Touch of Flame

Ravina decided to ignore the prisoner for a week before talking to him again even if that meant waiting to find her sister. There was no other way. A week shouldn’t be long considering how long she had been searching for her sister already, but no matter what she told herself it was hard to just wait. Therefore she kept herself extremely occupied with her inventions.

She would go outside each time to test the new developments she made and then go back and try again when she wasn’t satisfied.

“Your Highness, that is the farthest a spear has been shot. This is great.” The soldier said.

“It is not,” she disagreed calmly and went back to make another change. She came back outside again and asked the same soldier to try so he could see himself if there was a difference and understand what she was trying to achieve.

“Oh,” he said watching the spear shoot into the air. “It has more force now.”

Good. Then she was on the right track.

“There needs to be enough force so when it hits the dragon, it never bounces off their skin. They are flying and moving around. That also affects the impact.”

The soldier nodded thoughtfully. He then turned to her with a smile. “Thank you for your hard work, Your Highness. Many less of us have died because of your developments.”

She just stared at him. These kinds of situations made her uncomfortable. She gave him a curt nod and walked away.

“Ravina!” Suddenly her uncle joined her in the inventory. He would probably nag her about eating again. “Have you eaten?”

“No.”

“Come. I came late so I am also eating now. Join me and I have something to discuss with you.”

Ravina nodded and joined him for lunch. Her uncle had been dealing with the new prisoner while she ignored him, but he still wasn’t able to make him talk. Ravina didn’t even want to know what methods he was using. She had seen her uncle grow cold and cruel after her father’s death. Now he was annoyed he couldn’t get any information from his new captive.

Ravina had told him to not bother. With this one, they would have to try some new tactics. She also told him about her suspicion that the prisoner could have let himself get captured. Her uncle shared her suspicion but he was a step ahead. King Malachi could be doing this to cause a war. The dragons would not stay silent having their king imprisoned, so her uncle had spent the whole week equipping the castle even more.

“I have invited Lord Steele to join us at the grand dinner party.” Her uncle began.

“Thank you,” Ravina said.

She didn’t want to get married but she knew if she wanted to be safe she had to. In this dangerous world, her uncle could die at any time and she needed a male protector. A man as adventurous and self-confident as Lord Steele would allow her more freedom than anyone else.

“You don’t sound happy.” He pointed. “Do you not wish to get married?”

“I do.” She replied.

“Ravina, you can talk to me. I want you to be happy.”

She looked up from her plate. He watched her pleadingly. Happiness? What was that? She couldn’t remember the last time she smiled or laughed genuinely. She didn’t live to be happy.

“I feel like I failed you by getting you involved in this. I know you want to fight our enemies and I have had great use of your developments. You have been a great help but I can’t let you sacrifice yourself just so I can use your inventions.”

“You are not sacrificing me. I want this and my happiness is not more important than the people dying.”

“Your father and I promised each other if anything happened to one of us, we would take care of each other’s children. I think your father would be disappointed in me if he saw you like this. I don’t think this is what he wanted for you.”

Ravina began to peel her cuticles under the table. Something she did when she fought back her emotions.

“I want you and your sister when found to live away from all this and built your own families where you are happy.”

She remained quiet looking down at her hands, continuing to peel her cuticles viciously and making them almost bleed.

“Also…” He began lowering his voice. “I do find Lord Steele to be a great choice. He is powerful enough to protect you.”

Ravina looked at him worried. What was he implying?

He forced a smile. “You know, anything can happen to me anytime. I want you gone from the castle before anything happens.”

He knew his son would hurt her.

“Well, I need you to stay alive much longer than you intend to.”

He chuckled as he chewed but the sound was somehow sad. “I can’t believe I lived so far.” He said his eyes becoming distant. Her uncle, just like her, rarely allowed himself to become emotional. “I was the reckless one and your father was the clever one. Our parents always thought I would die first.” He returned to cutting the meat on his plate to distract himself. Then he put it in his mouth and chewed slowly.

