Page 120 of Realm of Wind and Vines
I shove my magic towards the tiny spark of pain in her chest.She has been kneeling on a stone floor for the past forty minutes, so I knew that she would at least be feeling a little pain. Latching on to that violet spark, I increase it in a rapid burst.
She screams in pain.
Her parents whip their heads around to stare at her in shock and panic before turning desperate eyes on me. They don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but they can see my eyes glowing, so they know that I’m doingsomething.
“Please, stop!” Papa Osteria yells at me.
I increase the strength of my magic again. Even though there is no pleasure this time, since I didn’t create the pain from nothing, satisfaction still courses through me as I watch the blond dragon shifter bow forward and scream in pain again.
“Why are you doing this?” her mother cries.
I keep the pain steady, making my victim gasp and bow forward until she is pressing her forehead against the floor. “Because you killed my parents.”
Jerking upright, the sister suddenly locks furious green eyes on me. Her blond ponytail swishes through the air from the sharp movement and slaps against her back. Anger crackles across her whole face, pushing out the pain for a moment.
“I haven’t killed anyone!” she growls.
“Yes, you have,” I reply, my voice hard and merciless. Fury roars inside me. “Your entire clan has.”
“My clan? What are you talking about?”
“Jessina killed my parents.”
“I’m not Jessina!”
“You’re a part of her clan. Which means that you are just as guilty as she is.”
“No!” she screams at me, her voice splitting the air like the crack of thunder. “I haven’t done anything. Why are you hurtingme? I’ve never even seen you before.Ihaven’t done anything!”
I stagger back as a sudden realization hits me like a gut punch. Sucking in a sharp breath, I stumble backwards and hit the wallon the other side of the hallway. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the chest by a horse.
Because suddenly, I don’t see a blond dragon shifter glaring back at me with furious green eyes.
I see a silver-haired fae with eyes that are a mix of turquoise and lavender.
My eyes.
Me.
I seeme.
I see myself, screaming at Draven with anger and outrage in my eyes. Screaming in frustration and hurt and utter desperation that what they’re doing isn’t fair. That I never enslaved any dragon shifters. That I am being punished for a crime that I didn’t even commit.
Bane and Jessina’s voices echo inside my skull.
It’s your turn to live in poverty. It’s your turn to struggle. It’s your turn to be slaves.
You need to be punished for what your ancestors did.
You deserve everything you got.
Their voices morph into my own.
This is where he belongs. Cowering on his knees before me. This is where they all belong.
He deserved it. It’s high time that the Silver Clan feels what the rest of us have been forced to endure under their rule.This is how it’s supposed to be. Them, on their knees, before us. Before me. It’s their turn to be afraid. It’s their turn to kneel and bow and grovel. It’s their turn to feel what it’s like to be truly powerless.
I want to slit his mother’s throat, just so that he can feel what I felt when Jessina killedmymother.
