A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Chapter 2 | What Zalas Decided

ZALAS

"Get up."

"Go away."

"No. You need to get out of this room."

"I'm not in the mood Elika."

There was a sigh. "You're never in the mood."

I looked out the window, staring at my reflection. There was still no word, no glimpse, nothing. She was gone.

A hand touched my shoulder and I shrugged it off. "Leave me."

"But-"

"I said, LEAVE ME." I roared, my hands clenching into fists, steam curling from my nostrils.

There was a moment of silence and then soft footsteps and the shutting of a door. I felt myself relax slightly but the anger was still there, twisting inside of me. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

She was only trying to help Brother.

I don't want her help.

You know that isn't true.

I pondered for a moment on the disaster that was my life. My Mother wasn't speaking to me for a start. Word had reached her as to how I had handled Circe on the day of the sacrifice and she was not impressed in the slightest. I could practically hear her fuming from here. The fact that Circe was still missing did not help in the slightest.

We did what had to be done, if the girl was not your Uncle's flesh this would not be an issue.

Yes but she is, so it is an issue Unabonan, the fact that he is dead means that Circe is his only living heir, she is the last piece of him that my Mother has left to hold onto and I could be the person that has taken that from her.

I am surprised that we haven't left to look for her yet, I thought that would be the first thing on your mind.

How can I go and look for her after what I have done? I thought bitterly.

What we have done, He corrected gently. I share the blame too Brother, it was as much I as you. We betrayed their trust.

'Their'. Anthemin was out there too somewhere. I hoped he was with Circe, I hoped that they were together. It would make it slightly easier to know that they had each other, but after we had severed their link temporarily ... well we had put right that wrong after they had both fled, but there was no way to tell whether or not it had worked.

We went too far, I thought angrily. The first Dragon bonded pair in centuries and we went and fucked it up. We should never have done that, there were other ways of subduing them.

We have made mistakes but it is no use regretting them now Zalas. If you really want to fix what has happened, you need to act. Your sister is out there too remember, and the Dragon egg. These are all important things that need our attention. When you are ready, let me know.

I felt his presence leave my mind and I scowled. He was right of course. The Dragon egg had gone missing from my ship and the fact the one accused of it was dead, accompanied by Aranel's timely exit lead me to believe that my sister had more of a hand in this than I had initially realised. Of course this revelation only served to amplify my guilt, for if Obsidian had indeed been innocent ... well.

He is dead. There is nothing that can be done.

But is he?

Those three words had been plaguing my thoughts since that gruesome night at the end of the Elven festival. The chill that I had felt not a fortnight later, the niggling paranoia that something was not right had led me to repeat the scene of his death over and over in my mind until it found its way into my dreams each night.