The Crown's Fire - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Dragonrider’s Blood
Tarah mulled over Ezekiel’s question. Cora mentioned that Ezekiel had already seen the mark on her back—the mark that only a demon could cast. However, only the fallen angels and probably the Priests of Bethel would be familiar with such a mark, for they were the Keeper of the magical book of the Chronicles of Fallen Angels.

Unfortunately, during the siege of Bethel, Devon had captured all the Bethel Priests and kept them all locked up in his dungeons. As such, Tarah doubted that Ezekiel would ever find out how to deal with it. Unless… he sought his mother’s help about it. Tarah could only hope that he would.

“Speak the truth. Are you Devon’s spy?” Ezekiel demanded, his voice carrying a heavy and unwavering authority.

The intensity of his eyes sent shivers down to her soul. She tried her best not to turn her eyes away from him. It wasn’t easy, but Tarah knew that she must do this to at least convince him of her sincerity. She also reminded herself not to compromise the spell that could affect her little brother at any cost.

Breathing in to gather enough courage, Tarah firmly stated, “No… I am not Devon’s spy, Your Highness.”

Tarah saw that Ezekiel must have been convinced based on how his expression relaxed. It seemed that her stay with Devon had sufficiently trained her to wear a mask to hide her own true emotions.

As Devon’s favorite mistress, it shouldn’t have been possible for her to leave his castle as she willed. However, she wittily showed him only her visions that were advantageous to his rule that she could exploit.

Ultimately, Devon decided to let her go and be his spy on Ezekiel, driven by his thirst for power. His confidence in her loyalty stemmed from the leverage he held against her. He was confident that she wouldn’t dare betray him, for the life of the only family she had left was in his hands.

Being Ebodia’s fated Seer, she wasn’t just Devon’s perfect spy on Prince Ezekiel but was also the key person who could get the king the greatest power he was longing for: the Dragon King’s power. That power was currently dormant inside the Prince’s body, but soon enough, it would wake up, and she would be the one to make it happen.

She gulped at the sight of Ezekiel, his eyes never leaving hers as they burned with passion. Staring closely at his eyes, Tarah unknowingly touched Ezekiel’s cheek and muttered, “This…” Her eyes widened as the hazel shade of his irises had turned into a vibrant intense red-orange. Tarah gasped, “Your eyes are burning.”

“A dragonrider’s blood!” Ezekiel suddenly roared.

Tarah felt his grip on her body tightening. Immediately, she knew that it was Vulcan’s soul trying to take over the prince’s body. “Prince Ezekiel, please get a hold of yourself!”

She didn’t know what came over her, but she quickly found herself chanting unfamiliar words inside her head while looking straight into Ezekiel’s eyes.

“No!!!” The dragon inside Ezekiel roared, and right then, he pushed Tarah away hard enough that she fell to the ground.

“Urgh!” Tarah whimpered.

At her yelp of pain, Ezekiel came to his senses and he quickly moved to help her up.

“I’m sorry. Are you alright?” Ezekiel worriedly asked, and Tarah held her breath when he suddenly picked her up and sat her on the nearest chair.

“That’s… That wasn’t me… Are you hurt?”

“I’m alright, Your Highness,” she answered before she quickly looked closely into Ezekiel’s eyes. It was already back to its normal hues.

“I’m back… I don’t know how that damn dragon got a hold of me like that. It kept mentioning the smell of the dragonrider’s blood,” Ezekiel muttered. “It’s happened twice now. This must not happen again.”

“A Dragonrider’s blood?” Tarah murmured with a frown.

From what she recalled, Dragonriders were chosen humans whom the heavens had granted the gift of controlling the dragons. However, the dragons led by King Vulcan eliminated all of them thousands of years ago, enabling their kind to do whatever they wanted, such as creating terror and havoc all over the world.

“Yes. From history, the Dragonriders’ existence is no more after the dragons eliminated them all, so I don’t get why this dragon keeps mumbling about them,” Ezekiel explained. “Unless…”

He paused before continuing. “The dragon is probably referring to someone here,” Ezekiel muttered, staring closely at her without a blink. “It could be you. It only acts like this whenever I’m around you. The first time it happened was when we were inside the meeting tent with the others and the spy. And the second one was just a while ago, and no one else is here except for you.”

“I’m not sure if I’m a descendant of Dragonriders, Your Highness,” Tarah remarked. “In our history, it was said that the dragons had already wiped them all.”

Despite what she said, at the back of her head, she knew that Ezekiel’s assumption might be right. She recalled how she chanted an unknown spell inside her head a while ago, and how that seemed to work in saving Ezekiel from Vulcan’s attempt to control him. However, she couldn’t confirm anything yet because she didn’t recognize the language she just used.

Thinking back, everything made sense now. Their Kingdom was the keeper of the mystical Book of the Dragons. None of the other neighboring kingdoms knew of it since they had been guarding this secret tightly for their security, peace, and prosperity. However, after Devon’s conquest, she doubted that this information would remain hidden for long.

Could she really be a descendant of the Dragonriders? In her previous vision, it was clear that she was the key to awakening the dragon’s great power inside Ezekiel’s body, so there was something to be had there…

But before she could ponder about it further, Tarah’s stupor was interrupted by Ezekiel, who suddenly leaned down toward her. It looked like he was sniffing her, and she held her breath when his nose touched the skin between her neck and shoulder blades.

“What are you doing, Your Highness?” she whispered with a gulp.