Chapter 31 Dayn
DAYN
Anees knew exactly what he was doing when he prepared this wine cellar.
I trace my fingers over the intricate warding symbols etched into the stone walls, feeling the magic pulse against my skin.
Three layers deep in some places. My brother left nothing to chance—he's seen what I became after tasting Esme's blood.
He witnessed the shadow-laced power that now courses through my veins, a power he clearly fears enough to craft these elaborate precautions.
My fist connects with the wall, sending blue-white runes flaring across the stone like lightning.
I snap my fingers, conjuring a small flame that dances above my palm, casting eerie shadows as I search for any weakness in my prison.
With each strike of my glowing knuckles against the ancient stone, the warding retaliates—a magical current that reverberates through my marrow.
“Clever bastard,” I mutter into the darkness.
“You called?” The voice slides through the shadows a moment before torchlight illuminates the hallway beyond.
Anees peers through the small barred opening at the top of the cellar door, golden eyes catching the light. His face betrays nothing but cool calculation. I cross the distance between us with measured steps, mind racing for the right words to turn this key.
“This is your doing,” I say. “A betrayal of the crown.”
“I prefer to call it salvation from extinction,” he counters, voice steady and unapologetic.
“Surely you remember how it once was—dragons ruling the open skies, humans trembling at our shadows.
Kingdoms offering tribute: livestock, harvests, treasures, knowledge. They'd prostrate themselves for mercy.”
“Until they learned not to fear us,” I counter.
“And we answered with fire,” he says, something primal gleaming in his eyes. “We razed their cities to ash.”
“Yet here we are, brother,” I say with a pointed look. “Hiding beneath the earth. Did you forget what drove us here?”
“History won't repeat itself with proper guidance. We're wiser now.” His gaze hardens. “I might have included you, if not for your... sympathies. For them. For her.”
“Her?”
“Your darkblood.”
The mask slips then—his features contort with revulsion, no longer bothering to conceal his true nature now that his scheme is exposed. The sight of my brother transformed by such hatred turns my stomach to ice.
I stare at my brother through the bars, remembering the wide-eyed hatchling who once followed me around everywhere, his wings still too weak for proper flight. The way he'd mimic my hunting stance, made sure to learn everything I learned. He used to worship me.
“When did this happen, Anees? You were the first to champion my journey to the surface.”
“And relieved when you left,” he says, eyes glittering. “I half-hoped the humans would finish you off.”
“Yet you waited to push your war agenda.”
His jaw tightens. “Father was thoroughly under your spell, and he saw value in Mother's words.”
“Mother would despise what you've become.”
The door frame cracks as his fist connects. “Mother wasted away in this underground prison she herself advocated for! The darkness consumed her while she pretended to accept our fate—and then look at what they did to her! Don't you dare speak of Mother again.”
“Listen to reason. We've both witnessed what the humans can do, but I’ve seen more,” I say. “The clearbloods need only capture one dragon to start binding rituals. Once they drain that first one dry, they'll hunt more. The darkbloods will follow suit. You're leading our kind to—”
“The humans will burn before they comprehend what's happening,” he snarls. “While you've been locked away, I've been building an army of true believers. All while you were busy rutting with that filthy darkblood—”
“ENOUGH!” I roar.
Energy erupts from my palms like a thunderclap, darkness and rage coalescing into a force that shakes dust from the ancient ceiling.
The wards flare blue in response, absorbing my attack.
Not enough—not yet. Something writhes beneath my skin, a living shadow coiling between my organs, pressing against my ribs from within. It needs a channel, a focus point.
Anees's lips curl into a knowing smile. “The Salem girl has quite the hold on you,” he says. “Byzu noticed it first.”
“Byzu is your puppet now?” I ask, circling closer to the door. “What about Arrynth?”
“He resists, but not for long. His neutrality wanes by the day.”
“And Father? The king stands between you and this war.”
My brother's face hardens as he steps back from the door. “When our kind rules the skies again and humans remember their place, I'll return for you. You'll see our new world, brother—the world as it should be.”
“This is madness, Anees.” I press against the bars. “I've lived among them, studied their development, their tenacity. They won't surrender. The dragons won't win this war.”
His eyes flash gold in the torchlight. “Dragons don't need to win. We need only to burn. To consume.”
The latch clangs shut. My fists slam against the door until blood streaks the ancient wood, my brother's name becoming a hoarse echo in the empty corridor.
Up there, humans have forged steel that can pierce dragonhide, built weapons that rain fire from the skies. Down here, Anees has only nurtured his hatred, blind to how the surface world has outgrown our nightmares.
Dragons may breathe infernos and shatter mountains with our wings, but we are few. Humankind is legion, adaptable, ruthless when cornered. Esme is a mere sample of that.
“She's still somewhere above,” I whisper, tasting copper on my tongue. The realization twists like a blade between my ribs. I heard the disgust in my brother's voice. The promise of violence. He will hunt her, and these walls hold me captive while he does.
Something shifts beneath my skin—her power, her essence, responding to my mounting fury. “She belongs with me,” I growl.
Heat erupts from my core, bathing the cellar in crimson light. The wards flicker blue in warning, ancient magic pushing back against my rebellion. But the thought of Esme's blood spilling across dragon stone ignites something primal in me.
I stare at the ceiling, calculating weaknesses, measuring power against restraint. These walls will fall. This magic will break.
And when it does, I will find her. I will claim her. She is mine.