THE DUAL MARKED

Blue Fire And Ice

KAELEN

“…and let this year be a testament to the discipline and strength worthy of Aetherials,” the Patron’s voice echoed across the high-arched assembly hall. His tone was stern and commanding. Rows of students listened with their eyes and attention fixed on him.

Then suddenly the heavy doors creaked open, disrupting the quiet, and immediately all heads turned, including mine as I wanted to know who it was.

Lyriana stumbled in. Sweat glistened at her hairline, her uniform was wrinkled and ill-fitted, and her boots, YIKES, her boots looked like she’d trudged through a swamp. Her hair hung in a loose, tangled mess around her face. She froze mid-step under the weight of a hundred gazes, trying to tug at her sleeves, smooth down the fabric, as if she could make herself presentable under that much scrutiny.

The patron stopped speaking. His glare sharpened. “Late.”

My lips curled more closely to a sneer than a smile at the sight of this. She looked exactly as she should; small, pathetic, and painfully out of place.

When he barked for her to come forward, she moved stiffly with her head down, but halfway to the podium, she tripped. A loud gasp rippled through the hall. She hit the polished floor with a c***k. I would’ve laughed, but my eyes caught on Serenya. On the faint shimmer of essence fading from her fingertips.

I leaned forward slightly, my eyes narrowing. This was supposed to be a show of humiliation, nothing more, but then Lyriana’s nose burst red, blood spilling down her face, stark against her pale skin. She clutched at it, trembling. The sound of mocking laughter filled the hall. And something inside me twisted not out of pity or guilt but rather something raw I didn’t care to name. Why should I feel anything? Isn’t this what I’ve always wanted? For her to always know and remember her place? Yet the sight lodged itself in my chest like a thorn.

Corin surged forward, Thessalia at his side, both of them pulling her up. That was when I tore my eyes away. My jaw clenched hard enough to ache. My gut burned, but not from concern. From the sight of him fussing over her as if he had a right. I forced myself to look elsewhere, anywhere but there.

The Patron’s voice thundered again, silencing the laughter. “Silence!”

The laughter quieted and he instructed that Lyriana be taken to the infirmary.

Lyriana was half-carried toward the infirmary. I caught myself struggling to stay back as I watched her disappear through the doors. Afterward, the patron said a few things before dismissing everyone to their classes.

Students shuffled out, still whispering about her fall.

Serenya drifted up beside me with glittering eyes. “Did you see her face?” she whispered, leaning close. “She looked like a kicked dog.”

I said nothing. My jaw worked, but no words came out.

“Shall we?” She said as she tried to loop her arm through mine.

I shifted out of reach. “Go ahead without me.”

Her brows pinched. “What? Why?”

“I’ll come later,” I said sternly, making sure my tone left no room for argument and for a heartbeat, she looked ready to protest. Then, with an exaggerated pout, she flounced off with her pack of sycophants. I stayed behind, pacing the room. The hall was almost empty now, echoing faintly with departing footsteps. My gaze flicked once toward the direction of the infirmary. I almost moved toward it but then I held back. My fists clenched and unclenched. I wanted to walk there, check if she was all right, but that would mean seeing Corin’s face, seeing him hovering over her like some self-appointed guardian. The thought of it made bile rise in my throat.

“Pathetic,” I muttered under my breath, not at her, but at myself. I pivoted sharply and stalked toward the classrooms. When I entered, Serenya was perched at her desk, surrounded by her entourage. Their voices filled the room, loud and poisonous.

“Did you see her uniform? Looked like a rag.”

“She smelled of sweat.”

“That fall serves her right. I wish she could be more humiliated so she remembers she’s nothing but a void-born.”

“Imagine someone like her living under the same roof as Prince Kaelen. When our Serenya can’t get that close to him.”

“She should have been banished at birth. Her slutty mother couldn’t even breed magic out of an Aetherial.”

The laughter that followed was piercing and Serenya sat at the center of it, smirking and preening like a queen. My teeth ground together. Each sound they made landed heavier and sharper, until my chest ached with it. I slammed my hand down on the desk. The c***k echoed.

“Out,” I said harshly.

They froze in fear. Of course, they should, because I had never been like that with them. I had always been the gentleman to everyone aside from Lyriana and, yes, I did have my reason for it. But today they were crossing a line and I couldn't bear to let it happen. Don't ask why, because I don't know why I can't stand it either.

“Did you not hear me?” My voice rose but harsher this time with every word vibrating with restrained fury. “Get out. Now. Go rot in your corners if you have nothing better to do than spit venom like serpents.”

