The Dragon Prince

Chapter 24

Princess Jocelyne Andry

Iron City, Sarkin

I awoke, startled by my dream. They were always the same. Always the same nightmare. Always the same fear. Jack. Not my Jack. But Tom's Jack. The Jack he manipulated and conditioned to be who he wanted. The perfect spy. The perfect assassin. The perfect soldier. Built to kill, and wouldn't hesitate when the order came. He would appear in the shadows, and there was always a brief moment when I thought it was my Jack, but then everything grows dark and he attacks. I had gotten through to him before, but I knew that if I ever saw him again, it wouldn't be the same. He wouldn't be the same.

I nearly jumped from my skin when I heard a noise outside my balcony glass doors. The only one who could scale that high is the only one who knows where my room is. The only one who would be motivated enough to climb that high. The only one with orders to do so. I quickly got out of bed, slipping on my robe and walking over to the doors. As quietly as I could, I opened them, even though my mind screamed at me not to.

"Reconditioning? What does that mean?" I had asked him before.

I still remember how he had not looked at me when he answered at first. "All of his soldiers undergo a physical process that makes them capable of doing anything by shutting down the emotions. It is my own personal hell, because I am aware in my head where I am and what I am doing, but I have no control over what I am doing. The orders come in and I carry them out."

They turned him back into their weapon. I knew that much for sure, I just didn't know where. As I stepped out onto the balcony, I instinctively looked up into the tree, but there was no shadow tonight. There had not been one for many, many months. I looked back down, pulling the robe tighter around me. It was weak of me to admit how much I needed him and how much I wanted to see him again, whatever it meant. Even if he tried to kill me.

I walked over to the edge, leaning against the stones. I felt the familiar Sarkin heat as I placed my hands on the rail. The night sky was black with the stars and moon bright, casting a grey hue over everything the light touched. I took a step forward, my toes hitting the edge, but as I brought my right foot down, I stepped on a small rock the size of a grape. I reached down, picking it up and looking it over. How odd. It was fairly plain, though heavy. What was it doing up here? How did it get up here? The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize that the only way it could have gotten up here was if it was carried or thrown. I turned around, looking at my glass doors. I walked over to the left door, and saw a small chip close to the top. It had been thrown. It was the noise I had heard. Someone threw the rock, knowing it would get my attention.

I turned around quickly, placing my hand on the hilt of my dagger that I had hidden in my robe. I walked back over to the edge, but instead of looking up, I looked down. There, standing slightly hidden by the shadow of the lone tree, my favorite tree, was the warning sign that I needed. Jack. It had been a long distance to throw the rock of that size, but he had. Why? To draw me out? Warn me? Perhaps he just wants to know what I would do. His eyes were nearly white, catching the light of the moon, and through the darkness, they stared into mine.

My mind went back months before. We stood together under that same tree, and he told me everything. What he had done, who Tom was, how he felt about me and especially what was going to happen to him. Every time I close my eyes I see his grey eyes staring back at me. The moonlight illuminating his hair to look silver instead of his natural blonde. I could still feel the touch of his stubble chin against the palm of my hand, and the feel of his lips against mine. He was back to wearing the same uniform I had first seen him in. All black, with a black cloth covering the lower half of his face. All I could really see where his eyes, but I knew it was him.