The Tears of Unicorns

by Victoria Mercier

  ​Lotian can you hear me? I screamed in my head. What happened? Where is everyone?

  ​Whisps of inverted darkness began coiling around my ankles. I realized that I had my body with me and I was naked. Instinctively I covered my intimate places. The mists of darkness within darkness rose on all sides. My heart hammered in my chest. I called my rage, my fire, anything. But my power remained deaf to my calls.

  ​Shit.

  ​The mist began swirling around a place twenty feet from me. It formed a figure as tall as me. It had hair in the color of earth… it, no, she smiled, but it’d never been a cheerful smile. Her smile heralded immeasurable sadness.

  ​Sol.

  ​A mother who has abandoned me. I’d vowed to kill her, but when her cognizant eyes met mine. I knew it’d never happen.

  ​“What do you want?” I shouted. Her form was made of smoke. But my senses didn’t seem to mind that particular detail. She glided toward me and instinctively I made a step back or at least tried. Whisps of darkness held my feet in place. I think, I screamed, but the time suddenly extended and Sol appeared inches from my face. My hands slashed at her but went through without resistance. She smiled at me and when her fist connected with my stomach the pain exploded. I wanted to cry even louder but my opened mouth filled with smoke. I was fucking drowning in the mist?

  ​Time snapped back to normality and my consciousness was blown away.

  *

  ​“…so fucking do something!” Lotian’s voice yelled. He lost his cool. It made me warm inside. He was here. He came…

  ​Lotian realized that I’d regained awareness.

  ​“Get the fucking out of here,” he snapped at the medical staff, then his hands fell on my shoulders. Softly like snowflakes. “You’re alive. Thank the Dragon fucking King. This is outrageous. With all the City Guards crawling in the Academy, they let through the Shard of Delirium here.”

  ​Did he know he looked sexy in his sharp casual jacket? I smiled because no other reaction came to my mind. I sought tranquility, I sought… and just like that memories returned. My heart stuck in my throat and I wanted to ask, but fear was too intense to allow me to speak. What happened to Simona and Rust?

  ​“Where is everyone?” I said soundlessly.

  ​This was a similar room to the one they’d sent after my moment of weakness with Saaron. This time medial equipment seemed to be working. The monitors showed some colorful readings. There was a lot of magic involved: runes, enchantments, and glyphs. Pipes and cables spread like a spider web all over the floor. Many of them connected the bed with the equipment. What were they for? Only if they could paint the walls with something else than muted grayness…

  ​Priorities first.

  ​“Where is everyone?” I repeated. Each word cost me than the previous one.

  ​Lotian’s fingers dug a little into my skin.

  ​“They’re fine. It looks like…” I’ve never suspected that Lotian could hesitate. He was a fucking demi-dragon. Most students fell to one knee before him and even teachers showed deep respect. Right now, this powerful alpha male looked lost. Why? What really happened?

  ​“Tell me,” I said with emphasis.

  ​But as Lotian opened his mouth, the door cracked open and Selene walked in as if she owned this place. My eyes widened. The light stung them, but I didn’t care.

  ​“What is she doing here?” I snapped. The horned pony was the last person I wanted here with me. Yes, she saved me by dismantling the Dual Mind spell that had taken root inside me. And yes, since the situation on the roof she hasn’t done anything suspicious. But no matter how badly I wanted to trust her I couldn’t. There was her engagement with Dramer. It pained like a thorn in my side. Plus, she’d done something to me on the roof, I knew it in my core. “I don’t want her here, Lotian. Can you do something?”

  ​Lotian spun toward Selene. She didn’t twitch in her sparkling black dress. Her hair was short and straight and gleamed in the light emitted by the medical equipment. I wasn’t the one to fret over appearances, but I envied her full silver lips and moon-like eyes. Their depth threatened to suck me in. The aura cast around by her prickled my skin. Selene was the example of beauty more deadly than a brute force of the Wastelands. Her presence here couldn’t be out of worry. She must have an agenda.

  ​“Lotian, you’re dismissed,” she said not even giving him a look. This was downright disrespectful. And you’d think that two months ago these two allied to fight Watermane. Politics in the Academy was ruthless. Alliances meant nothing.

