Pulling hard out of his hold, he said, “Let me go,” through gritted teeth.
He had already wasted too much time. What was his father going to do? What had he already done?
Sprinting, he wove through the hallway, through the classmates that hated him, through the school that confined him.
“Adair!”
He hadn’t realized that Memphis had been on his heels, and with a flash of blond hair, he was in front of him, arms crossed.
“What happened?” Memphis asked. His voice was quiet, his ice blue eyes piercing into Adair.
Adair’s chest was heaving, fists clenched tightly at his sides. He licked his dry lips, trying to begin to explain why he had to go now, that he couldn’t even begin to explain what his dad had been doing, what he was about to do. He could feel the stares burning into his back, the judgements, the whispers of the students around him. His world was tipping, and he was drowning in it.
Snapping his gaze past Memphis, Adair felt that small protected part of himself crack, falling into oblivion. Falling into darkness.
“Get out of my way now, or I will make you.”
Memphis’s eyes widened slightly, the only sign of hurt flickering across his face.
Adair’s anger was liquid fire in his veins, consuming him, incinerating him. It was effortless to abandon himself, diving into his ability that was always waiting just beneath the surface. Waiting for him to come home.
Memphis’s mind was an iron seal, but Adair overtook him within seconds. Not wasting any time, he dove deeper into Memphis’s muscle memory. Pouring his breaking heart into his actions, Memphis clawed against him, ripping and tearing at Adair, trying to stop him. But he barely noticed.
Adair felt his power overflowing, tipping the scales, knowing he was about to land the finishing blow.
“Adair, no.”
Memphis voice was distant and weak, and Adair suffocated him, pushing him further down until darkness snapped liked a whip and consumed them both.
Adair took a gulping breath as he was snapped back into his body, looking at a crumpled Memphis in front of him.
“What did you do?”
Adair raised his gaze to a pale faced boy with flaming red hair. Adair shrugged. “He is just knocked out, Alby.”
Rushing to Memphis, Alby yelled something at him, but Adair was already running, his adrenaline fueling him, pushing him harder, faster.
What had he done?
The concrete world around him was a blur, and panic sunk its steady claws into his mind. He had crossed a line. He pushed the thought down. Memphis wouldn’t have let him go otherwise.
How could Adair possibly start to explain what had happened? Who would understand? Who would listen to the shadows of his heart when they kept him at a distance? Who would see that he was desperately trying to be a man and not a weapon?
A choked cry escaped from him, and Adair threw the doors to the Academy open, the afternoon sunlight pouring over him. Cesan was in the courtyard, his gruff voice snapping commands at several senior students.
“Dad!”
Cesan turned slowly, taking him in. Adair took one step, his mind reeling when thundering footsteps sounded from the hallway.
“CESAN!”
Roque’s voice made Adair flinch, and the door exploded open behind him. Roque, Nei, and his mother appeared first. Tadeas and his entourage quickly following behind them.
Adair was swept to the side, but Bresslin stopped to crouched down and cup his cheek, “Adair, did he do this to you?”
Ice crusted over his skin at his silence, and Bresslin stood, her eyes slits as she took in her husband. Cesan, in a fluid motion, gripped a hilt beneath his jacket and, with a hiss, brandished a black steel blade.
His grin was twisted, contorting his handsome features as he yelled to Roque alone, “No more, Roque! I will not bow to you! A desolate, weak man! How dare you string me along on your empty promises for years! How dare you go back on everything you promised my family! Promised me! I will be King, and I promise you, you will wish you hadn’t crossed me.”
A ripple of anger spread through them at his words, and Roque walked down the steps, appraising his best friend.
“Cesan, listen to me. Don’t do this. What are my choices? The world constantly changes, and it demands that people either accept it, or they will fall stagnant in this life. I will not make my father’s mistakes.” He shook his head. “For the first time in years, we have the chance to make our alliances stronger instead of continuing to break them. Stay with me. Please.”
Mad, crackling laughter erupted from his father and dread filled Adair as Cesan raised a dark eyebrow and breathed, “No.”
Adair saw it in slow motion at first, Cesan running full tilt toward Roque, that mad dark gleam shining in his eyes, and Adair knew in his heart exactly what he was about to do, before anyone else could react. He was born from ice and darkness, and he was his father’s son through and through. He was the only one who could stand up to Cesan.
“Dad, NO!”
Adair exploded past the group, shoving arms and bodies out of his way, and flung his physical body off the step, but his ability was already soaring, pouring out of him like smoke. And it wrapped itself around Cesan. It was like hitting a brick wall, battering repeatedly, all his energy pouring into this single action only to get pinned.
He was slammed back into his physical body, the air knocked out of his lungs from the force of his father’s ability. He landed hard on the ground, his head cracking from the impact. Wheezing, Adair rolled, white spots dancing in his vision. Cesan’s blade slammed into the ground right where Adair had been a second before.
“Do you think you are strong enough to stop me?”
Scrambling back from his father, from his words, from his violence, his voice cracked as Adair begged, “Dad, please. Stop. Listen to them. Listen to me. I’m
