❀❀❀
“WHAT happened...?”
In a blink, the two of us were now standing in a different room altogether, with Kirion’s arms still wrapped around me. Patricia and the others were nowhere to be seen.
This room was pitch-dark, but I could make out the silhouettes of tall shelves all around us, reminiscent of a library. These shelves held more than books, however; I spotted documents, boxes, rusty swords and dusty shields, as well as a few tools whose purpose I couldn’t begin to guess.
Then I realized Kirion and I were concealed between two shelves. Snapping back to my senses, I pushed against him. “Let go of me!”
With a grin, he stepped back slightly.
“Where are we? What have you done?” I demanded.
“I cast a teleportation spell and moved us to the castle’s reference room, where no one ever visits.” He slid a hand in his pocket. “Truth be told, I would’ve liked to go a lot farther, but this was the best I could do with an extra traveler and no magic circle to aid me. Still, they say the closer you are to something, the harder it is to see it. So who knows, maybe they won’t find us. I bet they’re all out searching the town by now...your Bondmate included.”
“...Are you referring to Ray?”
“Aha. You knew, didn’t you? Deep down, you knew he was your real Bondmate.”
“I don’t ‘know’ anything. I’m not a Dragonkin, so I can’t say for sure.”
With an air of nonchalance, I turned and started for the door, but Kirion pulled me back and pushed me against the shelf. He leaned in close.
“What’s the rush? There are knights crawling all over the castle right now. Let’s sit tight for a bit until my mana can recharge. Then we’ll teleport in small bursts.”
“I’m not just going to stand here and let you kidnap me!”
Frankly, I was relieved to hear that we were still in Vaxwald Castle. I didn’t know where the reference room was located, but surely if I ran down the hall, I’d find someone eventually.
Unfortunately, Kirion had no intention of letting me escape.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?” he taunted, placing both of his hands against the shelf on either side of my face to box me in.
And then, I realized—his once-dark eyes were now a brilliant shade of crimson.
“You were just using Sari as your attack dog, weren’t you?” I hissed, hoping to conceal my fear.
“I’d hate to think of what would happen if the public found out a Vaxwald servant attacked the Princess of Myulan. What a scandal! Why, the whole wedding might get called off!” Kirion commented casually. He took my bandaged left hand and peered down at the bloodstain. “You poor thing... It’s plain to see you’re the real victim here, and yet bodily harm done to a commoner is considered a mere pittance compared to attempted assault on a member of the royal family. Protecting her stupid hair was only ever going to be a waste of your time.”
“Not when the alternative was to stand by and watch her lose something she cares about,” I growled back through clenched teeth. The memory of Patricia’s stunned expression made my heart ache. Perhaps some people would shrug their shoulders and say, “So what? It’s hair! It’ll grow back!” but not me. To me, that was akin to saying “So what if you got hurt? It’ll heal!”
“Perfect.” As I grimaced bitterly, Kirion gazed at me with a rapturous smile on his face. “This is precisely the reaction I wanted. This is why I ordered Sari to strike not the skin, but the hair. Because I knew it would hurt you most.”
“What are you after? Is it Patricia, or is it me?”
“Both. At first my target was the Princess—more specifically, the wedding. I wanted to get it called off.”
“You bought into those false rumors about her, didn’t you?” I asked, my tone accusatory.
He laughed. “You really think I’m that stupid? I wouldn’t let mere idle gossip sway my opinion of someone.” He turned his bewitching scarlet eyes on me. “And it hurts my feelings that you’d conflate me with the average simpleton. I mean, who do you think spread those rumors in the first place?”
“You didn’t...!”
“Oh, I did. I even leaked information to the press. But as it turns out, word of mouth spreads much, much faster! Piece of cake, really.”
“Why would you do that...?”
“Because Kazarth hired me to stop the wedding at any cost.”
Considering Kazarth’s relatively small size and proximity to Vaxwald and Myulan, I could see how it might interpret a political marriage between the two as a threat. I recalled a comment Ray had made during the incident with the newspaper seller: Prince Dario thinks there’s a chance it’s all a Kazarth psyop. Evidently His Highness was right on the money.
