Chosen By Ruin

Pure Brutality

“Speak.”

Xaden’s voice cuts through the vast hall like a hot coal dragged slowly across bone.

His fangs elongate, gleaming under the dim lights like a deadly promise.

The small noise around us dies almost instantly, as if the entire room wants nothing to do with his wrath.

I can’t breathe properly.

The boy in his grip trembles, blood already staining the front of his shirt where Xaden’s fingers press too tightly around his throat. But the boy’s eyes… his eyes don’t look defeated. It’s full of malice as he glares upward at Xaden. Whatever he did, he’s not sorry.

“I… I tried to…” His voice cracks, but he forces the words out anyway. “Wake the dragon.”

A collective gasp erupts across the hall.

My heart stumbles.

Dragon?

The word sends a cold ripple down my spine. My mind struggles to catch up, to make sense of what I just heard, but it refuses to settle. A dragon? Here? In this academy?

Before anyone else can react, a woman steps forward, and my stomach instantly drops as I recognized her.

She was the same woman that warned me to stay out of her path because she and Hannah’s mother are enemies.

Her half-face length brunette hair frames her oval-made up face, lips colored with a sharp shade of red, making her look more intimidating. She stops directly in front of Xaden. “Release him, Xaden.” she says.

“No.” Xaden objects easily without taking his gaze off the boy who claimed to have tried waking a dragon.

Her gaze hardens. “Release. Him.”

For a moment, I think he won’t.

Then, with visible reluctance, Xaden lets go.

The boy collapses to his knees, gasping for air as Xaden steps back, his expression still carved from pure hostility.

Movement flickers at the edge of my vision. And I see Darian stepping forward, only to stop before the scene.

I blink once, twice, my heart stuttering at how identical they look. I don’t think I can get over it. The same height. The same build. The same face carved by something almost inhumanly perfect.

Only the hair and the tattoos tell them apart.

Darian’s gaze briefly catches mine. It lingers just long enough for me to feel seen. Too seen might I add- because I’m slightly aware of how rough I look.

His gaze shifts, flicking to Liam beside me, then back to the unfolding scene with a slight frown. I can’t bother about what he’s thinking right now.

The gruesome scene before me has the best of my attention.

I watch with my breathe pausing in my throat as the woman crouches in front of the boy.

Then slowly, she speaks- her voice silent yet audible like that of a venom. “You tried to wake the dragon?”

The boy lifts his head, defiance blazing through his fear. “I am the last true dragon rider,” he says hoarsely. “The dragon belongs to me. I’ve been working on the right spells to claim it.”

A scoff escapes her.

“You?” she says, almost amused. “You think you are Vorth’s rider when you can barely survive second-year mage training without collapsing?”

“I am,” he insists, jaw tightening. “I’m the true rider.”

Murmurs ripple through the crowd.

Then a man steps forward, his voice cold and decisive. “Enough of the interrogation, Professor Imogene. He should be locked in the c*****e until sentencing. Attempting to wake a dragon we’ve put to sleep for more than a year now is treason.”

My head spins.

Put a dragon to sleep… for a year? And are they talking about a real dragon?

What do I even know about this school?

“I agree,” Professor Imogene says without hesitation. She straightens and calls out two names I don’t comprehend. Take Finn to—“

She doesn’t finish her words, because at that moment in time, Xaden crosses her, and the next thing we all see after hearing the sharp, wet sound of fangs cutting ruthlessly into skin, is blood splattered on the floor.

I blink.

Xaden just tears into the boy’s throat with brutal precision, and for a heartbeat, no one moves. Even Liam straightens beside me.

Finn’s body hits the ground, falling dead on the floor.

Gasps erupt in the hall.

Professor Imogene stares at the dead body with wide eyes, then turns to Xaden sharply. “Xaden, what have you done?!”

Even Darian freezes, his eyes widening in clear shock.

Xaden looks… calm. There is no trace of regret in his expression as blood drips from his hands. His black hair have fallen more, covering the upper part of his face almost entirely. And with that bland expression on him? He doesn’t look approachable.

He turns slowly, facing everyone, and the shift in his stance makes majority step back.

His cold baritone voice fills the room, “If anyone tries to break a rule that puts this academy at risk,” he lets the words sit, “they should die.” He completes.

A older man steps forward angrily. “You don’t take the law into your own hands—”

Xaden scoffs, cutting him off with a look.

