Touch of Flame

Chapter 9

“I am very worried.” She said but she didn’t sound worried at all. She looked down at her notebook and made a few notes. What was she writing?

“You should be worried about yourself.” He told her.

She gazed up at him. Her cold eyes almost made him shiver. They could look soulless sometimes. Ignoring his remark she continued to ask her questions.

“To be considered a pureblood, how close to your ancestors do you have to be?”

Why was she curious about this?

“The closest alive.”

“So you have the purest blood among the living ones?”

“Amongst the living males, yes. Have you gotten any use of my blood, professor?”

Ignoring him again, she wrote down a few notes. She was beginning to annoy him again but he couldn’t help his curiosity. He had never seen a woman so cold. So composed and mission-focused.

“You are a black dragon.” She said without looking up from her notebook. “Do you know my father?”

“Every dragon knows your father.”

“One of you killed him.” She said calmly.

“Who told you that?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

He stiffened and she looked up slowly from her notebook, holding her gaze with his. “A black dragon chewed him and spat him out.”

“You saw that?” It was too late. The words had already left his lips.

No. He knew who killed her father and he never cared. Nor should he care. Every dragon had wanted him dead and gone.

“Yes. It was also a black dragon who killed my mother. Burned her.” She said her face remaining void of emotions. It disturbed him in some way. No wonder her eyes looked like that if she witness both her parents die.

“Should I feel bad for you?”

“My father tried to make peace with your clan.”

“Yes?” He raised a brow.

“Nevermind.” She sighed and went back to taking notes again.

Just what was she writing?

“Your father was stupid to hope for peace and it got him killed,” he told her.

She paused for a moment but then continued to write down something.

“And now you don’t want to make the same mistake.” He continued.

Now he got her attention. She lifted her blue gaze without moving her head and they pierced into his eyes. “He made no mistake. He just proved to the rest that war is what you want and so war is what you will get.”

Not if he squeezed the life out of her first. And when minds like hers and her father’s didn’t exist anymore he would kill the rest.

“And your father died in that war.”

“My father continued to live in people’s hearts and through his inventions, he lives in their hopes and in their spirit to fight. He also still lives in your hearts through the hatred you feel for him.” Now he heard some emotions in her voice and her words struck him. She was right. Her father become a part of history, a change in the world so his name would keep living on forever.

He scoffed. It wouldn’t matter once they were all dead. There would be no humans left to study any human history.

The cold princess went back to being composed and writing in her notebook again.

“What important things are you writing?” He asked annoyed.

He wanted to tear that notebook apart.

“I am drawing.” She said without looking up.

What?

“I don’t like to waste my time, so I like to do multiple tasks at once.”

Oh, he thought with disgust. Wasting her time? With him?

God. he clenched his hands into fists. He could not wait to get his hands on her. He had never been so eager to kill someone.

“I thought you came here to question me about your sister.”

“I stopped looking for her. You were right. I am not safe to be around a child and I don’t want to hurt my sister.”

Her calmness had surprised him when he told her she was unfit to be a mother. Any woman would be offended by such remark but it didn’t faze her. She had no wish to be a mother but, he paused and let her scent evade his senses. She smelled so sweet and feminine. So fertile. So… he clenched his jaw forcing her scent out of his mind, not even wanting to think of what it meant.

He looked at her, at her light golden hair, her pale skin, and her muted pink lips. Everything about her was pale. Unlike the dragon women, she lacked color and warmth. She was ice instead of fire and the hot-blooded dragon in him wanted to melt this icy princess. He wanted to burn her with the fire raging in him.

“I don’t believe you.” He said. She wouldn’t give up on her sister when she didn’t even know whether she had a child or not and in what condition she could be.

“Or you don’t want to believe because it isn’t in your favor. You thought you could get out of here so easily.” She shook her head at him. “I spend hours perfecting my father’s invention and mine. They go through multiple tests until I know I can trust them.”

He didn’t doubt it now that he saw her in person. He could tell that she was a perfectionist. She had a sharp eye and didn’t look like someone to be satisfied with just good. Her hands already told him a lot. They were not the hands of a princess. They were scarred, with fresh and old wounds and he wasn’t sure what she did with her nails, but the skin around them was peeled off. The red flesh was clearly visible against her white skin.

Lifting her notebook she held it at a distance and studied her drawing. “I am done.” She said and closed it. She stood up from the chair and began to pack her things.

Wait! Was she leaving?

“I thought you would try your inventions?”

She looked back at him. “I changed my mind. You are already wounded.”

He stood up hastily. “I don’t need your sympathy.”

“Pity.” She corrected. “And I am giving it to you even if you don’t need it or want it.”

After putting everything into her bag she lifted it and turned to him with a pretentious smile that she didn’t in any way try to present as genuine. “I am generous sometimes.”

Malachi was about to make threats but withheld them. She was doing all this to agitate him. He would one day satiate his anger anyway. Being the daughter of a hated professor, he just needed to throw her to any dragons to feast on her and he would make sure to watch and enjoy. Just like her father, she would be chewed and spit out.

“Make sure to rest while you can. I am sure His Majesty…I mean the human king will be here to torture you tomorrow, King Malachi.” She gave him a curt nod and then walked away.

Malachi was left standing there confused. He didn’t know what to make of this encounter. He was trapped and he wasn’t sure if he could get out and what kinds of torture this woman would come with next time.

Malachi could almost see her smirk now with satisfaction. His hands clenched. Yes, he would keep that image of her in his mind to get himself out of this cave and burn down her world.