I looked at Kirion. “What relationship do you have with the nation of Kazarth? Does this mean you’re not a Dragonkin after all?”
“I have no particular attachment to Kazarth. I’m not one of them; I just thought the gig sounded fun, so I agreed to it. And no, I’m not a Dragonkin. Don’t associate me with those monsters, if you please.”
“Wait, but... then how did you manage to transform into a dragon?”
“With magic, of course. Good thing you didn’t ask me to fly, though, or else you would’ve blown my cover.” He clutched my injured hand like he was taking it hostage. “I’m a Shadowkin, actually. You can tell by my red eyes.”
For Flowerfolk, countless generations of mating with humans had bred the fairy genes right out of us until we looked mostly human, with the exception of our flower magic and sensitivity to extreme temperatures. We had lost the ability to fly and our wings. But the Shadowkin tribe had no past history of mating with humans that I knew of, and so their demonic heritage was likely still very much intact. They were humanoid in appearance, but possessed long lifespans and a far greater capacity for mana than any Flowerfolk or Dragonkin. Because of this, they could wield exceptionally powerful magic spells.
They were few in number, but they had a great love of conflict, and their mere presence inspired fear and chaos wherever they went. Not exactly the sort of people I was eager to spend my time with, if I had a say.
“That said,” Kirion continued, “it’d be a piece of cake for any Shadowkin to simply change their eye color with magic, like so.” For a moment his irises darkened, but before I could process it, they were scarlet once more. “Some Shadowkin like to start riots or commit heinous crimes for attention. Some prefer to stand on the front lines of battle. Some like to kill. But me? I’m a little different. I like to take advantage of weak or sad people and make them my puppets so I can control them from behind the scenes. Guide them down the wrong path. Especially when I’m trying to pull off something this big.”
“...And that’s why you deceived Sari?”
“I needed someone in close proximity to the Princess, and she was the most volatile one. Torpan was a viable second choice. An old spinster pushing fifty with no living family members—she may seem tough, but she’s empty inside. Ideal for my purposes, really. But Sari was in a better position.”
Torpan had really seemed to trust Kirion, but she’d merely fallen under his spell. Still, at the end of the day, she was lucky to have escaped Kirion’s focus. If she’d fallen for him completely, she might’ve inadvertently thrown her whole life away, just as Sari had.
“The easiest people to manipulate are those dissatisfied with the status quo. The idealists. But with a little effort, we Shadowkin can take control of just about anyone. We excel at deception. Remember that.”
Kirion donned a boyish grin. He was both innocent and twisted, honest and mysterious at the same time. On top of that, he had powerful charisma that could easily mislead people, as well as a distinct lack of sympathy for those who succumbed.
A chill ran down my spine. Perhaps I’d only escaped a similar fate because I was actively wary of him. If I didn’t have a passion in life... if I didn’t have a job or an income... if I didn’t have my family... if I didn’t have someone like Ray looking out for me... who knows what might have happened then.
“We understand the weakness in people’s hearts. But you? You were nigh impossible,” he mused, brushing his fingers against my hair. “You’re the sort of person who could never steal or cheat, even if you knew no one else was around. Honest to a fault, in other words. Day in and day out, you put in a great deal of effort for which you are generally rewarded, but even if you aren’t, you don’t hold it against anyone. You left me nothing to work with.”
“Are you seriously complaining that I’m a good person?”
“But on the other hand, nothing feels more satisfying than getting a goody-goody like you to turn to the shadows. By comparison, manipulating Sari is hardly an achievement. I wanted you to give your heart to me... grow jealous over the smallest trifles... lose interest in your work... and eventually fall from grace.”
“Sounds like you should get a new hobby. Why approach me, anyway? Did you get bored working on your plan to destroy the engagement from behind the scenes?” I asked with a frown. Did he see us all as toys to be played with?