Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert
“What now?” she asked, tired of all this. “Are you going to kill me or not?”
“Kill you?” The man scoffed, chuckling darkly. “Astrea, why would you think that? I would never hurt you. I simply can’t. You are my Dragonfly.”
She almost wanted to laugh at that, considering her hands and neck still had traces of the silver chains.
“We need more wine here, please!” Joran raised his voice, and Niki walked in with a tray, making Astrea’s confidence fade.
Her ward poured the ruby liquid into Joran’s glass and paused before the second glass at the empty seat.
“Excuse me,” she asked quietly, knowing her place very well. She was still a trainee, and the Ascension was before her. “Should I take the glass to Astrea?”
“Of course not!” Joran’s lips curled, “Astrea is joining me here. Aren’t you, Dragonfly?”
It was a threat. A warning. Niki was here for a reason, and every cell in Astrea’s body screamed that it was a new sick trap. He couldn’t sway her determination, so he found leverage… She thought that no one knew they had gotten close. She tried to make it look like a regular mentor/ward relationship to avoid this exact situation.
Of course, he found out. The Teacher always knew everything. She was stupid to think she could outsmart him.
“Of course,” she replied, trying to hide the venom in her voice, rising gracefully and concealing the storm of emotions inside.
As soon as she sat next to him, Joran’s mood improved. Victories affected him like that, and Astrea already knew she’d lost their first battle in minutes. How stupid was she to think she could last longer? She couldn’t let Niki die or get hurt in her stead. He figured out her only weakness.
Their food was served less than a minute later, but she couldn’t find it in herself to touch anything. She felt trapped again. This wasn’t the bottom of the silver pit, but somehow, it was just as bad.
“Eat something,” Joran told her lazily. “You need to regain your strength. The steak looks especially good today. Just the way you like it.”
“I haven’t eaten normal food in months,” she replied curtly. “If I start shoving meat into my stomach, I will only make myself sick.”
Everyone was gone, and it had been just the two of them again. Joran took her hand and brought it closer to his face, examining the marks on her wrists.
“I am sorry you had to go through this. You know the rules. I am already breaking them by letting you stay alive, but you are the only one I would ever do this for.” He brushed his thumb over the red welt, and she hissed as it was still too fresh. However, waves of relief rippled through her the next moment, soothing the pain and making the marks disappear. “That looks better. Now eat.”
She indeed felt better, her physical strength replenishing from a single touch of his. She’d known he was not a simple shifter creature and had all kinds of abilities for years, but it was rare for him to demonstrate it like this.
They ate in silence, and she was lost. He wasn’t going to kill her; he’d made that clear. But he also couldn’t trust her anymore. What was this dinner for? What was his plan for her? Too many questions she couldn’t ask directly because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answers.
“You think I am too cruel,” he said out of the blue when their plates were taken away. “I am disappointed you feel this way, but I feel that it’s partially my fault. I still can’t process that you believed I would let you die.”
“I know the rules,” she responded quietly, trying not to move her hands to show him how stressed she was by the whole situation. “Any Firstborn who disobeys you dies.”
“But you are not just any Firstborn!” he slammed his fist over the table, making the glasses on it bounce and skitter precariously. “You are my Dragonfly! My one and only disciple. Why do you think I taught you everything I could?”
“To make me your weapon,” she responded bluntly, and he threw his wine glass against the opposite wall, smashing it to pieces. Niki immediately appeared to clean the mess, and Astrea couldn’t help but feel nervous. She did not like that her ward was so close when the Teacher wasn’t in a good mood.
“Is that what you think?” he caught her hand, making her look at him.
“Why else would you train me?” she snatched her hand from his grasp.
His eyes gleamed with fire.
“To make you strong! To make you what you are today.” His response shocked her, but she tried not to read too much into this. “Don’t tell me you never knew how special you are to me, Dragonfly.”
“You had four more Dragonflies,” she reminded him, averting her eyes from his heavy gaze. “I wasn’t that special.”
“Well, it’s three now, thanks to you.” He reminded her that she killed one during her rebellion. “But also— they are there just to be your team when you need it. I only keep them for you and only call them that so that outsiders don’t know which one of you I really care about.”
Astrea didn’t know what to do with this information.
Her Teacher wasn’t a good man. This wasn’t a healthy relationship, and if he wasn’t training her to be his weapon, then she didn’t want to know why she was here in the first place and why he needed her to be that strong.
“I want out,” she said, knowing this was the only rational decision she could make. She couldn’t pretend that everything was fine; she couldn’t act as if she was his little obedient Dragonfly anymore. She had changed, and if she had to die for it, at least she would die true to herself.
He was silent for a while, and she was afraid that he would tell her off now, return her to the pit or worse – kill Niki in front of her. The latter would be the most painful, so she tried really hard not to look in her ward’s direction.
“Let’s make a deal then,” Joran said in a calm voice which echoed through the marble halls, and her eyes darted at him, lips parted in shock.
She knew very well her Teacher’s deals never ended well for the ones who took the bait. The whole Firstborn army was proof of that. They were not called Firstborns for nothing. Once upon a time, each of their parents struck a deal where they promised their firstborn children to Joran in exchange for something, and her Teacher collected without delays. Most were brought here by the age of eight.
Astrea was the only exception because he saved her when her family died. Technically, there wasn’t a deal tying her to this place.
“No,” she said in a tone that took no objections. “I don’t want any deals with you.”
“That means I taught you well,” he smirked, placing his large palm over her delicate hand on the table. “However, this time, it’s the deal or nothing.”
“I’ll take the nothing then.” She gave him another defiant look, which only amused him more.
“I would like more wine.” He accentuated the last word, and Niki appeared instantly. He clearly made a point and reminded her that she had already lost that argument.
Niki disappeared again, and Astrea shot him an irritated look.
“You know she is your best trainee, right?” the woman arched her snow-white brow. “No one’s ward is better than her, and you haven’t had anyone better since–”
“Since you. I am aware,” Joran confirmed nonchalantly, brushing his hand through his dark blonde hair.
“She should be preparing for the Ascension and not pouring wine into glasses!” Astrea spat the words out, regretting them almost instantly. She didn’t need to draw even more attention to Niki.
“And she will be. Once we are done with this nonsense.” Her Teacher wasn’t bothered at all. “It’s all up to you.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?