Page 13 of The Healing Dragon (The Red Book #2)

CHAPTER EIGHT

JANELLE

T he dream is always the same. It starts with the smell of smoke, and then the heat of the fire skims across my skin.

It's followed by the screams of people. I never see their faces, but I see their shadows running away. I don’t realize they are running away from me until it’s too late.

It's not until the flames my body is composed of have devoured everything in my path that I stop and look behind me. It's chaos and agony as far as my eyes can see. I think I’m rushing after them to help them until I realize what I am. I’m the snake made of fire that my magic creates.

“Janelle,” a voice calls.

I snap my eyes open and look up at Jesse’s confused gaze. His hands are holding my face in a tender touch.

“You are okay.” He lets me go and stands up.

“I am,” I say and look around. “I’m awake.”

I’m not the one being chased by the fire. I am the one wielding it. The dreams come every night while my eyes search for sleep. If I would have slept the night before, they’d have come in the woods under the sky .

I wipe sweat from my face and realize my skin is hot to the touch. Jesse doesn't say anything else as we both get ready for the day. I can see the questions in his eyes, but he holds them back. Regardless of the reason, I am thankful for it.

I start my duties with the rest of the staff.

Jesse goes on his own to search for the Red Book.

In contrast, I have tasks on my to-do list of places that need my attention before the end of the day.

I survey the paper and calculate the number of things I need to do.

It’s clear my father doesn’t expect me to finish by the number of items, which only fires me up higher.

But there’s one place I plan on visiting first.

“Matias?” I try to get his attention, but not even a flinch registers on his face.

He is lying on the hard floor with nothing underneath to cushion him. The other prisoners move around him with ease, as if they know he is harmless and will continue to be. I might as well be invisible to them. They act and move about as if I’m not even here.

“He will not answer,” one man says from the other side of the cell.

I’m uncertain which one. They say nothing else, so I can’t attribute the voice to someone in particular.

I look into Matias’ eyes and see a glimmer of something familiar. “I hid in there too, you know,” I say, tapping my temple.

His eyes are still focused on something beside me. I stop trying to catch his attention and think of that night. How I got there and what brought me back.

“The night of the attack, my father had called for a household meeting.”

When I entered the door of his war room, I stopped to see that only his soldiers were present. It had been months that I wasn’t allowed to attend meetings with his soldiers .

“Seeing all his soldiers there should have been the first sign of trouble. But I didn’t leave.

I walked in and sat down.” I recall the way their eyes followed me as I crossed the room.

He extended his hand in my direction and asked me to join him.

“My soul bond Ray was already sitting at the table with my brothers.”

I look down at my hands and see the same tremor that took over them.

My body knew what was about to happen before my mind could catch up.

At least that’s what I want myself to believe.

That I didn’t know the tea pushed into my hand was odd at the first sip.

That despite the sour taste overtaking the normally minty flavor, I had no clue. I was tricked.

Coward.

The truth is that I was very much a coward.

Now, looking back, it’s a shameful memory.

I should’ve spat it out and fought my way out of there.

I might not have known what my father was planning, but the second I figured it out, I should have acted.

Staying quiet and compliant didn’t make me a victim, but a silent ally.

By the time I stood up for what I knew was right, it was too late. The damage was too great to make up. There’s nothing I can do to make amends.

“I was given a tea that allows my soul bond to take full control of my magic. I became a passenger of my own mind. He accessed my power without my conscious decision to allow it.” A tear runs down my cheek as the image comes back to the front of my mind.

“My mind became fuzzy and the events that transpired played out before me as a dream. They didn’t feel real until I came to my senses.

But then I hid.” I hiccup and push down a sob.

“In a hallway, my dragon rushed a group of people. My eyes focused enough to watch them be consumed to ashes.”

The smell of burned flesh and wood fills my lungs. The taste in the back of my throat is vile. I made the first choice I regret from that night. My first choice was the wrong choice.

“I chose to hide inside my head. I didn’t try to stop him. It wasn’t fear of him, it was fear of facing what I had allowed.”

