rin
irmly on her side, acting as her physical shield, her well-maintained face twist
vaulted ceiling. "You are a Dragonless parasite living under our roof, eating o
rd, raising her hand high to swing it
ife-or-death vanguard knight training flared to life. I shifted my weight effortlessl
ieve, completely enraged that she had missed her target
and get out of my house!" she s
gled in the thick, unforgiving fibers of the Persian rug. The heavy obsidian urn in my a
y body inward, pulling the urn tight against my chest, bracing
h
out of my lungs in a sharp, painful gasp. The violent jolt
seemed to slow to an ago
in a horrific arc, heading straight for the
roat. I scrambled on my hands and knees,
ac
ll. The urn struck the marble edge with sickening force.
or this ungrateful kingdom-spilled out from the crack. The ashes fluttered through the air like sn
d spinning. It
ruel smile touched her lips. She didn't care about desecrating a hero's re
with her hand. "Gods, it's so dirty! It's going to ruin the rug! Get
nt and anger. "Corrin, look what you've done! I know these are your parents' ashes, but why do you always have to provoke my mo
kened dragon core, fueled by undiluted hatred and bottomless grief, pulsed violently. A faint,
to gather the
mbat training combined with the explosive, uncontrollable power o
iolently against the marble wall. Her smug smile vanished instantly, replaced by sheer, suffocating t
ing to strike his wife to save his mother. He had never, not once in our three years of marriage, raised a hand to me, even in our most private
nneling the golden fire from my core into my leg, and deliv
ac
feet and sent him flying across the room. He crashed heavily into an expensive glass display cabinet, shattering it into a thousand pieces, and collapsed in a heap on the fl
shrinking into a corner, covering
fied soul. "If my parents are low-born sword-meat, then you people are worse than the maggots cr
ge. She collapsed next to her bleeding s
I began to scrape the ashes out of the rug fibers with my bare hands. I moved slowly, carefully scooping the gray dust bac
raight upstairs, leaving the bleeding Lord and his mother on the floor. I packed my weapon blueprints into
d. But first, I needed a temporary, sacred resting place for my parents
ensation washed over me. I realized that my violent emotional outburst and the bone-crushing kick I
this time, but in response to an instinctual, primal terror. I stopped
he ambient magic of the city. It felt as though a massive, slumbering apex predator had just opened its eyes
med that I had just drawn the attention of a monster far more dangerous than the Davidson family.
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