Page 34 of The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire #1)

Zane scoffed. Lovestruck moron. “She’s never going to sleep with a nobody like you, so you might as well give up?—”

“Stop!”

Hannover’s cry reached his ears as Mylis pulled back his fist. Zane squared up, tensing to catch the blow. Mylis would strike low, but he could catch it.

Pale fingers closed around Mylis’s fist, stopping the punch. Zane could see it now, the all-consuming rage always boiling under Mylis’s skin. It flashed in his eyes. It showed in his snarl. Zane refused to step back, but a pit grew in his stomach.

Mylis would be a dangerous enemy.

Hannover held Mylis’s fist at his side. She’d slipped between them, and the two of them gazed at each other like stupid, sappy fools.

“Give us a moment,” she murmured. “Please, Mylis.”

Mylis narrowed his eyes at Zane. “I’ll be right around the corner.”

The burning in his chest took the edge off the brutal sting, but after weeks of shifts together and fencing on breaks, Mylis’s distrust cut deep. Zane bit the inside of his cheek. He deserved it. He’d lashed out at the wrong person, and he would have to pay the price.

Mylis rounded the corner, and Hannover fixed a devastating glare on him.

“You,” she said, in a deadly low voice, “had better give me a good reason not to fire you right this second.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“By firing you?” She let out a disbelieving laugh. “I’d say that’s me coming to my senses.”

“You know damn well I’m talking about the war.”

“It’s my decision to make.” Hannover drew herself up to full height. With her short stature, the attempt was comical. “I know it’s dangerous, but this is the right choice. Carik needs to be stopped. Azura’s on our side, we will succeed?—”

“Yeah? How’d that work out for Pool and your family?”

Hannover’s jaw flapped soundlessly.

He didn’t care.

“You don’t know anything about war.” Spit flew from Zane’s mouth, and his muscles quaked with rage. “Everyone you love will die. That’s what war means.”

Hannover’s face reddened. “If I don’t go to war, the people I love will continue to die. His persecutions are already starting. Senators are vanishing. Any day, he could come for me, or any of my friends!”

“Stop thinking about yourself. Just stop.” Zane marched towards the sparkling glass window and flung his arm out. “Look at your city. Your people.”

She glared at him, and he wanted to shake her.

He wanted to grab her and steer her towards the window, to make her see , but he balled his hands into fists to stop himself. Instead, he jabbed a finger towards the glass. At the foot of the mountain, gold domes crowned gleaming buildings in the lively marble capital.

“All that’ll be left is ash. The schools, the houses, everything.

It’ll be destroyed. Your people will be left in the rubble of their homes, assuming they survive the bombings.

You’ll have to draft the men. When they die out, you’ll arm the boys.

They will fight, and they will die. All for a cause they don’t give a damn about?—”

“You’re out of line!”

“The families won’t have anywhere to go,” Zane said, raising his voice. “You’ll be able to run away from it all, but your people will be stranded as their cities are bombed?—”

“Leave her al?—”

“ I’ll run away?” Hannover snarled, cutting Mylis off as he rushed around the corner. She stomped into the window’s golden light, glaring at him, never sparing a glance for her people below. “Me? I could’ve run away after my fleet was attacked, but I came back!”

Zane laughed darkly. “For a throne. For yourself. Not for them.”

“And you think you’re so much better? Tell me, why aren’t you on Oppalli as your people die?”

The words landed like a punch to the gut. Zane’s muscles seized up. His mouth froze open, and his voice died in his throat.

“I’ll tell you what I think: you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“And why do you think that is?”

“Because you’re a greedy, self-absorbed coward! ”

Zane clenched his fists. “I am not a coward.”

“Oh, really? You could’ve fooled me. Uncle Jerran took a deeper look into your background. He told me you’re a deserter. All this time, I thought you had some shred of honor, but really, you’re just a coward who abandoned his squad!”

Blood rushed in Zane’s ears, drowning out her voice. The blazing fires from his nightmares crept into the edges of his vision. He clenched his fists to shut them out, but screams rang in his ears. Phantom blood clung to his skin.

Hannover kept going on, with that self-righteous stance, and he finally saw her. Not the strong-willed survivor, but the selfish, spoiled princess underneath.

“I left,” he spat, “because they’re all dead .”

Her mouth snapped shut.

“I watched every single one of them die, and I was sick of fighting a losing battle.” Zane tore off his uniform jacket and tossed it on the shining marble floor.

Her eyes widened, but it was too little, too late.

“I thought you understood. That you were different. But you know what? Screw you. I’m done. ”

“Zane, wait?—”

“When she destroys you,” Zane said, turning to Mylis, “don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He stomped on his Guardsman’s jacket as he marched out, ignoring the protests drifting after him.