Fireborn

38 ¦ The Best-Laid Plans

Electric hatred slithered across my skin.

"Father."

"Father?" Bragda exclaimed, staring at his demonic form.

"Scheming bastard!" Alicia growled as Marcus held her back. "You tricked us all."

"I did what I had to do," he retorted. "The Risa always hide under the guise of pacifism while the Gatál march all over Paxus. If I didn't pressure you--"

"We never would have made this choice."

"Exactly."

"Father, how could you betray us like this?" Bragda asked, both saddened and angry. "You left us. Mama died, and you didn't return. Instead, you dedicated your life to making monsters?"

I grimaced, and she gave me an apologetic look.

"Only a Fireborn can survive the calamity that is coming towards us," he said to her. "I'm sorry, Bragda. I tried the procedure on Dwarves, but it only works with Risan blood. It kills all others."

"You experimented on my people?" Bragda shouted. "You son of a--"

"Be on your best behavior," Father said, baring his fangs. "We have company."

At that, a second figure emerged from the darkness. Her graying hair was swept up in a tight twist with purple and yellow ribbons. The tall, wiry woman had the hardened countenance of a General. Her icy blue eyes twinkled with intellect and ambition, eyebrows permanently creased in a vicious scowl that cut angry wrinkles into her forehead. The scent of power wafted from her like an intoxicating fragrance.

A dangerous woman.

Alicia's eyes widened in shock. "Prime Minister Adair? You...you...knew about this?"

"Knew about it?" Father said with a scoff. "It was her idea."

The Minister curled her lip, and my insides turned to liquid ice.

"But you're our leader," Alicia said. "We trust you to keep monsters like him away from us. Not to give them funding for sick experiments."

"We are at war." The Minister shrugged. "War turns men into beasts. We might as well fight with the strength of one."

"How could you?"

"Have you not noticed that the Gatál have anti-magic armor?" The Minister neared Alicia until their faces were only inches apart. "What did you think you were going to do on the battlefield?"

"Heal people," I countered before Alicia could answer.

"If we didn't make the Fireborn," Father said, "we would all slave under the flag of the Gatál. They have said more than once they intend to rule all of Paxus and exterminate the Risa."

"Hey!" Everyone turned around and faced my furious sister. "We are your Fighters, not them!"

"You don't stand a chance against their Wraiths and dragons."

"Give us the weapons we need to defeat them!" Bragda insisted. "Why drag my pacifist sister and her friends into this against their will?"

"I told you," Father snarled, "the science only works with Risan biology."

"Not good enough."

"Did you not see what happened on the battlefields of Halden?" the Prime Minister exclaimed. "That was your home. Don't you want to win it back?"

Bragda narrowed her eyes. "I know better than you do, Minister. I fought there."

"You've witnessed what a group of five Fireborn can do." The Minister approached my sister with the lithe movements of a wildcat. "They stormed a Gatál fortress and rescued you."