Chapter 60: _ Don’t Mess With No-One

"Remus, sit!" Olda commanded, swatting my hip with her wooden spoon as I walked past. "You look like you’re inspecting soldiers for execution. Eat your food before it gets cold!"

"Thank you, Olda," I said, snapping out of my dark thoughts and taking my seat at the head of the table.

Breakfast was its usual chaotic spectacle. Veyra was talking with her mouth half-full, loudly complaining about her new elemental theory teacher and dissecting the appalling fashion choices of various noble girls at the ball.

"I mean, did you see Lady Cassia’s dress?" Veyra scoffed, stabbing a piece of fruit. "Yellow silks? With her skin tone? She looked like an oversized lemon sitting on a velvet couch."

Vaela interjected, her eyes flicking to me as she delicately poured herself tea, "Speaking of appalling, Olda, you should have seen the shameless, markless girl who dared to break rank during our procession last night. She practically threw herself into Remus’s path! Absolute trench trash."

My grip on my fork tightened so hard the silver tines bent slightly under my thumb.

"Oh, hush," Olda snapped at Vaela, setting down a basket of fresh bread. "The girl tripped. I heard the footmen talking. Someone pushed her. Stop being so bitter, Vaela, it ruins your digestion."

"She didn’t trip, she was hunting for a noble sponsor!" Vaela hissed back.

That’s it... I’ve had enough.

I stood abruptly from the table before my temper could ignite the room. "I have business to attend to before the first bell."

Veyra blinked in surprise. "Wait! Now? But we ride Vaelor together! You’re supposed to drop us off at the Eastern Quad!"

"Ride with the royal carriage today," I replied, tossing my linen napkin onto the table.

"Remus, no!" Vaela stood up. "You can’t just do that. It’s our ritual, every day we–"

"Let him be, ladies," Olda interrupted, stepping between Vaela and the door. "Your brother is the Crown Prince and a third-year elite. He has duties. Sit down and finish your breakfast, or I’ll have the guards drag the carriage around front right now."

Vaela glared at Olda, but the old wardmother didn’t budge an inch. I gave Olda a subtle, grateful nod, and strode out toward the landing bay.

The morning air was crisp and biting as I stepped onto the stone platform. Vaelor was already awake, perched on the edge of the balustrade, tearing through a carcass.

’You’re early,’ my dragon rumbled into my mind, his gold eyes slitting down at me. ’And your sisters aren’t screaming. A rare miracle.’

I thought back, vaulting cleanly onto his leather saddle and securing the reins. ’I dropped them with Olda. Take us up.’

With a huge leap that sent loose stones skittering off the edge, Vaelor unfurled his giant wings and slammed them downward, launching us into the sky. The wind roared in my ears, whipping my loose silver hair wild behind me.

I looked down at the sprawling fortress of Last Bastion. The Dragon Academy was already buzzing with thousands of students marching toward the training grounds and lecture halls like miniature ants.

My crimson eyes narrowed into lethal slits.

My mission started today.

Somewhere in that sea of highborn Dragon students was the girl in the bright blue gown—the one who had used her telekinesis to subtly trip Elira and send her tumbling down.

Finding a single noble girl among thousands in the Dragon Quadrant might have been impossible for anyone else. But for me? With my empathetic vision and a dragon that could smell court hypocrisy from a mile away, it was only a matter of time.

They thought Elira was a markless, helpless trench-rat they could torment for their own petty amusement.

They were about to learn that touching her meant pulling the tail of a sleeping dragon. And I was going to make sure her first lesson was one she’d remember for the rest of her miserable life.

.

It took me less than thirty minutes to track her down.

She stood near the fountain in the central quad, encircled by a flock of laugh-giggling noble girls. A second-year, judging from the crest on her uniform that I was able to view thanks to my Draconic sight.

"Her name is Lady Lyra. Daughter of Baron Vane," Vaelor rumbled into my mind, his gold eyes slitting as he circled lazily above the thermal vents.

"Perfect," I murmured, leaning over his saddle.

She was at the bottom edge of true nobility, and yet, she acted like she was more important than another shifter because she lacked rank.

I extended my core, reaching out with my empathetic talent. My consciousness brushed against hers, bypassing her weak mental shields. I dug past her surface thoughts of ball dresses and academy rankings until I found it... Her deepest fear.

Insects. Flesh-eating, swarming scarabs.

A wicked smirk touched my lips. I closed my fingers into a fist, weaving a dark illusion directly into her mind.

Down below, Lady Lyra suddenly froze mid-sentence.

To her friends, nothing had changed. But to Lyra, the clear blue sky instantly turned pitch black. The cobblestones beneath her boots dissolved into an ocean of squirming, jet-black scarabs.

She let out a blood-curdling shriek.

She stumbled backward, clawing at her silk dress as she hallucinated thousands of clicking, biting insects swarming up her ankles, burrowing into her skin.

"Lyra? What’s wrong with you?!" one of her friends cried, taking a hurried step back.

"They’re biting me! Get them off! GET THEM OFF!" Lyra screamed, slapping wildly at her arms and legs, tears instantly streaming down her painted face.

The swarm in her mind multiplied. Giant beetles with razor-sharp mandibles erupted from the fountain, raining down upon her. She reached out to grab her friends for help, but at the sight of her hysterics, her loyal clique gasped in horror, turned on their heels, and scattered in every direction, leaving her entirely alone.

Typical. Boastful little parasites who cluster together for grandiosity, yet scatter like rats the second one of them burns. I thought, chuckling darkly as I watched from the sky.

"You’re enjoying this entirely too much, Dragon Prince," Vaelor noted, though even he sounded pleased.

"I’m just getting started."