Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) (31 page)

Eris continued, knowing that as long as Alex was there, I wouldn't try to escape him. "Yet another very important piece of information that your father never told you. Here, allow me a moment to educate you." He clasped his hands before him, his rings glimmering in the fading light. "Your mother had a gift—"

"My father already told me that," I spat. "She had a gift with sensing others."

"That is only a fraction of it, dear niece," he continued. "Her gift lay with Gaia, as did every Pandor before her. But the gift of the Pandors goes beyond sensing. They were able to draw on Gaia's strength in a way no other human could, granting their magical ability an advantage that could overcome even the greatest of mages. Unfortunately, the knowledge of that particular…advantage was lost, and none of them had the desire to learn of it. Except for your mother, when she became pregnant with
you
."

I found myself listening to his every word, even though I tried not to.

"She knew something was different about you," he continued. "Call it the insight lent to her by being a Pandor, but she was afraid for you. Afraid that when you were born, your powers would manifest themselves in a way that this world hadn't seen in centuries, and it would put you in danger of those who might try to use you—"

"Like you?" I glared at him while still clutching Alex's cold and clammy hand. I checked his pulse again; it was still faint, but there.

Eris continued as if I hadn't spoken. "While you were in the womb, she had a magical block put upon you. Something that would hide your magic and suppress any special abilities you may have—something that would block the inherited knowledge of her predecessors."

I shook my head. During the games, a pykan had told me that the king had placed a block on my magic because I was a threat. "No, you're wrong. The king blocked my magic—"

"The king had nothing to do with it," he cut me off. "If anything, he was furious when he found out you really had no magical ability whatsoever."

"But I did have magic…when I first entered this world—"

"Your entry into this world made the barriers that had been placed around you unstable, but it wasn't difficult to strengthen them once you returned to the castle. But it wasn't done by your grandfather. Oh, no. Aurora Pandor had been his
investment
." He said this last word with a bite that surprised me. "And he had expected her daughter, an heir to the crown, would be malleable and easily influenced, while still possessing the power of the Pandors, and therefore someone he could use.

"Your mother realized this and feared for you, and had the block instilled until you were old enough to be able to protect yourself. However, things turned out rather…differently." Eris paused here, fury simmering in his eyes. "You've been surprisingly difficult to trace, and I admit that I was lucky to find you at your home on Earth. I'd been surprised that Aurora could produce such a strong magical binding, but then I finally realized that she hadn't procured the binding. It had been put in place by Ambrose, and once you returned to the castle, he restored your bindings, and your magic has been blocked ever since."

Ambrose. I'd never trusted him, but apparently my mom had. If Eris was telling the truth. "The headmaster of the Mages Guild?" I asked, unable to hide my surprise. Alex's hand shifted in mine, and I squeezed it harder.

"The very same," Eris said. "Though I've tried, ah, persuading him to lift it, he resists. However, I do believe I've found the solution without his aid."

I wondered why Eris had bothered telling me all of this, but then realized it was because he was certain of his victory.

"You stand there accusing the king of using me for his purpose, but you're doing the exact same thing," I snapped.

"There is no reason to be angry with me, dear niece." His movements were so easy, so friendly.

"I am not angry with you; I hate you," I said. "And quit calling me your damn niece."

He looked amused. "Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, you and I are blood."

My hands clenched into fists. "That means nothing."

"On the contrary, it means a great deal. It is, perhaps, the single great gift of being a Regius. We may not possess the proper inheritance to the throne, yet we've been given the means of attaining it."

"You already
were
a prince! But you threw it all away like some spoiled child because it wasn't enough for you. Because you were jealous of the man my father was." A shadow crossed over his face, and I knew that I had struck a nerve. "That's it, isn't it? Everyone loved you, but my father was better and you couldn't stand to be in his shadow. You couldn't stand to be
second
."

