“What is it?” I ask.
“Wear it when you sleep, and you will understand. It’s a gift, a rare one, so doesn’t lose it. I want it back,” she says and then nods her head at the door.
“You should go,” she tells me. I don’t question her, just open the door and walk out, slipping the bracelet onto my wrist as I go. I walk down the grand corridors of the castle, intending to go to my rooms, when my mother walks out of one of the royal rooms. She smiles at me and walks over, placing her hand on my shoulder. My mother has clearly just woken up, her blonde hair is down, and she has a cloak on over her dress. Nothing like the white leather she usually wears and comes back to castle with blood spots all over.
“Where have you been so early son?” she asks, and walks next to me as I keep going. I hate that I have to lie to her, betray her, but I know it’s the right thing to do. My mother isn’t who she used to be, and it’s the king’s fault for making her like this. Evil in a way, but I can save her. I will save her and Isola, but not without the price of having them both hate me.
“Just a walk to the kitchens, I was hungry,” I say, and her dark blue eyes look up at me. They used to be clear blue, like most ice dragons, but over the years they have gotten darker. Now they are so dark you can just about see the blue, it’s almost black. The black would match the black veins crawling up her arms, but I try not to think about it and look away.
“I have to leave the castle with Esmeralda today, we have a job to finish in the north,” she explains.
“What job? I should come with you,” I ask, curious and desperate to keep an eye on her before she destroys the entire kingdom. I don’t know what she is doing, but she comes back covered in black dust, and smelling of fire.
“Nothing for you to worry about, and I told you before, you can’t leave the castle. You’re the king and until you are mated, with an heir on the way, it’s too dangerous for you,” she says, sighing.
“I’m not mating anytime soon. I’ve told you this,” I say, trying to hide my annoyance that she won’t tell me what she is doing.
“When the seers are back on our side, or Melody tells us who your future mate is, we will find her,” she says, like it’s no concern for her. Melody pretends to help her all the time, but I doubt she is helping her much.
“The seers still won’t come here?” I ask.
“No, but they will change their minds very soon,” she smiles as we get to my room.
“What are you going to do? You can’t just kill everyone that doesn’t side with you, mother,” I warn her, and dark lines crawl down her cheeks for just a second before she shakes her head.
“I won’t kill them,” she says sweetly and walks away. I open the doors to my room, walking across it and straight to the balcony. I have to take deep breaths to calm my dragon down as I look over the mountains as the suns shine above them. I look over at the crown on the side. It's a worthless trinket, considering I have no idea what is going on outside of this castle.
A king with no power, is no king at all.
Chapter Five
Isola
Isola,” a voice whispers, the voice both hauntingly familiar and heartbreaking. My mind knows who it is, without me even having to look.
“Hello?” I ask, blinking my eyes open. All I see is smoke all around me. There is a fire in the background, and I quickly turn around, looking for the voice. Part of me doesn’t want to find the man who spoke, but a deeper part of me still yearns for him.
“Here,” the voice says from behind me and I spin, seeing a shadow of a man in the smoke.
“I can’t see you,” I say, and he chuckles.
“You don’t want to, you hate me,” he says sadly, but then still steps forward into the clearing. Thorne stands still as I get a good look at him. His ice blue eyes lock with mine, matching the stolen white crown on his head. I can’t get used to the blonde hair, as I’m so used to seeing it brown. It has been kept short and suits his face more this way. He has a new outfit, still black leather and similar to his guard uniform, but this one is much nicer. He has a long cloak draped around him, with blue and red dragons stitched down the sides.
“Of course I hate you, you killed my father! The very crown you wear you stole from his dead body! You betrayed me! Get out of my head, and fuck off, you bastard!” I shout at him, stepping back when he steps closer. I’m literally shaking with anger, wishing this dream was real so I could kill him.
“I can’t escape you anymore than you can escape me, but hate me all you want,” he whispers, and I barely even hear him as I go over the million different ways I could kill him. I think stabbing him through the heart like he did my father would be the best way. When he only stares at me, not saying anything, I have to reply.
“What the hell does that mean, Thorne?” I snap, and he strides quickly towards me. I back away until I can feel the heat from the fire burning my back. He grabs my face with his hands, pulling me towards me. I hit him, struggling to get away, and even try to call my ice, but it doesn’t work.
“Fight me, hate me, but you can’t shut me out, Issy, and when you know why, you won’t want to,” he tells me and leans down, brushing his lips across my forehead. He lets go, allowing me to fall into the smoke.
“I hate you, don’t come to me again. I have my dragon guards now,” I shout, falling still but not fighting, the smoke takes me away from him, and that’s what I want more than anything.
“I sent them to you, protected them for you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't hate me, Issy," is the last thing I hear him say before everything feels like it is burnt away until only emptiness is left.
I sit straight up in bed as my alarm blares, covered in sweat and my heart pounding. Feeling my hand burning, look at my tree mark and find it glowing red, before it gradually fades back to its normal green colour. When my heart stops pounding in my ear and I calm down, I realise the dream couldn’t be real. It’s just a bad dream, Thorne wasn’t really there. I turn my alarm off, seeing the display saying its six in the morning, and I lean across the bed, switching my lamp on. Thorne can’t contact me, it’s impossible for him to do that across worlds, and I doubt he is on Earth. He might be a fire and ice dragon, but the only way to get into someone’s dreams is to be seer and have a blood connection as far as I know. Thorne and I don’t have any connection, so clearly, I’m just losing my mind. My laptop sits open beside me, I must have fallen asleep looking at it last night. Closing it, I look around my room again. I can't help the feeling that someone has taken a part of me, not just everything related to my previous life here. It's not just the photos of me and Jace that are missing, though that's a huge part of it. Anything related to Dragca is gone, all of the books, and it makes me wish I had read them now. Even my phone is different, it's not the one I had before, and that means the last image I have of Jace is just gone.
“Dammit,” I swear, wiping the tears away, and knowing I can’t be weak like this. I have three of the most stubborn men I’ve ever met to convince that they are dragons. God, they are going to think I’m insane.