Luckily, Xiao let me go from his office after making me swear not to tell anyone about my power. He said the only exception to that rule would be to my fellow heirs to the Crown.

"They deserve to know." Xiao had said. "They have spent quite a long time looking for you, ren flavia."

I was now sitting uncomfortably in the edge of my seat. How could this have happened? One day, my life was perfect. I could just sit comfortably on my couch eating potato chips, and the biggest thing I'd have to worry about was cleaning the apartment before Tracy got home, or remembering to do the dishes. Now, I was the most powerful kid on a campus full of kids that were half-dragon! How could this have happened? What did I do to deserve something like this? Literally nothing!

Now, half of my classes had been replaced with private tutoring lessons, including another meeting with Xiao. Even my weekends weren't free! Luckily, I still had some regular classes, three to be exact. Vistra, Magic Basics, and my current class, Dragonomy.

"Ms. Kaida!"

The sound of the teacher's—whose name was Mr. Zarskoff—voice snapped me out of my own little pity party. "Wha...?"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd pay attention." Mr Zarskoff snapped as he sipped some coffee out of a mug, continuing the lesson.

"Now, the Kingdom of Sciana is divided into twelve provinces: Ar'yana; Texanu; Gaem; Buzan; Kinala; Palu; Palo; Skazari; The Royal City of Eterna and the Shadow Realm, Orcen. Every province, save for Orcen and Eterna, have leaders of their lands, with three advisors for each of the tribes within each province—save for Texanu which has only had two for two thousand years since the last Ronkai ruled in the Crown. Eterna, as you know, is ruled by the Crown, and their dictation lies over all the other lands' leaders, save from Orcen which is left alone due to a peace treaty that the dragons signed with the shadow creatures three hundred years ago. We lived in harmony and coexistence, until one dragon took over." Mr. Zarskoff set down his mug after taking another sip, then began to pace back and forth across the front of the room.

"This dragon performed a coup d'etat, usurped the throne of Orcen from Emperor Xyne, and took over rule of all the shadow creatures, but that wasn't enough for this dragon. This dragon took over the Crown and committed a mass genocide of Scale Children that lived among the dragons, causing them to flee to the only place where this dragon wouldn't find them: the human world. This dragon is the reason that Eternal Academy's numbers have drastically grown in the past fifteen years, giving us so many new arrivals that needed homes that we had to build the dorms." He paused and looked at all of the students. "Now can anyone here tell me the name of this dragon?" All hands, including mine, shot up in the air except for Adrian's. Mr. Zarkskoff's eyes scanned over the crowd, but they lingered on one student. "Mr. Skalanias. Answer."

Adrian warily stood up, all eyes flying to him. He cleared his throat and looked straight at the front of the classroom. I watched him swallow before he spoke. "T-That dragon would be K-Kali, sir."

"That's correct." Mr. Zarskoff said. "Let me ask you, how did it feel helping your mother murder hundreds—maybe even thousands—of innocent Scale Children? Hm? How did it feel helping your mother take over the throne? How does it feel having every single one of your peers seeing you for what you truly are under that innocent facade?" Mr. Zarskoff got closer and closer with each sentence, until he was finally at Adrian's desk. He slammed his fist on the desk. "You are a monster, Mr. Skalanias!"

I winced. The way Mr. Zarskoff said Adrian's last name hurt like an arrow through the heart.

"No..." Adrian's eyes were full of fear. "I've changed! I'm not like that anymore! You have to believe me, Kali-"

"Lies!" Mr. Zarskoff yelled, his eyes full of fury. "You killed my younger brother right in front of my eyes!"

"I swear I didn't-"

"And that's why I had to come to Eternal, to teach Scale Children about dangerous demons such as yourself. Now, you come here enrolled as a student. Some other students may be fooled, but you don't fool me. I know who you are, Mr. Skalanias. You are a stone-cold, heartless killer. You don't care about anyone but yourself. You absolutely disgust me!"

"I've already told you, just please listen-"

"Silence!" Mr. Zarskoff's veins began to bulge from his forehead. "Look at your fellow student body! Even they are disgusted with you."

I grit my teeth, my fingers itching to strangle the older man. How dare he embarrass a student like this in front of a classroom?

"I've made this clear many times. M-My mother let a shadow creature take control of my body because I was naturally opposed to violence. I-I apologize for my past actions, but believe me, I didn't want to do any of it!" Adrian said earnestly, his emotion showing through his face.

"Oh, tell it to the judge." Mr Zarskoff brushed him off. "You are a disgrace to all to we believe in, Mr. Skalanias. Or would it be more comfortable to call you by the name Ender?"