“You weren’t vigilant enough to notice a student trying to betray this entire school,” he snaps. “What did you think he would do if he bonded with Vorth? Play with it? Or do you think he would stop trying after he’s released?”

His question meets silence. The man stares at Xaden like he’s grown two heads.

“Anyone else tries it,” Xaden continues, eyes burning now, “I will gladly rip their head off. I don’t regret killing Finn. He would have cost us many.”

My stomach twists. How dare him judges like this when women die under him- when they said he kills everytime he go feral. Or is this one of his feral moments?

I stare at him like I’m seeing him for the first time.

And suddenly… everything I’ve been warned about makes sense.

Alpha Soren, Sloane, Darian- they all said to stay away from him.

“It doesn’t change the fact that you broke protocol,” Professor Imogene says, her voice tight with restrained fury. “Let’s see what your mother thinks when she’s back.”

“Whatever Luna Gwen thinks won’t change the fact that I did the right thing.” Xaden asserts confidently, facing the woman. With that said, his fangs disappear into his skin, then he turns and walks away, blood still staining his hands.

Like nothing happened.

Like he didn’t just kill someone who had a whole life in front of everyone. But then…am I not just the same? I’m here to kill him.

My gaze drifts back to the body, and my throat tightens as nausea rises violently in my throat. Imogene orders for the corpse to be clean up.

I can’t look at it.

I force my eyes away, toward Liam.

I wonder how his expression remains unreadable and emotionless throughout the whole thing.

“Does this… happen often?” I ask before I can stop myself.

His onyx eyes flick to me.

“You’ve forgotten,” he says, voice biting with ice, “you don’t get to ask me questions.”

My lips press together. That’s true. I’ve almost forgotten I was supposed to fear him too. He’s not my friend. He’s my enemy. Almost all of them are.

“The party is over. Everyone return to your dorms immediately.” Professor Imogene orders with a commanding voice.

They all start moving, but I’m stuck watching as two men step forward to drag the body away, leaving a dark trail behind.

Then suddenly, a boy pushes forward. “No!”

He pushes through the crowd, panic written all over his face. “Finn—no—!”

He drops to his knees, extending his hand towards the lifeless body, his voice breaking raw. My breath catches as I remember his face.

He was the one making out with a boy while me and Sloane passed through the hallway this morning.

Wait…

Oh.

Oh God.

My chest caves in as the realization hits me fully.

That was his boyfriend. The boy Xaden just killed is the one he was making out with.

“Back off, Cassian.” Someone says as they drag him back while he sobs uncontrollably, his cries echoing through the hall in a way that makes my stomach churn.

I don’t also miss the trace of lightning that flickers around his fingers as he fights to break from their hold. He’s a wizard too? Like Liam?

I turn away, unable to take it anymore.

My body folds as I stumble toward a corner, my breathing turning uneven.

What kind of place is this?

What kind of monster am I supposed to kill?

He would kill me before I even got close.

“Where were you?”

Darian’s voice interrupts my dreadful alone moment from behind, and I jolt, spinning around too quickly.

He looks furious.

“I told you to inform me if you were going anywhere. What’s so hard about that?” he questions like I’m his little sister. The fact that he’s too identical with Xaden isn’t helping. I only see a demon.

“I don’t need guidance.” I say to him, my voice shaking slightly.

His eyes drop- taking in my bruised skin, my disheveled clothes—and his expression sharpens. “What happened to you?”

I open my mouth but nothing comes out. s**t.

He starts to stalk close. “Hannah, I say…”

“Makeout got rough,” a voice cuts in lazily. “But she likes it though.”

I can only stare. Liam steps beside me like he belongs there, completely at ease, like he didn’t just drag me across the ground minutes ago.

“I’m sorry, I got a little bit rough with you out there.” he adds, his tone mockingly soft as he looks at me, putting on a show for Darian.

My eyes widen as I comprehend what Liam means.

Darian’s gaze snaps between us, confusion flashing clearly across his face.

I am speechless. As if whatever nonsense Liam just spew isn’t embarrassing enough, he leans and presses a quick kiss to my cheek.

My entire body goes rigid.

“Have a good night, Ann.” He says sweetly, spares Darian a glance, and walks away.

Just like that.

Leaving me standing there with the Demon’s twin.