  ​“No chance,” he replied standing in her way. “Nothing happens here without my presence. Flare is my responsibility. Unicorns have no business here. It’s a dragon’s business.” Lotian was a relaxed and easygoing demi-dragon who rarely showed seriousness. This here went through the roof. Each word he uttered was thick with gravity.

  ​My senses picked up surges of their power levels. Was Selene for real? She would oppose a demi-dragon? Yes, she was a demi-unicorn, but still… I remembered how she’d fled when my power had awoken on the day Dramer had brought me to the city.

  ​“You’re challenging the Head of Unicorn House, do you understand?” Selene said without a hint of nervousness. “It could cost you everything.”

  ​“I’m willing to give up on everything, Selene. Flare is all I need.”

  ​Now, if I’d say it shook me, I’d lie. I trembled. Lotian’s words were so, so out of place. We shared our bodies with each other. This morning for the first time he permitted me to give him a blowjob. There wasn’t anything else but sexual attraction. Our relationship has been based solely on carnal needs. Wasn’t it?

  ​Why then my heart hammered as if it wanted to claw its way out of the cage? It longed to be with Lotian. But what about Dramer? Despite the time, my feelings haven’t diminished in the slightest. I blushed and it had nothing to do with rage inside me. Right now, I wished to find myself in Lotian’s muscular embrace. I dreamed of going beyond oral sex with him. I… I wasn’t prepared for the next quest.

  ​Lotian must have decided that Selene wasn’t a threat and turned his back to her.

  ​Saaron appeared behind Selene quietly. He looked official. Stripped suit and sunglasses. Two demi-dragons in the same room. I started to sweat. Suddenly, my imagination entered the strange uncharted territories where I stood naked between Saaron and Lotian. In that vision, they didn’t fight each other. There was some sort of mutual understanding and agreement in their eyes. Did they mean to have me at the same time? A shiver after shiver brought my body to the ecstatic state. I hated Saaron and at the same time, I wouldn’t be able to refuse him if he asked me to repeat our explosive sex.

  ​“Is she okay?” Saaron asked coldly.

  ​Lotian spun. His beautiful confused eyes searched for the source of my shivering. I steeled myself. Always when a demi-dragon was around, a part of me unpeeled itself leaving my soul bare and defenseless. This was so wrong. These two supposed to be my enemies. Instead, Lotian has become my lover and Saaron, he, I guessed, was everything and nothing to me. I know it’s fucked up. But my emotions are a jumble. I can’t make sense of them.

  ​Flare, what’s going on? Lotian asked in my head.

  ​I’d rather not talk about this, I replied hoping to hide the blush.

  ​Saaron passed Selene, his eyes hidden behind the sunglasses, though I sensed the intensity of his gaze on my skin.

  ​For a moment, the Head of Dragon House looked unsure, then he seemed to make his mind up.

  ​“Selene, Lotian, this is the matter of Dragon House. You have nothing to look for here. I need to speak to Flare in private.”

  ​“Forget it, Saaron,” Lotian said.

  ​“I’m afraid, you are wrong about this,” Selene added. “The accident happened in the unicorn’s section, therefore we get the precedence in the investigation.”

  ​Were we in the unicorn’s section? How?

  ​“They only passed through one corri
dor in your section,” Saaron said emotionlessly.

  ​“Yes. It happened to be the same one where the Shard of Delirium had unleashed, so your argument is invalid, Saaron. Flare is our until we deem the investigation finished.”

  ​No way! Horned ponies couldn’t be trusted. Even the fact that this happened in their section should work against them. That Fargo’s friend was a unicorn. Could he be connected to this…?

  ​“You can take your precedence and stuff it…” Lotian murmured ominously. His bond told me of his readiness to fight. “I stay with her, Selene. You should know better than trying to separate two dragons.”

  ​Selene didn’t reply. I bet she considered how far she could push it. Something was telling me that we were inches from a dangerous escalation. No one wanted to back down.

  ​“What are you talking about?” Saaron hissed. He couldn’t maintain his composure anymore. “Why can’t she separate you from Flare?”

