actually cared about this realm, they wouldn't have thrown that thing inside of you. It would have been given to someone who can handle its powers rather than failing at every fucking thing and whining about it every damn time. But they did it and here we fucking are. So stop being a brat, get your shit together and do the job they forced you into."

He was looking at everything but me, and I could barely see him, the tears refused to stop pouring.

When he wasn't speaking again, I wiped my eyes, "Can I go now?"

My voice sounded so broken and I was heaving, trying to stop the embarrassing tears from falling further.

"Yes. But make sure to come by the house in the evening. We're resuming your training."

I was out of his office in seconds, and I kept running, as if I could outrun the tears.

The harsh words.

The way my heart kept breaking all over again.

If anyone else had said those words to me, I would have screamed in their face, I'll fucking hurt something because a large part of it was all bullshit.

But it's Draco!

My Draco, the man that I'd fallen for before everyone else even though we both ran from that fact for a while.

He was the most stable of them all, and somewhere in my mind, I was convinced he'd always be there for me.

So maybe Zade was right, I'd been playing favourites and I'd made him the one with the biggest pie share of my heart.

The words about my parents broke me the most.

Not because of the way he said them, I could tell he was intentionally trying to hurt me, but the truth in them...

It scared me.

I'm not ready for this power.

I'm so fucking out of my depth that everything I do, no matter how much I push myself, I'm still playing catch-up.

In every way possible, any other dragon kin would have been a better choice.

They grew up here and formed a bond with the land.

I even had to get three dragons and three men to help me fulfil this destiny and still, I'm incapable of just making things work.

I found myself back in my hostel bed, and I cried until I fell asleep. There was nothing else I could do.

I can't become the girl they need me to be, I can't push my body any further than this, especially since they keep insisting on me resting.

It was like I was being pulled in several directions all at once.

When I woke up, hands were hugging me tight.

And crying.

"Oh Erin," I choked, pushing the sobs back in.

"You kept.. all of this inside you?" She asked, her voice broken.

"I.. please don't do that, I don't want you getting sick."

"Let her help, Alira," Akua said from her bed, "please."

"I need to go and train. Principal Draco insisted."

"He's Principal Draco now?" Mira asked, frowning.

"He's the one who broke you like this?" Erin growled, her eyes glowing dark blue.

"It's not his fault. The fates are having a fun time with our lives. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine, you already helped a lot. I don't feel so helpless anymore."

"This is more than helplessness," she muttered, looking at her hands, "you are developing a self-hatred that's.. please promise me," she grabbed my hands again, "promise you'll never hurt yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed, "I'm not suicidal."

"That's what you say now, but I know these feelings. It's a straight journey from here to that point."

"Don't worry about me Erin," I pulled her cheeks playfully, "I'll definitely get better once I'm done getting my arms and legs destroyed by the Principal."

They watched me leave with sadness in their eyes.

Great, Draco's impact was affecting every area of my life.

I got to the field and he was already there, planning my torture of the day.

"You're late," he grunted.

I didn't say a word to him, and I intended for it to be that way for the rest of the training session.

When he was done drawing on the ground, he gave me my tasks and sat back, watching as I pushed my body to its maximum limit and beyond.

Over and over again.

Until Zade walked in.

"Alright Draco, she's had enough for one night."

"That's not for you to decide," he growled back.

"Fuck no, but it's not yours to decide either. She's our Tie as much as she's yours. Florian trains with her and she isn't taken to the brink of depletion every damn time!"

"Go hide back in your den of books, Zade. You don't know anything about limits and real power. I'm watching her and she'll be fine. She's not complaining as you can see."

"Because it won't matter! Let her rest, you can go as hard as you want on Saturdays since she'll be recharging on Sundays!"

He made a sound inside his throat but I was barely paying attention.

I was trying to balance three heavy stones while walking in the specific lines of a circle.

Sweat dripped into my eyes and I gritted my teeth as it stung hard.

"Stop," I heard his voice, but I didn't know if he was talking to me or Zade so I kept going. "I asked you to stop damnit!"

Zade rushed to me and helped me bring down the one on my head and hands and he carried me off the ground and walked past Draco, knocking his shoulder off the road.

It hurt seeing that he wasn't just shutting me out but everyone else as well.

What the fuck is wrong with him?