XVIII | Little Flame

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◢✥◣PREVIOUSLY

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PREVIOUSLY...
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With Palmira suspicious of Suri's recovery from her sickness, Azura knew she'd have to do more to show Suri's worth and prevent Palmira from exiling her from the Order. To do this, they had a sparring session where Azura demanded Suri use her magic on her. Reluctant and scared, Suri refused and Azura gave her no choice but to use her sygil, the same sygil that Erasmus had used previously to harm Azura. Azura was severely injured and knocked unconscious.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"Az."

The sound of clinking glass tickles my ears as I slide my hand along the ground, the jagged edges pricking at my exposed skin. I moan something incoherent as I come to, a deep throb beating in the back of my head. But it's distant, like I'm only half in my own body.

"Az, get up."

"I'm up," I grumble as I peel my eyes open, feeling like a film of wax coats them.

"No, you're not. You're still on the ground."

I press my cheek against the marble, the hard ground cool against my inflamed skin. "I think I'll stay here."

"I didn't raise you to be like this, little flame."

"You haven't raised me," I hiss back as shards of glass prick my cheek. "You just tortured me then left me alone." I lift my head to glare at my brother, his unruly, pale auburn locks falling into the ocean blue of his eyes.

He tilts his head, his hooded eyes glimmering with a deadly sheen that's always present. "But didn't you learn so much?"

I snort as I get my hands and knees under me, huffing with every shift. "Pain is a valuable teacher."

He crouches beside me, the alabaster skin of his hands flecked with scars. "I'm glad you remember that considering everything else you've seemed to forget in the last two years."

"I've forgotten nothing," I spit at him, tossing him a glare, but he pays my anger no mind. Instead he glances around the empty ballroom, devoid of a single soul, filled with only glittering glass from the shattered window.

"Really? Because I seem to remember teaching you to hide yourself better. Yet you still displayed your abilities in Warroll so recklessly." He looks at me, a curl to his thin lips. "And now look where you are; in the hands of the Order, right where I told you not to end up. I told you to find answers, little flame, but not here."

I shrug, slumping against the wall. "I did what I had to do to survive."

His hand darts out and then I can't breathe, his slender fingers wrapped around my throat as he drags me towards him. I grip his wrist, gasping for air, but find none as he squeezes harder. "You did what you had to do to save your friend. Love gets you killed, Az. Or in your case; captured and used by people who would see you as nothing more than their slave."

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