Poison: A Dragonian Series Novella (The Dragonian Series) (11 page)

“That’s a good sign.”

I smiled at that memory playing inside my mind.

I’d spoken to Emanuel many times using that communication spell, but he didn’t like it much and ignored me the last time, I appeared in front of him.

When I was finished, I found my mother’s journal and started reading from it.

She was such an amazing woman and I guessed her free spirit, speak your mind type of attitude drove my father so insane, that he couldn’t get enough of her.

Still she’d ended the last one with my father’s death, which didn’t make much sense as I knew he wasn’t dead. But to her, it felt as if someone had ripped the moon from the night and the sun would never shine again. She really loved him, even though they’d only shared a couple of amazing hours together.

This journal was about war. Becky and Sammy didn’t like it much and only asked me for updates. She used the potion we were learning about to change her appearance into a man.

Her father was sick and she only had one brother, aged three, so when her father had to fight, she went in his place. It reminded me so much of Mulan, the Chinese warrior who took her father’s place in war, because he was sick too.

She struggled in the beginning but she was extremely good with a bow and arrow and of course her two axes.

They were fighting with my royal grandfather, King Louis, against the dragon militia. He wanted to get revenge, lost a lot of men in the war, as he believed it was a dragon that had killed my father. Which still didn’t make much sense.

The group she was with were still new and they were called up to assist.

But they were ambushed along the way and in order to save lives, she distracted the enemy and they took her hostage.

I hadn’t read further as it was now three in the morning and I was dead tired.

The next evening, I opened the book and got lost in my mother’s words once again.

She was so scared as she knew she wasn’t going to be able to drink the potion that would keep her a man. They’d taken everything.

The men were cruel, she’d written that a couple of times, and the thought of the things they would do to her when they discovered that she was female, scared her.

It was horrible, they didn’t give her water or food.

A big guy kicked her in the stomach.

Reading her words somehow made me understand why the dragons weren’t accepted.

If they were riders, then they were a bad example of showing this world that they could live in harmony.

I understood why history didn’t like them, why they feared them and it was a huge eye opener.

Still something happened that changed my mother’s mind to fight with them.

Whether it was Tanya, I didn’t know but I was dying to find out how her story ended.

These journals helped a lot. I got to see a different side of my mother, the Catherine Squire side, and I wished so many nights that she was still alive. That she was waiting for me to be reunited with her.

I would give anything to just dream about her again, but I never did anymore. Ever since I learned who I was, she was gone.

It was so unfair.

The door opened and Becky and Sammy walked in. “Let me guess, you got lost in your mom’s diary again?”

“It’s seriously good Becky.”

“So, is it the war she fought with King Louie or the dragons?”

I smiled. “King Louie’s. You guys are seriously distracting me.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Ever since you found her journals we don’t see you much.”

“Becky, it’s all I have of her.”

“Still, we miss you.”

I scrunched up my nose and pulled my face. “Fine.” I put the journal down.

“Your father thinks I should get an apartment.” I looked at Sammy.

“What? But you’ll have a room when the manor is finished.”

“She does?” Becky asked.

“Of course she does. And I know about George almost spending every night with you during the summer, Becky. The nights I slept over at your house I heard him sneaking in and out.”

Becky blushed. “My mom would seriously kill me if she discovered him there. I wonder why Rosa didn’t hear it?”

“She sleeps with ear plugs,” Sammy said.

Becky and I just stared at her. “How on earth do you know that?”

Sammy giggled. “I heard her plopping them in at night.”

“Seriously, that far?”

I missed Cara again. Before, I could’ve easily heard that too, but my hearing had gone back to normal when she’d died and only enhanced a bit when I claimed Blake.

“Still,” Becky said. “It’s a bit creepy that your dad of all people would build a room for Elena, Sammy. She’s human, he’s a dragon.”

I got what she was saying. Blake wasn’t a saint and we’d heard him and Tabitha once during my first summer break, not that that would ever happen to me.

“My father thinks when he comes back that they should be close, maybe it will help.”

“Forcing him to dent. It’s not what I want Samantha.”

“He needs to, otherwise the beatings are never going to stop.”

“So how far along is the manor?” Becky asked.

“Mom said it’s almost finished. I still remember the old one, it was stunning.”

“You were like two,” Becky said.

“Oh believe me dragons remember how their eggs felt when their mom’s lay on them,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

“How do you know that?” Sammy asked with a smile.

“Urgh, it doesn’t matter.”

“My brother told you that?”

“Yes, the time he trained me to kill him.”

