Page 84 of Destined Dawn
“No,” I say, the anger growing in my belly, hot and rampant. “It’s not like that at all.”
“No, of course not. The lies ensure the rich and powerful remain that way.”
I think of the chancellor, of Christopher Kennedy, of Tristan and Spencer, of Summer fucking Clutton-Brock. I think of my stupid room at the academy. I think of all the laughter and ridicule I endured just because I was poorer than them. I think of my life with my aunt, scraping to make ends meet.
The anger rages through my veins and I can’t control it. It’s hot and burning and if I don’t let it go, it’s going to burn me alive. In desperation, I fling it against the nearest wall, my magic exploding against one of the paintings. It bursts into flames, as if the dragon has come alive inside the picture, the fire curling across the canvas, and then the heavy picture crashes to the floor.
Pip whimpers, and buries his face in my lap.
The man seated next to me doesn’t bat a single eyelash though. He sits there watching the fire eat away at the painting.
“You see the injustice and you want to change it, don’t you?”
“I th-think,” I stutter. “I think that’s my destiny.” That is what the prophecy must mean. I am the one, along with my five mates, destined to change things.
My shoulders slump, the enormity of that realization too heavy to bear.
“Let me show you,” he says. “Let me show you how things can be.”
30
Stone
Azlan is sittingat the table fiddling with the radio Trent gave us while we wait for Rhianna to return. He presses buttons, turns knobs and occasionally a hiss of static pierces the air.
“Can you stop doing that?” I snap from where I’m pacing in front of the windows.
I’m irritable as fuck. I don’t like Rhi being away from us. Especially in a land full of people we’ve been fighting for the last several decades. Especially with a father rumored to be a vicious, dark, evil fuck. I scrub my hand through my beard. Why the hell did we let her go off on her own?
Azlan looks up at me. “I’m worried about Ellie.”
“And how is molesting that radio going to help with that?”
“If I can reach Winnie, maybe she can tell me what’sgoing on with my sister.” His eyes are full of concern and I remember the words Kennedy sneered at us only yesterday.
I let out a puff of air, and lay my hand on my friend’s shoulder, massaging the taut muscle.
“Ellie will be okay. Your father may be a jerk-wad but he loves your sister and he won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
“My father’s under my uncle’s control. He’s complicit with him.”
“It doesn’t mean he’ll let him hurt Ellie.”
Azlan looks unconvinced, but he lowers the radio anyway.
“Rhi’s been a long time,” I mutter.
“They’ve got a lot to talk about,” Tristan says, from the other side of the table.
“Should we go find her?” Azlan asks.
I’m beginning to nod my head, when there is a smart rap on the door.
Spencer sprints that way and flings it open.
Rhi stands in the doorway along with the Black Prince, tall and elegant in another embroidered cloak. It’s hard to reconcile this man with the one we were told about as kids – the dangerous, evil villain who would murder us all in our beds. The man who stands beside Rhi is handsome and oozes charm. He looks more like a hero than a villain.
“I am taking the princess on a tour of the city,” he announces. “I invite you to join us. I would be honored if you would.”