Eris vanished in a cloud of black and materialized right before me, grabbing me by the throat and jerking me to my feet with unnatural strength. I coughed and choked and clawed at his grip to no avail, while his cold blue eyes bore into mine. His expression was full of pure hatred. "Don't talk to
me
of the past." Eris's voice was as cold as death. Then he released my throat and threw me away from him. I rammed into the wall behind Alex and slid to the ground. My body ached and my throat throbbed as I coughed, crawling upon all fours, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked right out of me.

"I'm going to tell you a little story." Eris's eyes pinned me in place.

Before Eris said another word, I knew I didn't want to hear what he was going to say. I knew it would change the way I saw the world forever, and I wasn't sure I wanted to live with a new perspective. The reasons I knew this, I'll never truly understand. Perhaps it was a truth buried deep inside of me, like he'd alluded to. Or perhaps it was some intuition of mine that I'd chosen to keep suppressed. Whatever it was, when his words came, I found that I could no longer hide from that truth. That truth would forever chase me until I faced it, and it would be nipping at my heels all along the way.

"The great and magnanimous King Darius," Eris continued in a large and sweeping tone. "How quickly the world forgot all the men and women slaughtered by his supreme command. How quickly the world forgot the cities destroyed, people and livestock burnt alive, their villages reduced to ash. Fire is his strength and he used it then to conquer. No one would stand against him, and those who tried he left their ashes as an example. The people of Gaia called
him
the dragon lord. The heir of Draconi, returned at last." He said this last bit in mockery.

I wanted him to stop. I didn't want to hear any more because I was afraid. It was so much easier to make decisions when the world was black and white, but he was painting my world all in gray.

"I was a boy when the home of the Pandors burnt to the ground," Eris continued. "They would not bow to this usurper. You see, having reign over mainland simply was not enough for him. I was a boy when your mother was brought over the Black Sea in a slave ship. Have you ever seen one of our slave ships,
dear niece
?"

I crawled my way back to Alex.

"Allow me to enlighten you," Eris continued. "Those citizens not fortunate enough to be murdered at the hands of your grandfather were gathered like cattle and crammed into the ships' bellies. The journey itself took almost one month, though King Darius can hardly account for that. There was simply no wind, and there was no one to call upon it back then." Here he paused.

Once I reached Alex, I pressed my ear to his chest. His heart was beating, but it was faint.

"The prisoners were packed so tightly," Eris continued, "that they were in each others' laps. Hands and ankles bound with ropes, tied to support beams. In the ever-rocking motion of the boat, in dark quarters, there was nowhere for refuse but the floor. Inches deep in sewage, and when they grew ill—which you can imagine they did—their sickness would mix with all other bodily fluids. The smell was deadly, I assure you. Some of the crew were ordered to carve extra holes in the hull for drainage, but even they were often clogged with excrement."

"That's enough…I don't want to hear any more," I said.

"Your mother was down there with her people." His voice was a whisper. "Do you know what crew members did to women when they grew bored at sea?" He paused—there was so much anger in his voice. "Do you?"

It was at this point in his story that I looked up from Alex. I wanted to believe Eris was lying, but looking at him, I knew that he wasn't. He was many terrible,
terrible
things, but he was not lying. Not about this.

When Eris continued, he spoke through clenched teeth. "No, I don't suppose anyone has ever told you
that
story. About how your mother was bruised and dying when Alaric first saw her. She had suffered great internal bleeding."

"Stop it!" I screamed. "I don't want to hear any more!" I shut my eyes, trying to mute the words, but they would not be silenced.

"One of the key components to ruling is understanding that there are two sides, Daria Pandor Regius. There are
always
two. To act on only one is short-sighted; the second will never hesitate to expose you, and you will be running from it for the rest of your life."

My next breath trembled. "King Darius may have done wrong in the past, but it is
his
wrong. Not mine. I will not help you rectify
his
wrongs with more evil."

"Evil?" He frowned. "How is justice evil? Does he not deserve to pay for what he has done?" And then he waved his hand at the air. "I do not need to discuss my reasoning with you. Suffice it to say that you don't have much choice in the matter." He looked pointedly at Alex. "I need your help and you need your Aegis's life. You would make out quite well in this arrangement. I would ensure that you held on to your title and in that, you might find you have more power than you currently hold. You can make this easy, or very painful. It is your choice."