  ​“That’s none of your business,” Lotian replied, then he turned back to me and said. “Flare, the medical staff told me there is no reason for you to remain here any longer. You’re a hundred percent healthy. We can leave. I’ll take you to my place, where the Heads of Houses can’t reach you.”

  ​This sounded like a challenge. And like that Saaron lost his cool completely. The air thickened suddenly with three powerhouses getting serious.

  ​Lotian, don’t fight them.

  ​They won’t let me take you otherwise. I don’t know why unicorns want you all of sudden, but I don’t trust them.

  ​But… can you beat them?

  ​I don’t know…

  ​Wisps of the first spells swirled around Lotian’s and Saaron’s hands as Selene’s mental defenses skyrocketed. She prepared to wait out their fight and take the easy win over whoever has survived the duel. No matter what, Lotian couldn’t win, Saaron was stronger than him. Only one way of stopping this madness existed. Saaron had to learn the truth about the spell that had merged my life with Lotian’s.

  ​I opened my mouth to speak at the same time as the first spells were thrown, but they didn’t hit the targets. In the middle of the room appeared another man.

  ​Nix.

  ​He intercepted and neutralized the spells. His jade eyes were clouded by the fury. He wore an official Dragon Corps uniform.

  ​“Are you lost your mind?” he hissed. “You’re in the Academy with hundreds of students around. Do you think you have a right to play with their lives without regard for the consequences?” Nix was mad. I didn’t know if his arrival was a good sign or not. Still, hope surged inside me. Maybe Dramer came with him? But what good would come out of that? If Dramer learned about me and Lotian or Saaron… this place might not survive.

  ​“This is not your business, Nix,” Saaron said reverting to his cool self. “And by the way, shouldn’t your people pick this up? A fucking Shard of Delirium in the Academy? As if Taste of Hate wasn’t enough. This is another breach that can’t be ignored. This is on you Nix.”

  ​Saaron’s power level dropped, though. He fully regained his composure. A little more and the fucker would turn into a statue.

  ​“I can’t comprehend, what captain of the City Guards is doing here?” Selene asked and though I shared her curiosity I was glad for the blonde demi-dragon’s presence. He saved the situation. While his soothing voice had a magical effect on me, it didn’t do much to the rest.

  ​“As of now, the attack in the Academy has become the military matter and I’m the one who is in charge of the investigation. I’ll speak to you all, separately. Now, you’ll leave the room. Except for the victim.” His melodic tone was quite a definitive one. I didn’t like him calling me the victim. It gave off a feeling of indifference.

  ​“No—”

  ​“Wait, Lotian. I’ll be okay.”

  ​Are you sure? I’ve never been close to Nix, but he is a fair and honest guy.

  ​I know. I trust him.

  ​Lotian nodded to Nix then frowned at his other brother. Saaron was torn, his face masked the struggle, but for someone who has cultivated a stone-like expression for most of his life, a sliver of emotion could appear obvious.

  ​“I need to speak to my mother,” Selene said and for a couple of seconds her face became distant, though she stayed in the room. When her mind returned, she left without a word. Only three demi-dragon brothers remained in the room with me. Heat exploded between my legs. Instinctively, I slammed my thighs together. Gods, their proximity alone made me wet. A few seconds more and I’d hyperventilate. Why did demi-dragons have such an effect on me?

  ​“How long are you going to stand here, Saaron?” I asked. It’s was complicated. I’d give anything for a moment with Saaron, but at the same time, I desired to see him gone. It wasn’t normal.

  ​“For now, you can have her, but tides will turn, Nix. And then… you should be careful.” Saaron’s obvious threat has hung in the air long after he disappeared. Lotian was the last to leave despite his agreement to do so.

  ​I’m sorry, Flare. This happens when you get caught in the politics. Stay strong and if you need me. Call me.

  ​Unlike Saaron and Selen, Lotian left through the door.

  ​Nix didn’t say anything for a full minute. Then he snapped back to reality. Spells came out of him sealing the room.

  ​“Nix.”

