Chapter 68: _ The Tiger Prince vs. The Dragon Prince II

The terrible sound echoed through the high-vaulted ceiling of the Great Hall like a whip cracking open.

Elira’s head snapped to the side, her small body stumbling back from the force of the impact as a bright red mark instantly bloomed across her pale cheek. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"How dare you! How dare a markless, dragonless trench rat stand there and stress two royal princes like she’s worth their time?! Know your place, you filthy nobody!" Vaela shrieked, her voice filled with contempt as she pointed a trembling finger at Elira.

Everything inside me stopped.

The noise of the cheering crowd died in my ears. The world shrunk down to the sight of Elira clutching her swollen cheek, tears of shock pooling in her hazel eyes as she collapsed against the stone floor.

The rage that erupted from the very pit of my stomach was so catastrophic that it made no sense.

Why do I care? a voice screamed in the back of my mind. She’s just leverage! She’s a tool to drag Raice down! She’s supposed to die in Raice’s trap anyway! Why does seeing her hit make me want to burn this whole building to ashes?!

"KILL THEM!" Rykos roared inside my head, his spectral claws tearing through my mental space with unhinged energy. "TEAR THE GIRL’S THROAT OUT! TEAR THE BROTHER’S THROAT OUT! BLOOOOOOD!"

I don’t touch women. It was a strict personal rule of mine... a royal boundary I never broke.

So I didn’t lay a finger on Vaela.

Instead, I flicked my wrist, channeling my blood manipulation ability.

The blood inside Vaela’s right arm instantly obeyed my command. Her own muscles violently spasmed, snatching control of her body away from her. Against her will, her arm whipped backward in a powerful arc, and she delivered a bone-shattering SLAP straight across her own brother’s face.

SLAP!

Remus’s head snapped back hard enough to rattle his teeth.

The entire Great Hall fell into a dead silence.

Vaela shrieked in horror, staring at her own hand in terror as she stumbled backward. "I—I didn’t do that! Remus, I swear I didn’t–!"

Remus slowly turned his head back toward me. A trickle of blood was running down his lip where his own sister’s ring had cut his skin. His silver eyes were no longer burning with anger... They were completely consumed by wild dragon-fire.

"Daegal," Remus whispered.

"Drakaryn," I snarled back.

Remus lunged.

He drove a fire-enhanced fist straight into my jaw. The impact snapped my head back, the metallic taste of blood bursting across my tongue, but I didn’t back down. I drove my knee straight up into his stomach, winding him instantly, then grabbed the collar of his uniform and slammed his skull directly into the stone pillar behind us.

The Great Hall exploded into absolute carnage.

"YES! YES! FIGHT!" the students roared, leaping over tables, knocking over floating trays, and screaming at the top of their lungs as roasted meats and silver tankards rained down everywhere.

Remus tackled me around the waist, driving both of us crashing through a wooden dining table. Oak wood shattered into a thousand splinters under our weight. I threw a short-range right hook that caught him across the cheekbone, splitting his skin open.

He countered with a roaring backhand choked in dragon-fire that singed the chest of my leather jacket and blew us both backward against the marble steps.

"STOP IT! PLEASE, STOP IT!" Elira sobbed, her hands pressed over her mouth as tears streamed down her face, but her small voice completely drowned out by the thunderous cheers of over a hundred bloodthirsty initiates.

"Elira, stay back!" Miriel and Bren screamed, pulling Elira backward out of the spray of flying wood and magical sparks.

"Remus, cease this instant!" Veyra screamed, trying to dive into the fray to separate us, only to be tossed aside by the shockwave of our colliding magic.

Vaela was crying in hysterics near the wall, clutching her arm as if it were possessed by a demon.

Remus scrambled up, his face covered in blood and ash, his dragon aura flaring so bright it began scorching the very flags hanging from the rafters. I stood up to meet him, wiping a smear of blood from my chin with the back of my hand with a savage grin on my face.

We charged each other again, tearing each other apart over a girl neither of us was supposed to care about.

Just then, Headmistress Maisie of the Dragon Academy and Warden Silas, the Chief of Discipline, walked in.

Every muscle in my back locked up.

I didn’t care about Maisie. She was a politician in robes who survived on high-born donations. But Silas... Silas was a nightmare. Unlike the corrupt wardens I bribed for passes, Silas was a relentless hound.

Because I spent half my time mingling with initiates unlike the other princes, and gathering dirt on the faculty, I knew everything about how each of the Academies ran. And I knew for a fact that if Silas set his eyes on an initiate, her life in this academy became a living hell of daily inspections, restricted movement, and grueling manual labor.

