The Alchemist's Amnesia

Part ten:

Najimi angrily paced through the walls of the Corona palace. He had lied to her. The king had lied to her for the past year. Najimi had been living on the streets ever since the king had found her. She'd lived at the palace ever since, taking over for the previous royal advisor, who had apparently been stabbed, and was now out of commission. Najimi knew why she had been hired. She was half dragon, and possessed the magic of the creature that had infected her so long ago. But she'd been told that there was no way to control her powers. That she'd just randomly blow up, and hurt people she loved at random. But the witch had replaced the lie with the truth.

"Where is he?" Najimi asked, and she kicked open the doors to the throne room. Like everything else in the palace, the doors were made of gold, and would have been difficult for a normal person to kick down. But Najimi was no normal person. Three years ago, Najimi had been bitten by another half dragon, and had absorbed enough venom from the bite that she herself had been turned. She had red eyes, fangs, and wings that popped out of her back when she got angry enough. Now, she could feel the wings ripping out of her back, and let them unfurl. Najimi's wings were an impressive ten feet long, and were covered in spikes. Most people would run away in terror at the sight of her. But the king wasn't exactly the kind of person who felt like he had to fear her. Oh, how he was about to be proven wrong.

According to the witch, Najimi charged up her fiery explosives by being under the sun for too long. The king had said that dragons needed constant sunlight in order to survive. Najimi had checked some of the books in the royal library, and this was indeed incorrect. She'd been spending more time inside to test out this theory, and sure enough, she'd had less explosions as of late. Which meant that the king wanted Najimi to blow up on purpose. And she had a pretty good idea as to why.

The king couldn't legally kill people without trial in the dungeons, but he could arrange for a misfortunate accident to befall them. No one would question a demi-human dragon girl accidentally exploding. Even better for the king, he looked good in the public eye because he took someone like her in. Dragons, even demi-dragons, were often hunted and killed by knights in other kingdoms. Even in Corona, Najimi was careful when she let her wings out. But now, they were out in full. She had a king to confront.

"Najimi." The king said, standing up calmly. "Whatever is the matter?" Like he didn't already know. "You and I have business to discuss." Najimi said, and balled her fists. "Very well." The king said, and waved his hand, dismissing everyone else from the throne room. "You too, Arianna." He said, and the queen reluctantly stood and left. Though, Najimi noticed she just stood behind a pillar, and didn't fully leave the room. "I think this is a private discussion." Najimi didn't miss the way the king's hand rested on his sword.

"You knew." Najimi said. "You knew there was a way for me to get my powers under control, but you wanted me to hurt people." She said, and grabbed the king by the front of his robes. "You've been doing it for months now. And the last time, you deliberately wanted me to blow that little kid sky high."

A month ago, the king had asked Najimi to check on the alchemist's cell, as there was a reported disturbance. There was, of course, the baron and his daughter, but there was no way the king could have known that. Not that Najimi questioned him at the time. Najimi's fire had exploded out of her, and almost engulfed everything in sight.

She'd only been stopped when the man enfolded her in something almost like a hug, shielding everyone else in the prison. His name had been Andrew, and he was the leader of some kind of separatist movement. Najimi had made it her mission to learn everything about everyone she'd hurt that day in the prison. But Andrew had actually died. He'd taken the explosion meant for his cellmate, a kid only a few years younger than Najimi herself. For a month, Najimi had blamed herself. But there was only one man responsible. The king.