“Then why are you fighting me?”
“I was coming to make sure he stays away from you!” She pushed at me again, and this time, I lost the battle, stumbling back and falling on my ass.
She came down with her sword again. It wasn’t like I was in doubt before from the first attack, but it still shocked me to see that she was really trying to kill me. I knew Ivan’s family disliked me, but this still felt insane. The hate ran deep.
I rolled out of the way before she could slice into me and kicked my leg out into her shin with every bit of strength I possessed. I heard the sickening crack of bone as she cried out and dropped to her knees.
“Alright, you crazy bitch, I realize our family doesn’t have a good history, but I’m not them. Neither is my father.” I quickly glanced to him as he was struggling to his feet. He looked alittle bloodied and bruised, but he’d successfully taken down his assailant. I was impressed. I thought my father had lost his fight sitting at a desk and being catered to most of his adult life. Clearly, I was wrong. “We are not the enemy.”
Nepa snorted, her face tight with pain that I caused her. “One, you can’t possibly think you can break your deal with the dissenters and be free. Whether I care for their cause or not, I am smart enough to know they have too much to lose to let you walk away, no matter how much the court likes you. How you have survived all of the attacks we’ve thrown at you is beyond me, but this will be your end. And second, you are most definitely our enemy. Your family killed my father and so many others. You are fortunate I wasn’t born a full dragon, or you would have been dead long ago.”
“Your family killed my brother. I think you got your revenge.” Even saying the words made me sick. Neither death was right. Neither death was atonement.
Nepa glanced at my father with pure hatred, unmoved by my words. “It will never be enough to cover all the damage your family has done to my kind. You all deserve to suffer ten times over for what you’ve done for generations. One death is hardly enough. I can’t believe Ivan was stupid enough to fall for you.”
“He never knew.”
She raised her brows in surprise. “Is that what he told you?” She shook her head, looking up at the ceiling. “Gods, what an idiot. He might not have known everything, but he knew how awful your kind was to us, and he ignored it.”
Was that true? He’d never said that he knew anything. Although it was possible he knew inklings of the truth, he’d alluded to as much when we used to argue about our families. However, he never admitted to more, not even when Pierce spoke to us. Had he actually known how awful we were? And if that was the case, why did he fight so hard for us to staytogether? Had his love for me run that deep? The sudden realization made me almost dizzy with grief. Grief that he no longer knew that love. That I would no longer feel that love from him.
“He’s a traitor and no family of mine,” Nepa continued, interrupting my thoughts. “And I will make sure that he not only never remembers you but never sees you again.”
She ran at me, apparently recovered from her injury. I crouched low and swung my sword, conjuring a shield just as her sword came down on top of it. At the same time, my sword bit into her thigh. She screamed but didn’t slow down as she repeatedly beat against my shield in such rapid movements I could no longer see her arms. Shit, she was scary. It was as if my hit didn’t even land. My father teleported behind her, but she blew him away with her magic, pushing one hand behind her without even turning or stopping her strikes against me.
And then my shield cracked. Before she could land another hit, I disappeared and teleported behind her, swinging, but she teleported as well before I could get to her. She then reappeared behind my father who turned around, his sword ready, but he wasn’t fast enough. Her sword met his left side, and I screamed in shaken fury as he stumbled to the side and fell.
She lifted her sword again, but I pushed out my fist, my magic sending her flying backward, closer to the fighting in the front of the mansion. I ran to my father who sat against a wall, clutching his side. I crouched down and began to pour healing magic into him. There was no time to waste.
He coughed, blood trickling from his lips. “Don’t worry about me. Save your strength. You can’t turn your back on her.”
He didn’t look good. He was bleeding heavily and already pretty beat up before Nepa had struck him. I had a complicated history with my father, but I still loved him. Seeing him bleed to death was not on my agenda. I would not lose another memberof my family. However, he was right, we couldn’t stay here. I touched his shoulder and teleported us to the back of the house, just in time to see Nepa charging at us. Did she not see the blood dripping down her thigh from the wound I gave her? Was she even able to feel pain? She really was quite imposing. Alright, the bitch was terrifying. Iwaslucky she couldn’t shift. I stood up in front of my father and drew an imaginary line with my sword in front of us, whispering warding words as I did so.
Nepa slammed into the ward just as she got to us. Her face twisted in disgust. “Coward. Come beyond that ward and fight me.” She tossed a handout to the side. “Just give in, and this will all be over. If you really love Ivan, like you claim to, then don’t you want him happy? Be the first in your family to be selfless.”
She really had a narrow understanding of the truth. This wasn’t so black and white. “My father has turned our businesses around. So much so that I didn’t even know what was going on before I was born.”
Nepa reared back. “It would take generations for you to atone for what you’ve done. At no point did your father give back to the families who were abused by his. So, he stopped the practices, but we were still left poor. He sent no aid to help dragons or their kind. Not to the ones who suffered at the hands of his family. No, instead he moved past it as if it never happened. Just like all the nobles in Nodoor.”
I glanced quickly at my father, who looked away, still clutching his side as he struggled to remain upright. “I gave in secrecy. I didn’t want anyone to know about why.”
Nepa pounded her hand against my invisible wall, and I could see her nails were now long black talons. I sucked in a breath, thankful that those things hadn’t sliced into me yet. “They should know. Everyone should. We haven’t received so much as a public apology.”
My father had the decency to look ashamed. “You are right. We can do that. I can atone for my family’s sins in public. Death, be it yours or mine, will do nothing for your cause or your family.”
I could see the first visible crack in her stubbornness. She had to know this was true. What would she gain? “Do you think working with Jullian will help your cause?” I began. “He hates dragons. He thinks of your kind as second-class citizens. I’m sure his family was just as awful to dragons.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You think I don’t know that? He’s a means to an end.”
“He wants to destroy the court because he hates being ruled by Prinathians. Do you want things to go back to the way they were? Nodoor allowed this kind of mistreatment to happen. The Prinaths made it unlawful.”
“He said it wouldn’t be the same as it was. That he wanted to make sure Nodoorians got treated fairly. Right now, only Prinathians govern. I don’t want to be a second-class citizen ever again, not even to Prinathians.”
I gave a dry laugh. “Well, you will be if you trust Jullian and anyone running the rebellion. Let’s be honest, I knew my family wasn’t the kindest and I willfully ignored any possibilities of how awful our history had been. But I will make sure that anyone living who had a part in mistreating dragons pays for it. I will also make sure that those harmed get some kind of payment for what they went through.”
Nepa sneered, looking down at me, and I could tell she was not going to give in even if what I was saying was true. “I would never believe your kind.”
“I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t if I were you. But I have access, and we can make it happen. If we don’t, you can kill us.”