I saw Adrian flinch.

"I see you still know that name quite well. Isn't that the very name you went by, striking fear into the hearts of every denizen of Sciana?"

Adrian remained silent.

"You know what I can't wait for? The day when the King comes back to his throne. Whether it be Ignacius himself or the ascending Prince Scarlett, you will be brought to justice. Your day of reckoning is near, Mr. Skalanias." He looked me straight in the eyes, a smirk on his moustached face. "Isn't that right, Ms. Kaida?"

Now all eyes in the classroom were on me. As angry as I was with my teacher, I wasn't just risking his disappointment if I said the wrong thing; I had an entire classroom of students watching me, waiting to see what the newly found Prince of Sciana had to say about this issue. I mentally scolded myself for thinking like that. I remembered Xenra's advice. I had to stay true to myself, no matter how much pressure was on me, no matter how high the odds were stacked against me.

I took a deep breath and stood up as I spoke. "In all honesty, Mr. Zarskoff, I think that you're being a little too biased with your accusations." I said. "Yes, I understand that Ender has killed your brother in the past, but you still have no evidence whatsoever to prove whether or not Adrian's claims are truth or lies. Therefore, your accusations of his guilt have no proof to stand upon. Until I have solid proof—and that does not mean past bias and opinions—of whether or not he is in fact guilty, I will refuse to judge him one way or the other."

I stood there, kind of shocked by what I said. Man, I sounded like a lawyer. Where in the world did that come from? It must have been some sort of Dragon King power within me.

Mr. Zarskoff nodded, not opposed by what I said. The entire student body seemed to agree with my words as well. "Mature girl." The teacher praised. "You answer the way your father would have. But believe me, in time you'll see him the way I—and most of the sensible people here at Eternal Academy—do."

I crossed my arms. "I'll see Adrian for what he truly is, and what I currently see is a proper young man who has the odds stacked against him by hypocritical people who won't even take the time to give him a chance. Until I am proven otherwise, my thoughts on this issue stand firm. And, as a matter of fact, this discussion here has just led me to the conclusion that a teacher, such as yourself, is blatantly making accusations against your students, in front of everyone else, should be against a rule itself."

Mr. Zarskoff threw up his hands. "Suit yourself, Prince Scarlett. I know you'll see what I see eventually."

I sat back down and drummed my fingers on the top of the table as Mr. Zarskoff began teaching about the province of Texanu, which was the birthplace of Ignacius and Kali and the home of the Fire Dragons. He told us about the Ash Tribe, the Flame Tribe and the lost Tribe of Dragon Soul. I could barely listen to him. My mind was too focused on talking to Adrian. If it was true what Mr. Zarskoff said about him being Kali's son, I had to confront him about it. I knew exactly what I had to do.

As the bell rung, signaling the end of class, I stood up out out of my chair and grabbed Adrian by the arm as I walked out of class. I said nothing, I just kept looking forward.

"L-Look, Scarlett, I-I can explain!" Adrian stuttered. "It's n-not what you think!"

I stopped walking once we got outside. I glared at him and dragged him under the shade of a blooming apple tree. Normally, I would have stopped to admire the spring blossoms, but now was not the time. I let go of Adrian and folded my arms across my chest.

"I can't believe you conveniently forgot to mention this crucial piece of information to me." I scolded him. "Kali's your mom?!"

"J-Just let me-"

I shook my head. "No. Adrian...I can't believe you! Why didn't you tell me?" I looked in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what this means?"

Adrian's head hung in guilt. "I was going to tell you eventually, but I swear I didn't mean to hurt you. I figured I'd tell you once we got closer. I'm fully ready to accept if you don't want to be my friend, or want anything to do with me."

I cocked my head and raised my eyebrow. "What? That's not what I was going to say at all. It's just..." I looked down. "After all this time, I finally have come in contact with someone I'm related to! You're my family! I'm your cousin!"

"Second cousin, actually."

"Close enough." I looked back up into Adrian's eyes. He was crying.

"What's wrong, Adrian?" I asked.

He grit his teeth. "Scarlett, you may easily accept my lineage, where I come from, but not very many others do. My mother, your cousin, she..." Tears began to fall off his cheeks like little raindrops, a silent downpour. "You have no idea what it's like growing up with Kali as a mother."

I sat down next to the roots of the apple tree and patted the ground next to me, inviting him to sit down. He did so, and took a deep breath. I reached over to grab his shoulder, but he flinched at the small movement. I fiddled with my hands in my lap instead, deciding against making any more sudden movements in the future.

