Sacred Flame: Bound to the Dragon Kings

Cassius

My professors must hate me, because out of all of the students that I could be paired with, Mr. Chen chose Avery. Thanks to my parents, I see her enough at home, and now I have to put up with her here at school, too. She never belonged here, and she won't just disappear. My brothers and I don't need her because we are capable of caring for ourselves and this kingdom. 

Sometimes, I think that my parents assigned her to us just to torture me. In their ignorance, they assumed that her quiet nature would rub off on my brothers and me. All being around her does is infuriate me. She is so frail, meek, and plain. She doesn't deserve to be in the dragon world. I wish she would disappear to the human world from where she came. No doubt, they would reject her, too. Perhaps that's why she was an orphan in the first place; even her own kind didn't want her. When I am king, no outsider will be accepted into our tribe unless they pass whatever task I assign. My parents were fools to unconditionally accept humans. Humans nearly hunted dragons to extinction at one point. That is why we put up the barrier. No human is allowed through unless accompanied by a dragon, yet Avery somehow managed to. If there was a crack in the barrier, I could understand how Avery is here. However, there was no such crack, because my brothers and I checked, even after a patrol verified that the barrier was fully intact. 

Mr. Chen handed out our course list, and I let out a frustrated groan as I read over it. Unfortunately, it looks like there are a lot of joint lab activities. I need to find a way to ditch them and leave Avery alone to complete them. I will not work side-by-side with her. Just looking at her makes me want to grab a handful of her hair and bang her head on the table. My dragon, Asher, would love nothing more than to burn her to a crisp. Such things are against the laws within our tribe, but once she's old enough to leave here, all bets are off. Then I can hunt her down like the scared little rabbit she is. 

"Umm, Cassius, I need your thumbprint for this project," she timidly says in her mousey little voice that makes me want to squish her like a bug.

I snarl as I bite into my thumb. She wants a thumbprint; I will give her one in blood. I watch her gag as I put my bloody thumbprint onto the slide. On the inside, I laughed at her grossed-out reaction, but this further proves that she doesn't belong in our world. This world is grotesque, gruesome, and bathed in blood. If she can't handle a few drops of blood on a slide, there is no way that she could handle a war. Wars are commonplace here because there are species always thinking that they can defeat dragons, ever since the humans got lucky during the Middle Ages. When she rushed over to a nearby trash can to vomit, I turned to the class and winked. Mr. Chen gave her a restroom pass and approached me. He leaned down to whisper, "You might be our future king, but you have not earned that title yet. I suggest you learn how to treat your subjects." I nod, but internally, I roll my eyes. This old fart knows nothing about governing. My brothers and I were groomed for this since the day we were born. 

With Avery gone, I could relax and joke with my friends. I had four girls begging to be my partner, and if I had any other teacher than crabby Mr. Chen, I could have my choice of prime pussy, as Clint does. Perhaps I should start distancing myself from Jessica and explore until I can scent out my mate. If I didn't need this elective to graduate, I would drop the class.  I know that Avery will make sure that I pass, because if she doesn't, I will make her pay. Since my passing grade is secured, I can use my free time to explore every girl in this school until I find my mate. 

Avery

My day just keeps getting worse. I hate Mondays! I am unsure how I can avoid Cassius, but I need to find a way. I understand why Mr. Chen paired us, because Cassius needs to pass this class to graduate. I am a diligent student and I excel at science, which makes me the perfect lab partner for anyone struggling to pass. To my horror, the person struggling to pass just happens to be Cassius. Since his dragon is so powerful and influential, let's see if it can help him pass. 

Unlike many students, I like most of the teachers here, but Mr. Chen is different; I like him the most. He is a nice older man and is friends with my adoptive parents. He, like them, rarely lets his dragon out. I am still afraid of him, but not as much as I am of my classmates, especially The Trio and the Hoity Hags. I wish there were a way to rewind time. I would gladly go back to when I was three and prevent my parents from leaving our house that day. Then I would never have accidentally wandered into the dragon realm. To this day, I still don't know how I was able to. Supposedly, there is a magical barrier preventing unknowing humans from trespassing. 

Alone with my thoughts, my anxiety near crippling levels, I spent the remainder of Mr. Chen's class in the restroom. I did not want to see Cassius again or hear what the other students whispered about me. I just wanted to hide until this day was over, but I could not. I left the safety of the bathroom stall and hurriedly walked to my next class. It is a literature course. Miss Alman, a petite, obese woman with gray hair and horn-rimmed glasses, assigns us seats. 

Without saying a word, Conner slams his book down beside me. Startled, I nearly jumped out of my seat while he chuckled. "Settle down, class. You are each now seated beside not just your writing partner for this term, but your co-star, as well. Each pair is responsible for writing and performing their own play. If you refuse to perform, you will fail this course, and for many of you, that means that you will not graduate. So I suggest that you all take this assignment very seriously," she said.

I put my head down on my desk. The world must hate me. First, my parents were killed, and I was raised in an orphanage in the human world. Then, because even human kids hate me, I ran and ended up being adopted by dragons. Now, I am stuck having to work with my dragon tormentors, or else I can never leave this place. Fuck my luck! The world hates me!