“You weren’t really going to do that?”

“Sammy, I’ve wanted to kill your brother for a long time. He has that demeanor every time I’m near him.”

The girls laughed as they got what I was saying, it was just a joke.

“Still, I doubt that you would’ve done that.”

HAT NIGHT I read a bit more about my mother. They kept on beating her, and she still looked like a man but the potion was slowly wearing off. She cried, but had started to form plans in her head of how she was going to kill them. She started sharpening a rock that was in her cell and was going to use it on the first one that thought of attacking her.

All sorts of plans formed and she was doing everything in her power to just get to her bow.

I dreamed of being kicked but it turned into something much worse. The kicks turned into a dragon getting beaten. At first it looked like Emanuel and with every beating King Helmut bestowed on him, it felt as if I took the blow. My back ached and I cried out. More lashes came and the more they slashed my back open, the more I screamed.

It carried on and on. I felt every single ounce of pain and then I finally woke up.

That one felt real.
My back still stung when my eyes opened and I found myself in my room.

The pain didn’t go away and I screamed again as another blow burned my back.

The light went on. “Elena, it’s just….” Becky’s voice sounded sleepy, “What the hell is happening to you?” She jumped out of her bed and rushed to mine.

I screamed again as another jolt of pain connected hard with my back. I looked down and saw my shirt soaked with blood.

What the hell is happening to me?

HE SLASHES DIDN’T stop. I didn’t understand any of this as there was absolutely nobody that was here beating me.

Was this a new ability that turned my dreams into a reality?

I would be so screwed.

Becky tried her best, she even used an incantation trying to shield me while Sammy went to get Constance.

A couple of minutes later, the door opened and Constance’s voice filled the room. Julia was at her side and Master Longwei somehow made it too.

“Make it stop, please.” I was beyond deranged and the pain was driving me insane.

She tried. Her hands glowed immediately but more slashes came.

“I can’t make it stop, what is this?” Her eyes were filled with concern as she looked at someone standing behind me. I figured it must be Master Longwei, he knew everything.

“Chong, please!” she yelled again.

“Sammy, phone your father now,” Master Longwei said.

“What, why? My dad is not going to get here in time.”

“Just phone him and tell him to stop beating your brother.”

“What?!” Everyone around me yelled, hell if I wasn’t in so much pain I would’ve shared in their shock.

Another blow. I couldn’t scream anymore. I was so tired.

I heard Sammy speaking to Isabel over the phone. “Tell Dad to stop, Mom. Elena is experiencing it too.” She didn’t give her mother a chance to speak. I didn’t hear her response but we all could hear how she yelled at Robert as Blake’s distant screams still filled the background.

“Stop, you are killing Elena!”

Okay a bit dramatic but it worked. It stopped and the last thing I heard was Sir Robert’s voice. “What do you mean, I’m killing Elena?”

“She is somehow connected to him in ways we…” Master Longwei’s voice trailed off while Constance was busy healing my wounds. Wounds that weren’t even mine, they belonged to Blake.

The last thing I felt was anger, anger at Sir Robert for what he’d just done and the next time I saw him, he would meet a different Elena.

woke up inside the infirmary. I was seriously getting so tired of this place.

Constance was sitting on a chair right next to my bed reading a magazine.

“I hope this isn’t going to turn into a new trend,” I said and she didn’t smile when our eyes met.

“It was a joke.”

“This is nothing to joke about Elena. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I don’t know how to stop it if it happens again.”

I started to laugh. “Oh, believe me I’m not planning on letting it happen again.”

“Elena.”

“Calm down, I’m not a psycho, but he is my dragon, Constance. And even though he doesn’t want to own up to his responsibilities, I do.”

“The papers are filled with this. It’s not a good thing as nobody can control him anymore without hurting you.”

“Then don’t.”

“Elena, he hasn’t dented yet. He still needs the beatings.”

“It’s going to take a couple of months before it happens again. I’m sure we can come up with something.”

“Any ideas? Because nothing I tried worked.”

“Calm down,” I said again. “So what do the tabloids say, cockroaches?”

“Just that this is something new. The Ancients want to have a meeting, see if they can’t come up with a plan.”

Well at least I will see Pappi again.

STAYED FOR THREE days inside the infirmary. Sir Robert was there a couple of times, but while I was sleeping, and Julia told me that Constance gave it to him.

She wasn’t going to be the only one that was going to give it to him.

Becky and Sammy were there with Dean and George the day I was released. Yes, it was like some sort of a prison as Constance wouldn’t let me go that easily now that I was a princess.