The thought of how I ever let it go this far echo in my head. I hear them sometimes even while awake. Their running footsteps as they try to outrun the fire. They never get too far before the footsteps cease all together.

“Then I saw Bianca,” I say.

I look at him to see if her name would get a reaction out of him. I might be seeing things, but I think his eyes twitch.

“She was facing off with Ray. The determination and bravery in her eyes caught my attention. She wasn’t ready to die defending the castle. Her eyes told me she was sure she could win.”

The thoughts that follow flash through my mind at lightning speed while Bianca and Ray move in slow motion.

“I was jealous of her bravery and confidence. Then I realized the only difference between us was her determination to come out on top. I just need to take action. So I did. I killed him.”

My second choice that night is not one I regret.

“You killed your soul bond?” a man across the cell asks with a mixture of shock and disgust.

I am completely unfazed by his expression.

Some people are attracted to the idea of a soul bond and idolize it.

Ignis is the only city that continues the tradition, and many visit the city hoping to find their soul bond.

I abruptly ended the precious connection with a blade.

According to traditions and legends, what I did shouldn’t be possible.

Being able to harm your soul bond goes against our biology, but while holding the blade in my hand, all I could think of was how free I would be.

I had not noticed that the men in the cells had stopped whatever they were doing to listen to my story. They are all staring at me from various places on the cell.

“I freed my soul,” I say.

I get a few shakes of the head and some strange looks.

“Take your time Matias,” I say, reaching inside the cells. I place my hand on his, laying under his head. “But come back. You can’t hide forever. We always have to face the events the Fates have planned for us one day or another.”

I scrub the last of the toilet bowl with soap and flush the bubbles left behind.

I’ve been given the responsibility of cleaning all the bathrooms in the common areas today.

That is a total of five bathrooms, all on the first floor of the house.

Jesse said I should be thankful I’m not tasked with cleaning all the bathrooms inside the bedrooms. I find it hard to be thankful for anything while I’m still stuck here.

Since he went off on his own to investigate the whereabouts of the Red Book, I’m left to do the manual labor alone.

I close the bathroom door behind me and head to the next one.

A grunt that can only belong to a big man with a thick mustache makes me redirect my steps.

I find Oli in the kitchen, under the sink, with a flashlight.

He peeks out from under the sink as I enter the room but quickly turns back to his task at seeing me.

Since scrubbing bathroom bowls doesn’t take much mental work, I had plenty of time to think. Especially about the Red Book, and the cursed book.

“I have to ask you a question.” I move closer, but make sure no one is outside first.

The last thing I need is for my father to get word that I’m curious about anything .

“This is not the best time, Jan.” Oli’s words come out with a grunt as he tries to tighten a pipe under the cabinet. He sits up and rubs his wrist.

“Here,” I say, taking his wrist and pushing healing energy into it. “Did it work?”

“How? You don't have magic, do you?” he asks.

“Sadly I don't. But I once read that gifts cannot be taken away. I haven't tried it yet.”

I am unsure if Brandon knows of this loophole or if he even cares about it. Not many people know of my gift all together.

Oli gives me a soft smile. “Let’s see if it worked.” He gets up in two tries and a couple of huffs. The uninterrupted flow of running water makes Oli’s smile widen. “Okay, what do you want?” he asks, shutting the water.

I get right to it. “My father attempted to steal the cursed book written by Klause from the Oscuro library, correct?”

When Jesse first mentioned the cursed book it hadn't occurred to me that my father was the man behind it. I figured that I would have heard of it first before he made a move. Now I know it couldn't have been anyone else.

The attempt to steal the cursed book is what alerted the Oscuros that something was coming.

Bianca was hired to acquire it by one of my father’s men, and it trapped Matias’s soul in it.

Then she struck a deal with Brandon Oscuro to help them in exchange for Matias’s soul.

Little did my father know that by bringing Bianca to Brandon, he would position a key player against his rebellion.

Oli rubs his eyes, the tiredness evident on the lines of his face. “The idea came from one of his men, I think.” He looks at the clock on the wall. “Must we talk about this right now?”

I follow his eyes. “Why?”