Chapter 36 THE STORM HAD ALREADY BEGUN
I closed the notebook slowly, my hand still trembling. Grief hit me like a physical blow, sharp and sudden. My mother hadn’t died in a simple training accident. She had been fighting something bigger, something the Academy wanted buried.
And my father… he had lied about everything. He had chosen the Council over her. Over us.
My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe. What else had he lied about? How did my mother truly die? What actually happened that day?
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. I hadn’t cried for my mother in years, but the pain felt fresh all over again.
Lyra noticed immediately. Without a word, she pulled me into a hug, her arms wrapping around me tightly. I buried my face in her shoulder, violet curls brushing my cheek, her warmth the only thing keeping me grounded.
“I’m so sorry, Kai,” she whispered against my hair. “I can’t imagine how much this hurts. But you’re not alone. We’re here.”
I held onto her, hands shaking as I clutched the back of her uniform. The grief and heartbreak mixed with a fierce anger I didn’t know how to contain.
After a long moment, I pulled back just enough to look at her and Yvaine.
Yvaine spoke again, "Your mother had visions of Lyra even before she was born"
Lyra nodded, her hand still resting on my arm.
"Your father knows, that's why he has been keeping such close watch, to confirm it" Lyra realised.
My voice came out rough. “We have to keep everything between ourselves until we can learn more. We need to find the sealed archive she mentioned beneath the western spire… or whatever might still remain of it.”
She squeezed my arm again “We will. But Kai… you have to try to act normal around your father. At least for now. If he suspects anything, he’ll watch us even closer.”
I took a deep, shaky breath and wiped my eyes. “I’ll try. I promise.”
Yvaine gave me a small, supportive smile. “We’ve got your back. All of us.”
We sat there for a while longer, the red notebook resting between us like a live wire. Outside, the distant rumble of dragons echoed through the night.
The storm wasn’t just coming.
It had already begun.
~
KAI
I woke up with a start, heart pounding, the faint light of dawn creeping through the narrow window of my dorm room. For one blissful second, I hoped last night had been a nightmare, the hidden compartment, the red notebook, my mother’s handwriting confessing betrayal and her visions.
Just a bad dream born from too many late nights and the stress of watching Lyra throw herself into danger with Tempest.
I sat up slowly, rubbing my face, trying to shake the fog from my mind. The room was quiet, my roommate still snoring softly in the other bed. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached for the drawer where I had hidden the notebook last night, buried under a stack of spare uniforms.
My hand closed around the familiar red leather.
It was real.
The weight of it hit me again like a physical blow. My mother’s notebook. Hidden by my father. Pages filled with her own words, secret dating with him, her pregnancy with me, the betrayal when he went to the Council, the forced separation from her dragon, and the final terrifying warnings about red lightning and a girl with violet curls.
Lyra.
I stared at the cover for a long moment, my hands starting to shake. My father had lied to me my entire life. He had told me my mother died in a simple training accident. But the notebook painted a different picture, one of secrets, fear, and a Council that wanted storm dragons silenced.
What if he had a hand in it? What if he helped them take her dragon away and then… something worse? How did she truly die? What actually happened that day?
The questions burned in my chest, hot and sharp. Grief I thought I had buried years ago surged back up, mixing with a deep, aching heartbreak. My father, the man I had spent my life trying to live up to had betrayed my mother.
And now he was watching Lyra the same way, assigning himself to train her personally, demanding reports on every vision Tempest showed her.
I couldn’t breathe.
My hands trembled as I pulled on my uniform, fingers fumbling with the buckles. The leather felt too tight, the fabric scratchy against my skin. I ran a hand through my black hair, trying to compose myself, but the mirror showed a face that looked haunted, eyes red-rimmed, jaw clenched so tight it hurt.
I stepped out of the dorm into the hallway, the stone corridors already filling with early risers. People nodded at me as I passed, the usual respectful greetings for the son of Ser Thorian Stormridge, but I barely registered them.
Everything felt distant, like I was moving through a haze. My father was dangerous. He had lied about my mother. He was lying about something bigger now.
And Lyra, with her violet hair and her bond to Tempest was right in the middle of it.
I had to protect her. At any cost.
Lost in thought, I walked straight into someone.
“Whoa!” Cassius stumbled back a step, steadying himself. He blinked at me, lemon-green eyes narrowing. “Kai? You okay? You look like you’re about to fight a dragon with your bare hands.”
I blinked up at him, the fog clearing for a second. “I didn’t see you there. My bad.”