“Just press this button, Becky. It’s all you have to do.”

“I promise. It’s Elena we are talking about. I’m sure her healing ability will kick in.”

“It won’t, not without his consent,” George said.

That part sucked so much. When Cara was still alive I didn’t need his stupid consent.

“Still, it’s hers.” Becky looked at him with knitted eyebrows.

“It doesn’t work that way, you of all people should know that.”

“Stupid dent,” Becky said.

“Hey, chill babes, we’re dents, and Elena will get there too.”

“Yes, but not without a lot of threatening.”

George smiled at a memory.

“Shut up.” Becky turned around and helped me.

“What was all that about?”

“Nothing for you to know about,” she said and picked up my bag with all my clothes she’d brought the first day I was out.

A knock came at the door and Master Longwei smiled, but one that was filled with concern.

“Seriously, I’ll be fine.”

“Sir Robert said that he didn’t know.”

I huffed and jumped off the bed. “I’ll be fine,” I said again and walked out.

“Elena, we need to speak about this, find a way to block you from it.”

“Oh, I know exactly what to do,” I said when I skidded off the stairs with Sammy and Becky right in front of me.

“You do? Then tell me.”

“Elena,” I heard Sir Robert’s voice. I’d tried to see if Blake was with him, but again there was no sign of the idiot.
When was this going to stop?

“I’m so sorr…”

Anger immediately returned. “If you ever lay a hand on him again, so help me. I will make  you wish you were never born. I don’t care if you were my father’s dragon or not. I will beat you silly.”

“We will find a way to block the—”

“No! There is not going to be a next time. Do I make myself clear? He is my dragon and it’s my responsibility not yours.”

“Elena, he hasn’t dented yet. He needs it,” Sir Robert said through gritted teeth.

“To what, stay good? Then I will deal with him, not you. If you ever lay a single finger on him in anger again, so help me Robert, you will regret it.” I didn’t care about the ‘sir’ anymore. He didn’t deserve to be called ‘sir’ at the moment.

I was beyond mad.

“You don’t know what you are saying.”

“Don’t push me, I mean it. Blake’s beating days are over and that is final.”

I didn’t wait for his reply and marched into the academy.

My friends were missing and I turned around and saw them with gaped mouths still close to the infirmary. How did I get so fast?

I walked up the stairs. I was beyond livid.

I fell on my bed and flinched as my back still hurt slightly. That was another thing Constance feared. Blake’s scars weren’t going to go away. I guess his needed to heal first before mine would finally disappear.

I couldn’t believe I’d just done that. It felt as if my evil twin was making her appearance again but I didn’t care. I needed her, to be honest, to speak to Sir Robert like that and to make myself clear about how I really felt about the beatings and about Blake.

Why does he still treat me like I’m the enemy?

The door opened and Sammy and Becky walked slowly into the room.

Becky looked around. “Nothing smashed, that’s a good sign.”

I started to laugh which was followed by Becky’s but Sammy looked bewildered.

“Relax, Sammy. She’s fine.”

“Nobody has ever spoken to my father like that before. Well they treat him like shit, but you? I thought the Night Villain was going to appear.”

“It was needed,” I said simply and they just stared at me with concern again.

“You do know that if he doesn’t get the beatings, Elena…”

“No, Becky. I can’t stand those stupid beatings. He is claimed, he can’t turn dark anymore.”

“Elena you don’t know that,” Sammy said.

I got what it was they were saying and it hit me hard, right in the gut.

“I don’t know if I will be able to handle that again,” I spoke softly.

“Then let the Ancients help find a way to block it, until he dents, Elena. Blake is a jerk, we all know that, but he is stubborn too. If he doesn’t dent soon, he will need a beating again.”

“I’ll think about it, okay. Maybe he will feel sorry about it in the next couple of days and he will stop doing fucked up shit.”

“I doubt that is how it works, but okay. It’s your dragon and who are we to argue with a princess?”

“Stop that.” I threw a pillow at her and she laughed.

They both came to sit on my bed.

“I have to admit, you scared the living shit out of me.”

I blew out a gush of air. “This is so messed up. You guys ever experienced anything like this in Paegeia before?”

They shook their heads.

“He hasn’t even dented yet. I know that saying is seriously annoying you big time, but when he is ready, we are going to see big things from the two of you.”

I huffed. “He’ll never be ready, Sammy. I never wanted to claim him, but my father made me.”

“You really saw him?”

I nodded.

“You never told us about it, so spill. What was it like? Cheng said you were really dark.”