Chapter 269: CHAPTER 269

The next morning, I was in the bathing pool when some girls from first year informed me that a lady was waiting for me outside the hostel.

It was odd because my mum wouldn't do that. My dragons would have told me if she were on her way here too.

I hurried up and got dressed and rushed to find out who it was.

She stood out in the front yard with everyone wearing their colours and she in black from her hair down to her shoes.

Even the thick bag she carried and the sword attached to her pants were black.

"Excuse me, Ma'am? Are you the one looking for me?"

"You're definitely Chang's offspring," she replied with a grin.

"You knew my father?" I asked, adjusting my bag.

"A little more than most. Follow me."

"To where? Who are you?"

"Your new fire element instructor. I heard you've been having some troubles?"

"Oh. Principal Draco sent you to me?"

"Your mother did, but yes, the Principal is also aware," she answered and began walking for me to follow her.

I looked back and my friends were watching the interaction.

Akua shrugged, "I guess you have to go with her?"

"So we won't have any classes together again?" Erin asked sadly.

"That should have happened a long time ago," Mira said, "she's clearly not suited for what we're doing. She's either too short or the absolute opposite."

"Alright, I'll catch up with you guys for brunch," I waved to them and ran off to catch up with her.

Despite her age, not that it showed on her face, she was fast.

She had that one extra age line that my mother has that made me know she's at least four hundred years old.

It's not the craziest part of this world anyway.

She took me to where Florian and I used to train in my first year.

To my shock, it was filled with soldiers, some fighting, some meditating and others playing a game that was too complicated to figure out in one glance.

They all stopped to look at me as we approached.

No, not me, my new instructor whose name I still haven't figured out her name.

"Madam Vespera? What brings you back here?" One of the soldiers waved at her.

"This little one needs extra help. Why didn't you guys try to get her on the right path? Does this mean all I've taught you has flown out of your head?" She asked, slapping some people on their backs, and poking around at cheeks and chests.

I watched her interact playfully with everyone before asking them to clear up a space for us.

I followed, unsure how a training ground was the best place to get my mind to cooperate with me on this.

She took off her jacket and I gasped in surprise.

She didn't have a tail like Zade once had, but she was covered in dragon scales all over her body except on her neck down.

Her ears were spiked and when she turned, the reflection of the sun made her eyes yellow.

Like she was more dragon than kin.

She starts with teaching me dynamic stretches which at the beginning seemed like a total waste of time that I should have been using to train.

I didn't even get to tell Marcus, one of my new instructors, that I won't be able to make it this afternoon.

Hopefully, someone passes the message from the soldiers who had trained here and were heading back, so he doesn't waste his time going to the Academy training area.

"Focus, Alira," Madam Vespera cautioned, "these little things are the pathways to the bigger ones you desire to control."

I nodded and followed her movements, and soon, my waist was popping and my arms felt less stiff.

Almost like a remedy for Draco's near-death training last night.

I had to remind myself he didn't actually hate me several times throughout the training session and I bit my tongue several times to avoid lashing out.

"Do you run into your mind this often or is there something hideous about my face?"

I was shocked at her words because she was beautiful in a strange way.

Like her body and face were made for different purposes.

While she had a pear-shaped face with delicate jaws and bushy eyebrows that framed her green eyes, she had the body of a warrior.

"You're beautiful Ma'am," I answered, rocking back and forth on my knee like she was doing.

The field was nearly empty at this point.

"That's what your father always said to me every morning when we were together."

My movements stopped and I opened my mouth but words struggled to come out.

"It's okay to be surprised, most people were when we split. He spent so long wooing me and I spent a long time loving him right back. Your mother is lucky to have him."

"What are you.. saying?"

"I was your father's first love."

"But you told me that my mother sent you here. I don't even understand what's happening right now," I hissed, standing up.

"Get back into position, Alira," she commanded, her voice rough and strange coming from her plump lips.

"Not until you explain what all of this is about! I'm tired of strange occurrences. You are my father's ex and somehow you're supposed to help me? If your love story was that good, clearly you have something against me. I'm not letting you ruin the progress I already made with these weird exercises. Find a different way to take out your revenge!"

She laughed, a small, brittle sound.

"Trust me< Alira, every feeling I had for your father has been dealt with. It's been over two centuries since it happened and your mother is a great woman. She gave him everything I couldn't and more," she added, pointing at me.

"You both broke up because you couldn't have kids?"

"I can and I have three healthy boys, but I saw the future and I knew I couldn't give him to you. Your mother's lineage and his had to merge in this generation, not the next."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

She stood up and walked to me, placing her scaled palms on my shoulders.

"Because the next phase will be draining. You must understand that many people have sacrificed so much for you to become this."

"I didn't ask anyone to do all of that!"

"And yet, it is what it is. I will teach you how to separate your powers, but also how to channel them. How to understand them. All of them. And when I'm done, you'll be the most powerful Drakkonian alive."

I'm not really power-obsessed, but if it'll save the people I love, bring it on.