Choice.

All I'd ever wanted was the freedom to choose, and ever since I'd taken that freedom, I'd hated almost every choice I'd had to make. Alex suddenly coughed, then gasped my name. It was a voice of clarity, and it gave me a sudden wisp of courage. Very slowly, I stood tall, facing Eris directly, my fists at my sides. "I will not help you."

Eris studied me blankly, thin lips turned down. "I will only offer this choice once."

"This isn't
choice
," I spat. "You are threatening to destroy everything I hold dear if I don't do exactly what you want. You abhor your father's tyranny, yet you are no better. Power is never enough for you—this entire world would never be enough for you because you hope to use it to hide the pathetic and weak man inside. All the power in the world won't make you half the man my father was, and I hope the memory of his greatness haunts you for the rest of your life. You aren't man enough to earn respect like my father did, so instead you resort to bullying people into giving it. And for that I say you're a coward, just like King Darius."

Eris's control flickered. Flashes of the monster inside broke through, distorting his face in a way that was horrifying and demonic. Then he extended his arms and a blast of hot air seared through space, landing on Alex. Alex cried out, his body jerking and spasming on the ground, and pain exploded in my body, from him.

I dropped beside Alex. "Stop it!" I yelled. "Leave him alone! He's done nothing…"

Alex had curled in a ball, heaving. He grabbed my ankle weakly, gasping. "Daria…don't…"

His body jerked back again, much more violently, and this time he couldn't hold back the scream.

"Stop! Please, stop it!" I cried, tears streaming freely down my face as I was acutely aware of the life draining from Alex's body. "You're killing him!"

But Eris was not stopping. He was going to stand there and drain every ounce of life from Alex if that was what it took to convince me. Oh, I could not take this anymore! "Fine!" I screamed. "I'll come…just stop…" I collapsed beside Alex, sobbing. "Please…stop…" Alex's eyes were shut, his skin ashen, and I might have thought him dead if it wasn't for his faint heartbeat.

But Eris had stopped.

I hated him. I hated him with a passion that trumped any emotion I'd ever felt in all my life. Eris had won this day. Eris had forced me into his hands against my will by harming the man I loved more than anything. But so help me with Gaia as my witness, I would wait patiently until the time was right, and then I would kill him.

"It is time." Eris's tone was cold.

"Take the poison out of his body," I demanded, my hand still on Alex's deathly cold forehead.

"His life will be in the hands of Gesh's healers, but he will not die," Eris replied flatly.

"Then send him back now so he can get help!"

"You do not command me." Eris's expression was like stone. "I can be merciful, dear niece, and I hope that in time you will understand and value my discretion."

I bit back my cutting remarks. I bit back my hatred and disdain. Today wasn't the day, but my day would come. It would come with the fury of Hell behind it.

I bent over and kissed Alex lightly on the lips. They were cold, so cold. "Alex, I'm…" I touched his hair. "I'm so, so sorry," I whispered. "I love you."

"Daria." Eris's impatience was acutely felt.

I stood, my knees shaking beneath me, and with a shallow breath I dragged my legs forward. I couldn't believe I'd been so easily reduced to this—doing exactly what I had been fighting so hard to avoid. I was walking away from everything that mattered, everyone I loved, and everything I had been fighting for. I was betraying myself. But I suddenly understood my father's sacrifice. What I wouldn't do to save Alex's life.

"Daria, get down!"

It was sometime during my unusually slow fall to the ground that the voice registered as Vera's. Shocked, I glanced back, and there she was, standing there with a bow in her hands. The arrow was drawn, her eyes narrowed down the shaft—at Eris. With a quick snap, she released. Eris's eyes widened just before he evaporated into a column of smoke, and the arrow sank with a
snick
into a wall of vines right behind where he'd been standing.