  ​“Flare, I would love to find ourselves in different circumstances…” he paused, gathering his thoughts. “You are lucky to come out of this unscathed.”

  ​“Are my friends truly okay?”

  ​“Yes. The attack was purely aimed at you. It must have taken a colossal effort to attune such a powerful artifact to one person. I wish I could say it was a prank or an accident, but… I’m going to be honest with you. This is serious and whoever stands behind it, has power and connections. Saaron said the truth. This is on me. We should have found the Shard earlier.”

  ​“But I live, Nix. I’m okay and they can only come up with… how many Shards like this exist out there?” It was a poor attempt on my part to lift the moon.

  ​Nix turned away from me.

  ​“Flare, there are going to be political repercussions. Serious ones. First, Elleria had brought a fire beast and Taste of Hate into the Academy while hundreds of members of faculty and students had been trapped by her spells that forced them to fight each other. Two months later this happens. But this time, under my nose.”

  ​“What will happen now?”

  ​“It’s up to the Academy’s board and my father to decide… there is something else I wanted to ask you. Your friends. I mean that fairy boy and the elemental girl. How well do you know them?”

  ​I found this question hard to answer. Not because I didn’t know what to say, but I sensed the consequences of my words. We happened to take the exact unicorn’s corridor, which had the Shard waiting for me. Vesalius Black led us there. He picked the way.

  ​“Why do you ask?”

  ​Nix’s lips pursed. He looked troubled. Clearly, he knew more about the incident that he gave out. I began probing him.

  ​“Tell me, what do you know about this attack and… Elleria, where is she? Did she say something? Maybe she is connected to this? Hugman, what about him? And…” The last question involved the man I’ve craved more than anything under the sun. “And Dramer, what about him? Is he alright?”

  ​Nix nodded. He was handsome and the combination of his jade eyes and blonde hair made my mouth water. He considered his response while walking in circles.

  ​“Dramer. He is away, beyond the walls. His stunt with Saaron made our father furious. Or at least it seemed as such at the time. I can’t really tell why or where he was sent.” This made me nervous. It stank of unicorns’ scheming, but also how much did Nix hide from me?

  ​“Unicorns…”

  ​“Not likely. My father doesn’t answer to Mirenne. And he’s rarely agreed with her. I wouldn’t worry about Dramer… he’s a tough bastard
. About Elleria though I have no good news. Unfortunately, she is out of the picture and, please Flare, what I’m about to say must stay in this room.”

  ​I nodded in agreement.

  ​“Her mind has been wiped out.”

  ​“Wait, what? How? So, what does it mean?”

  ​“It means she is gone. Her brain must learn everything from scratch. She can’t even feed herself anymore. We don’t know who or when did it.”

  ​“Could this be the same… person or faction who tried to kill me?”

  ​Nix loosened his red uniform and I very much wished he’d take it off. Focus, stupid. Focus! Your mind turns into a mush when a demi-dragon is close.

  ​“That’s the current consensus. Whoever stood behind Elleria’s attack, tries to take care of loose ends. But this might be exactly what we need. It may mean that you know something.”

  ​“But I don’t know anything. Everything I know, I told to… oh, I understand now.” The realization hit me with the impetus of a striking hammer. Right in the face. I might not be aware of knowing anything because this knowledge had been locked by the Dual Mind spell. Suddenly lucid I jumped off the bed.

  ​“They are after information Elleria put inside my head through the Dual Mind spell.” Mostly the faculty knew that Elleria had controlled me through the Green Eye and the Dual Mind spell. Only these two things kept me in the Academy instead of a prison.

  ​Nix’s mouth formed a weak smile.

  ​“It is possible. None the less, I have to find out more about Oceania and Vesalius Black. If you didn’t know Vesalius is a son of a shady businessman Markus Black. Tell me about them.”

  Chapter 6

  Rebecca has exchanged more than a hundred messages with Simona’s and Rust’s personal assistants since leaving the medical unit. For now, I decided to keep a little distant to Oceania and Vesalius Black. According to Nix, Vesalius countered the Shard of Delirium with the spell of his own and the Green Midnight I’d drunken earlier gave me a chance at getting out of this unharmed.