Page 36 of The Eye of the Fifth
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Dracyg Dominion, Zarynth.
Gedeon.
The hour was late, and Gedeon was enjoying some time alone in the library, with nothing but the crackling fire for company, and the star-crossed lovers on the pages he was reading. It did not do to read the hundreds of recorded histories ofthisworld, for he lived that life daily. He breathed it. It was far better to dive into a fabricated world far from his own, to escape for just a few hours in his imagination, getting lost in someone else’s creation, someone else’s story.
A very different form of magic, yet equally as powerful.
‘It is not your job to reunite fledglings with their parents,’ Sekun’s voice drawled from the open doorway, interrupting his peace.
Without even bothering to look up at his brother, Gedeon flicked over a page and said in a bored voice, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Uninvited, Sekun stalked into the room and surveyed the shelves stacked with old books, though Gedeon knew he was not really looking. ‘So you have not been badgering my soldiers on the whereabouts of a certain man by the name of Ephram Opherion?’ he asked with an obvious forced indifference.
‘I have not beenbadgeringanyone,’ Gedeon replied lazily. ‘Nor does the matter concern you in the slightest.’
‘It concerns me if my soldiers are disrupted by incessant questioning from you,’ Sekun snapped, his previous mask of unconcern completely slipping.
‘I don’t see why it matters,’ Gedeon said. ‘I didn’t find the man.’
‘Nor will you. I killed him.’
Sekun was carefully observing his reaction. Gedeon finally looked up to meet his brother’s gaze. He deliberately closed the book in his hands. ‘I imagine he must have done something terrible to warrant such drastic action?’
Blue eyes so like their mother’s flashed with smugness. ‘When one apple rots, so does the rest of the fruit bowl. It was a necessary precaution.’
Gedeon knew better. Whether Ephram Opherion had shown signs of rebelling or not, his death was nothing more than a deplorable attempt to undermine him. Amala’s hopeful face swam unwanted in his mind. ‘And how goes that fruit bowl now? Has the…threatbeen eliminated?’
‘Do not mock me,’ Sekun thundered in what Gedeon could only assume was supposed to be a dangerous voice. He pointed an accusatory finger at him. ‘You are training a generation of lethal warriors. Not running an orphanage.’
‘My process for my fledgling's progression is, once again, none of your concern.’ Gedeon stood, taking the book with him and replacing it on the shelf behind his brother.
‘Prince of Fire,’ Sekun sneered, shaking his head. ‘You are soft-hearted and weak. It will be your doom if you do not learn how to snuff it out.’
‘Weakness…’ Gedeon began, diverting his concentration inwards to the place his soul continuously burned. ‘…is subjective.’
With a single thought, he plunged the library into complete darkness
Seconds later, at Gedeon’s will, the flames that had guttered in the torches and fireplaces blazed and crackled back into existence. Sekun’s nostrils flared, and Gedeon took great pleasure in the all-consuming jealousy now simmering in his brother’s eyes. ‘A dragon’s wisdom is not weakness, Sekun,’ he said, leaning into anarrogance that only arose where Sekun was involved. ‘You would do well to remember that.’
‘You are not a dragon.’
Gedeon took a step closer. ‘I am more dragon than you will ever be. Call me soft-hearted and weak all you like, but that truth will out.’
‘Do not forget, brother… without your flames and darkness to hide behind, you arenothing.’ He sidestepped around him and headed for the door.
As far as Gedeon could remember, Sekun had never treated him with any sort of kindness or brotherly affection, but always with a deep animosity borne from their mother’s inclination to favour her second son, just for the extraordinary power he possessed. Gedeon’s own contempt for Sekun was based on nothing more than his brother’s ancient and obvious hatred of him. The grudge was festering with neglect.
Those long, hostile years of feuding had made him weary.
‘Sekun,’ Gedeon called after him, struck by a sudden remorse. ‘Mother has given us a task. One that we must work together to complete. I do not wish to be your enemy. I have never wished that.’
Sekun paused in the threshold. ‘You have been my enemy from the second you were born. No amount of combined duty will change that.’
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For the first time in quite a while, Sekun had managed to crawl under Gedeon’s skin. It was not just his spiteful words or his mere presence that had done it, but the unfortunate situation his brother had put him in, in killing Ephram Opherion.
