Page 147 of The Last Syphon

Their gazes were fixed on one another, never wavering. When had they gotten so close? Silence dragged on, and the intensity between them skyrocketed. She thought she might have actually gotten through to him. That he would actually go against the High Council and dive headfirst into the mayhem, but then, it was as if a shutter closed over his eyes.

They lost that violet spark he sometimes had around her, and he stepped back, far out of her reach. “The law is the law.”

Flames of anger shot through her. “You’re a coward,” she spat.

He stiffened. Magic flared out all around him. “Excuse me?” He said it softly, with an almost eerie calmness that actually made it that much more terrifying.

“You heard me. You act all honourable and noble, but the truth of it is, you’re just a pawn. You follow orders, like a good little soldier, even if it goes against what you believe is right. Tell me, Prince”—she sneered the word so he wouldn’t mistake it as having been said in respect, but contempt—“where do you draw the line, huh? If the High Council ordered you on the morrow to lay waste to thousands of innocents, to bring war to the neighbouring kingdoms, would you do it? Would you say those same words to justify your actions? To help yourself sleep better at night?” She shook her head, the rage poisoning her veins making it impossible for her to calm down. “Despite what you believe, some rules are meant to be broken. You might be too fucking scared to go against the grain, but I’m not.”

With that, Inara spun on her heels and marched away, heading for the door. Whatever the prince’s response might be, she didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to argue with him anymore. She didn’t like arguing with him. Didn’t like being on the opposite side of him, but this was something she could just not get behind⁠—

Inara’s entire body froze in place. Shock blasted through her. She tried to move but couldn’t. Her arms and legs were completely immobile. No matter what she tried to do…she could not move. Panic clutched her chest. Fraener’s mind brushed up against hers, sensing her distress. She reached out to him, pleading for him to help her. A deafening roar echoed all around her.

Loud, thunderous footsteps reached her ears, and then Prince Walder walked in front of her. Another round of shock hit her hard. His eyes…they were blazing red.

Red.

Not blue, like she’d seen him do more times than she could count.

Not purple, his natural shade.

Red.

There was only one thing that made someone’s eyes blaze red like that.

“Bloodborne.” She gasped, the words falling from her lips in disbelief.

Prince Walder was a Bloodborne. Not a Medalist. A fucking Bloodborne. He had the ability to manipulate blood, the very essence of all living things. Control it. Freeze it. Do whatever the fuck he wanted with it. The prince could command it to escape from every orifice in one’s body and leave them dead in seconds, completely drained of life if he so wished it. Next to Syphons, it was the most feared of all magical abilities, because with nothing but a thought, he could kill anyone he wanted without lifting a Fatesdamned fucking finger.

His smouldering red eyes stayed locked on her, still blazing as strong as a raging fire. “You will not say such things to me and then walk away without giving me a chance to respond,” he said darkly. “You might not understand because you are used to doing whatever you want, consequences be damned, but make no mistake, I am nobody’s good little soldier.”

Inara felt a pull from within her chest. From the soul-link. A moment later, Fraener burst into the room. He was the size of a bull, anger pulsing in waves so strong she thought it might knock her over. Dangerous gold-and-black eyes took in the scene. He locked in on Prince Walder and charged.

The prince didn’t even look in the dragon’s direction, his gaze staying firmly on Inara. He simply raised his hand. Fraener stopped dead in his tracks. He snarled, trying to push forward but completely unable to move, like her.

This was why he was so powerful. Why when she first scanned him with her syphon sight, his spectral energy was off the fucking charts. Bloodbornes were among the most powerful within all of the realm. Add that with the fact that he was a Chosen, and Prince Walder was liable to be the strongest person in existence.

“The law is the law,” he recited again, voice like thunder. “And when I do not agree with it, I find a way around it. The right way. That might not appeal to you because you are an act first, think never kind of person, but do not for one second dare to think that I am simply some mindless drone who does as he is ordered without rhyme or reason. I. Am. Not.”

The lock he had on her body suddenly vanished. Inara felt the moment Prince Walder let her go, almost as if this pressure within her released her from its deadly vice. She almost fell to her knees at the suddenness of it, as if her body had forgotten how to remain upright on its own.

Prince Walder stood up straighter, holding his head up high. There was a look on his face—a look as if he was expecting something from her. Inara wasn’t sure what. “I will find a way around this problem, and I will investigate the cursed land myself, even if I have to lie about my intentions to do it, but what I will not do is go against everything I believe in and go off on some half-cocked notion without a plan. I believe that for a kingdom to thrive, it needs order. Rules. Stability. As its Prince, it’s my duty to practice that which I preach. How can I expect my people to follow the law if I do not uphold it myself? The High Council has given their verdict, and…for now, I will abide by it.”

With nothing else, he walked right past a still frozen Fraener and stormed out. The moment he left the room, Fraener unfroze. He didn’t chase after Prince Walder, instead heading right for her. His head buried into her chest, and a soft whine emitted from him. Inara ran her hand over his rough, hard skin.

“I’m okay. I’m alright.” She tried to soothe. A battering of emotions shot through the soul-link, and she tried her best to separate her emotions from his.

He was worried about her. Feared something bad was going to happen to her, even now. There was a helplessness hammering in him that he’d never felt before. As a revered Guardian, he would have never had to feel something like that. Then he’d seen her at Prince Walder’s mercy and it all came crashing down upon him.

He whined again, pushing further into her.

“I’m okay,” she said again.

And the strange thing was…she was okay. Yes, she was a little freaked out at the revelation that Prince Walder was a Bloodborne, but it wasn’t in a bad way. She didn’t think he was going to hurt her, and she more than anyone understood what it was like to possess a magic everyone else feared. Although Bloodbornes weren’t outlawed, like Syphons, Inara knew it was only a matter of time before they were. If the realm could outlaw one power they saw as a threat, what was to stop them from doing it to another? To any power they deemed too dangerous to exist? All it would take is one…One person to use their power in a bad way to risk the lives of all the others who possessed it.

Like the Cursed King.

Because of his actions, Inara’s kind were to be extinguished on sight.