Ravina knew how he felt. Her father and uncle were also twins. Also inseparable before being separated. Her father was the inventor and her uncle the tester. The clever and the reckless like he said. She knew how empty he felt without his brother. His other half. She was glad that at least he didn’t witness her father’s death. Still, her once cheerful uncle had become cold.

“Anyway,” He cleared his throat. “I have saved some wealth for you and bought a land. Even if something happens with Lord Steele, I want you to be safe.”

He prepared so many steps ahead as if he was going to die tomorrow.

“Is there something going on that I don’t know?” She asked.

“No Ravina. I am just preparing for the future. We should always be prepared.”

She nodded and went back to eat her food. This was depressing and she was already depressed. She didn’t want to see her uncle dead. It would be as if her father died all over again. His face alone kept her alive sometimes. The face that looked exactly like her father’s. If not for their different behaviors, no one would have been able to tell apart from them, just like her and Corinna.

For the rest of the day, Ravina continued to work with her inventions. Bram was doing his usual experiments. “Did you find anything?” She asked him.

“Sedatives are useless. I have tried different ones. Strong ones. It only works for a short period because he recovers fast.”

“Let’s forget the immortalizer.” She said. “How about obsidian?”

“It works. His Majesty is using it to torture him but he is not an easy one.”

“Do you think they are the ones who killed father?” She asked straightforwardly.

“I know the dragons were black,” Bram said.

Yes, she remembered. The dragon who killed her father was a black one and he didn’t just kill him in self-defense. It was as if he targeted them and then tried to kill them in the most brutal way he could.

The Azar clan were the black dragons. There were also red, blue, green, and white dragons. As a result of interbreeding, there were also hybrids with other colors.

The black dragons were known to be the superior ones, the stronger ones, but her father’s research showed that the color of the dragon made no difference. It was the blood and the black dragons mostly kept their blood pure. She guessed it must be a choice of breeding. Perhaps why Malachi and his clan were not of “some” to use humans as breeding stocks. It would weaken them and they always had a thirst for power.

She scoffed loudly and Bram looked up from the liquid he was studying. “What is it?”

She shrugged. “I was just thinking of how breedmates can be honored and respected.”

Bram smiled. “They have a different culture. When reproduction is not as fast as the humans then I guess breedmates become sought out and worshipped.”

He left the table and went to grab one of his old notebooks. He flipped through the pages and she waited knowing there was something he wanted to tell her.

“Oh yes, here.” He said when he reached a certain page. “A breedmate is a strong dragon, male or female, of pure blood, chosen to produce strong offspring.”

“Chosen by who?”

“Often a breedmate is chosen by the elders in a clan to be the ones to reproduce most offspring. Often with another breedmate.”

“That sounds terrible.” She said. “And the others are supposed to reproduce less offspring?”

“This information is what we found in the beginning but during my research with your father, we found different information. Dragons like most animals choose their partner by scent. The scent tells them about health, the compatibility of blood, and when it is time to mate. This way they know which partner is right to reproduce the healthiest offspring with and that is what they call a breedmate.”

“Oh. Those two are completely different things.”

“Yes.”

“Then it seems it is mostly about health. What about keeping the blood pure?”

“The compatibility of blood often means that the strongest blood survives or the strongest qualities of both types of blood are passed on. That is why producing healthy offspring is equal to producing strong offspring unlike what most dragons first believed. They tried to keep the blood pure, to keep themselves strong, and therefore forced breeding between pureblood dragons who were often close relatives and that didn’t work well in their favor. It produced the opposite effect.”

Ravina nodded.

“The black dragons seem to have discovered that. They are known to be the dragons with the longest life span, which makes their clan grow bigger and therefore stronger. It also makes the good blood components to be passed on.”

She shouldn’t be surprised. The new prisoner was cunning. He wasn’t one to only rely on strength. She hated to know that his clan discovered this and was thriving. The ones who killed her father. She would make him suffer, but first things first. He would help her find her sister.

To be tactful, Ravina ignored him for yet another three days. Now that ten days passed since his arrival, she decided to go and see him. She knew with the torture he went through during those days, she would find him in a bad condition.

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