One by one, the girls scattered, muttering something as they fled to their seats. Serenya blinked at me, thrown for once off balance. I grabbed her wrist, dragging her out into the corridor. She stumbled after me, shock flickering into anger.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped.

I turned on her, my voice like steel, irritation etched in my face. “What were you thinking, Serenya? A fall was one thing. But to the extent of blood gushing out? You don’t cross that line. Not here. Not with my cousin.”

Her jaw dropped. “I did it for you, Kael. For us. To remind her she doesn’t belong here.”

“For me?” I barked out with a bitter laugh. “Don’t lie. This wasn’t about me. This was about you and your bruised pride. Corin embarrassed you yesterday, and now you’re lashing out.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits like she was beginning to digest my previous statements. “Cousin, you say? Don’t be stupid, Kael. Why the sudden change of heart? Why are you suddenly defending her? Don’t tell me you like that mere human slut. Don’t tell me you…”

“Shut up,” I snarled, cutting her off, but the words stuck like glass in my throat. “I don’t like her. You of all people should know that. I just don’t want these little stunts to cause harm that will earn my father’s attention,” I explained, my voice was calmer now as I reached for her hands. But just then, sharp and unyielding footsteps echoed behind us, cutting through the low hum of students in the corridor, and for some reason, they made my stomach twist. I turned and saw Corin, walking toward us like a shadow that had just turned into flesh, his pale eyes were lit with that unnatural, glacial fire that made people step back without knowing why and the closer he came, the heavier the air grew, as though the walls themselves braced against him.

When he finally stopped before us, he didn’t even look at me. Not even once. His entire attention was fixed on Serenya, as if I were nothing but air.

His voice was low but edged like steel. “What did you do?”

Serenya stiffened, her arms folding across her chest. She tossed her hair with a scoff, though I caught the faint twitch in her jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Corin didn’t buy that; instead, he took a step closer, his shadows clinging to him like a second skin. “Don’t lie to me,” he snarled, drawing closer to her and that was it for me. Anger boiled in my chest. The audacity to ignore my presence and speak to my girlfriend as though I were invisible. More heat rose in my chest like a flame pressed too long under glass and I snapped.

“Are you deaf?” I asked, stepping forward, putting myself between them. “She said she doesn’t know what you’re talking about. Or is something wrong with your ears, homeschooled little secret?”

That got his attention and slowly, his eyes cut towards me, cold, piercing, and unbothered. He didn’t react to the insult, not even a twitch. Instead, he said evenly, “The earlier you stop tormenting Lyriana, the better for you both.”

My lip curled. “Watch your mouth, Corin. Don’t forget who you are talking to,” I spat, my voice rising into a growl. “You don’t get to question my actions, remember? You have no such rights here.”

His expression didn’t flicker. “Perhaps not,” he said, his tone was deathly calm. “But the Patron does.”

I laughed bitterly. “What proof do you have? That the fragile little void-born tripped? That your precious human pet couldn’t even walk straight without bleeding all over the floor? Is that it? Your proof?”

The word tasted sweet on my tongue. Void-born. A magicless human. A reminder of what Lyriana really was.

But then I saw it, the flicker in his gaze. He froze for a beat and his eyes narrowed. “Void-born?” he said in a kind of whisper that carried something sharp and dangerous.

“Yes, she is that,” I snarled. “Or do you think that pathetic little human is going to wake up one morning glowing with magic? She’s nothing. She will always be nothing. And she should go back to where she came from instead of tainting the purity of our kind with her presence.”

That seemed to have shattered whatever restraints he had left because his pupils narrowed, and suddenly the corridor felt like it was alive and even worse than the time he walked in. The air rippled with heat, a furnace roaring to life. Blue flames curled at his fingertips, ghostly and unnatural, painting his face in shifting light.

I didn’t back down. My own essence surged in answer, a cold tide crashing outward, the opposite of his blaze. It licked up my arms in silver tendrils, biting the air, filling the corridor with a thunderous hum.

Students gasped, scrambling back as the pressure doubled, then tripled. The walls shuddered with the clash of our auras.

“Burning for her, huh? You are just so pathetic,” I sneered, though sweat prickled at my temples. “I will put you, low life, in your place today.”

“Try,” he hissed as fire slightly spilled out of his hands like liquid light, then it erupted. Blue fire surged forward, licking across the stone floor. The intensity made my breath catch, but I ignored the growing fear and unleashed my silver (ice) energy.