I looked down at Elira, sitting on the dirt-streaks of the floor, clutching her red, swollen cheek while tears tracked through the dust on her skin.

A pang of guilt sliced through my chest, burning worse than Remus’s dragon-fire. I did this to her. My arrogance, my need to parade her around and piss off the Dragon court... I’d landed a markless girl right in Silas’s crosshairs.

I immediately dropped my hands, killing my royal aura instantly. Beside me, Remus spat a glob of blood onto the ruined wood, wiping his broken lip as he backed off.

Headmistress Maisie stepped into the Great Hall with shocked eyes that were taking in the collapsed tables, the terrified initiates, and the two bleeding royal heirs.

She stopped three paces away, drawing herself up to her full height. She didn’t dare raise her voice or insult a Tiger Prince since my father’s legion would burn her quadrant to ash by nightfall if she did, but her tone was stern.

"Prince Zevaranthius. Prince Remus. This is a sacred hall of learning, not a gladiator’s pit. As royal heirs, you are expected to set an example for the initiates, not reduce our dining quarters to rubble before morning lectures."

She turned her dark gaze directly onto me. "Prince Zev, while we respect the Tiger Realm’s presence at Last Bastion, you are currently disrupting the order of the Dragon Academy. I must strongly implore you to return to your own Academy grounds immediately."

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of an apology. Instead, I let out a low breath, adjusting the lapels of my torn leather jacket. But as I turned to leave, my eyes landed on Elira again, trembling on the floor while her red-headed friend tried to pull her up.

A wicked urge to thoroughly ruin Remus’s morning swept over me.

Before anyone could react, I casually stepped past Remus, dropping into a low crouch right in front of Elira.

She flinched slightly with shock in her hazel eyes, but she didn’t pull away.

I gently cupped the uninjured side of her jaw. My thumb moved up, slowly wiping away a warm tear that was trailing down her skin.

"Get up, boy," Rykos purred in my head, his spirit humming a warmth that vibrated straight through my sternum.

My chest tightened. The sensation of her soft skin against my calloused thumb was intoxicating. I suddenly became overwhelmed with the need to wrap my arms around her small, fragile frame, drag her against my chest, and tear apart anyone in this room who had made her cry.

What the hell is wrong with me? I thought, my mind spinning into chaos. I’ve met this girl twice. She’s leverage. She’s a markless nobody. Why does touching her feel like losing my mind?

I leaned in close, bringing my lips to her ear to give a whisper meant only for her. "Drink the Starlight Lotus tea tonight, Sweet Dragonless. I’ll come see you at your dorm tomorrow night, so make sure you sleep with the tea in your system tonight... and get your memories back."

"That is enough!"

A leather-gloved hand slammed onto my shoulder, violently yanking me backward.

I spun around, my claws instinctively extending an inch as I shoved Remus’s hand off me, my chest heaving as we glared at each other.

"Did you not hear the Headmistress’s command, Daegal?!" Remus snarled, his chest churning with heat. "Get the hell out of our Quadrant!"

I smirked, brushing a speck of dust off my shoulder, though my mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour. Since when did any of us give a damn about commands from headmistresses or headmasters? We were royal heirs. We ignored rules for breakfast.

Remus wasn’t protecting Academy discipline. He was maniacally fixated on keeping me away from Elira.

Why? I wondered, my eyes narrowing as I studied the panic beneath the Dragon Prince’s fury. What are you so afraid she’ll remember, Remus? What did you and Ivar do at the Sunken Arch?

I knew I’d find out soon enough. The moment she drank that tea and shattered Ivar’s sloppy spell, the whole house of cards was coming down.

I offered Remus a mock bow, flashing my bloody teeth in a smile. "Until tomorrow, Dragon Prince."

Without another word, I walked out of the ruined Great Hall, the crowd of initiates parting instantly to give me a wide berth.

As I stepped out into the morning air, leaving the murmurs and the strict glare of Warden Silas behind, I looked down at my right hand.

My thumb was still warm. The faint trace of her tear was lingering on my skin.

I stared at my fingers and realized my heart was thumping with a rhythm I couldn’t control. I was supposed to be playing a game. I was supposed to be pushing her toward Raice to expose his madness and take down the Fae court.

So why, as I walked back toward the Tiger Academy, did the thought of anyone else touching her make my blood boil hot enough to burn the world to ash?