"Do you...do you want to talk about it?" I asked him, allowing concern into my voice.

Adrian pulled a small object from his messenger bag. He began twirling it around and between his fingers, the action seeming to calm him down and stop his crying. I looked closer to see that it was a black and purple friendship bracelet. He took a deep breath before he started talking.

"My mother artificially created me from a human body and the soul of a dragon that sacrificed himself so I could be created, and she took the two, and used magic to fuse them together, and bring me to life. Ever since day one, it's been a literal living hell; I played with shadow creatures as friends, but I showed none of their violent tendencies. My mother was immediately disappointed with me—she wanted a killer, not a friendly face. She told me I was useless, a mistake. My mother used to release starving shadow creatures on me whenever I did something wrong. They'd...they'd drain most of my blood and leave me disoriented for days. And if that wasn't enough, sometimes sh-she would punish me herself."

Adrian moved a lock of his hair aside to reveal a white, deep scar that ran from his hairline down to his jaw. I gasped. How could a mother do this to her own child? I watched as Adrian self-consciously covered the scar back up with is hair and took another deep breath.

"She took it too far when she let a shadow creature take over my body. Her name was Kage, and she was everything I wasn't. Imagine being fully aware of your body, and the actions you make, but being powerless to stop what you were doing." Adrian began to cry again. "I killed so many people, Scarlett. I watched them all die by my hands. And the worst part is, no one lets me forget it, either. Of course, Kage was eventually removed from my body by a student on campus, but no one can see—or even want to see—that I'm not Ender. I'm not who they think I am, I never was that person. They can't see that I'm me! I'm Adrian, not that piece of garbage!"

I slowly moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace. I couldn't help it. I was completely moved by his story.

"Scarlett...?" He asked, a note of uncertainty ringing in his voice. "What...what are you doing?"

"I am giving you a hug, idiot." I answered.

He loosened up. "It...it feels really nice." He said. "Why are you doing this to me? It feels as though someone actually cares about what I have to say about this."

"Really? Well, I guess the reason I'm doing this, is because I care for you. You are the first biological family I have ever met in my life, and I don't plan on putting that to waste." I answered, wrapping my arms tighter around him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're long overdue for one."

Adrian said nothing for a bit, then completely relaxed in my arms. He began to bawl like a little kid, so I did what Tracy used to do whenever I would start crying. I let him lay his head on my chest, and I ran my hands through his hair in a repetitive and comforting motion. After a while, Adrian's tears stopped.

I felt something warm within him. Somehow, I could tell what it was: thankfulness. Adrian finally looked up at my gaze and smiled.

"Thank you."

I smiled. "Of course, that's what family's for." I began to stand up and held out my hand for him to grab. "Come on, you probably have a class to get to, don't you?"

Adrian shook his head. "Actually, I don't. Today I have a meeting with Xiao."

"What a coincidence." I mused. "So do I."

As he took my hand and I pulled him up, I pat him on the shoulder.

"Oh, and Adrian?"

"Yes?"

I laughed. "For the record, you need to stop blaming yourself for the death of all those Scale Children. It's not your fault. Kali let the Shadow Creature possess you, and like you said, you were helpless to stop Kage. You were used as a tool for somebody else's doing, and that's not right at all. If anything, it's your mother's fault."

His eyes widen. "You really think so?"

I nodded. "Yes, Adrian. I know so."

He stayed silent for a bit. "Is...is it okay if I give you a hug now?"

I laughed and nodded. He approached me tentatively, as if he was afraid I would break. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Scarlett...thank you for your friendship. You have no idea how much this means to me. I promise you that when we go into battle against Kali, I'll be fighting right by your side." He said earnestly.

The son of darkness will be your ally.

I had no idea where I had heard it before, but the line rung through my head. I knew right then and there that Adrian had told me the truth, and in the battle against Kali, he'd be invaluable as an ally.

Hey! I'm not dead! And Oh my gosh! We're up to 708 reads and 90 votes! How awesome is that?! I mean I could not create better fans. You guys are amazing. Thank you for each and every vote/comment. I totally appreciate them. Also, can I take this moment to say I hate math? I hate it so much. I mean, I get how it works and everything, but I really don't see how apart from the basics we'll need this for life. I mean I get problems like if your yard is x feet long and y feet wide and it costs 73 cents for a square foot of grass seed, how much will it cost to cover your entire lawn? But when am I going to be graphing polynomials on a daily basis or explaining to my boss how many radians are in 47 degrees? I mean come on! Well, that's been my tiny rant moment, and thank you for listening to it. Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Signing off, Kiera Savage