Chapter Five – Drizella
Amidst the noise in my head — the stares, the whispers, the heavy scarlet wrapped around my body like a warning I couldn't take off — someone pulled me.
Not gently. Not roughly either. Just fast. Urgent.
A hand closed around my wrist, dragging me down a narrow corridor between the east hall and the outer wall of the Quadrant. The crowd vanished behind me. The air turned cooler.
I blinked.
Drizella.
My chest eased just a little.
She didn't speak right away — just looked at me like she'd been watching from the moment I stepped outside. Her eyes scanned me, top to bottom.
> "Hey… why are you dressed in red?"
Her voice was calm, but tight. Like she was trying to stay steady for me.
I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out at first. Just a shaky breath.
> "I don't know. It just… happened. I swear I didn't— I wasn't—"
> "Chill," she said, pressing her hand against my chest. "Just… chill."
And before I could say anything else, before I could even breathe right, her lips were on mine.
Not soft. Not teasing.
Fevered.
Like she needed it. Like I needed it.
Her hands cupped my face, then slipped down to my wrists — holding, anchoring me. I didn't even think. My body moved before my mind caught up. I reached for her, fingers in her hair, pulling her closer.
I didn't know if I was kissing her out of panic or relief. All I knew was that I was sinking into something familiar. Something warm. Something real.
Our mouths moved like they were trying to rewrite what the day had become — the fabric, the stares, the name I couldn't forget.
And somewhere between her sigh and my breath catching, it hit me.
This wasn't just thrill.
It was hunger.
And grief.
And something like fear disguised as affection.
Her tongue brushed mine and I let her lead, let myself stop thinking.
Let her hold me together.
Our kiss deepened, until I couldn't tell where my fear ended and her warmth began.
Her fingers curled around my wrists, not possessive — just steady. Guiding. Grounding.
The world outside the alley slipped away.
I didn't know if I kissed her harder to distract myself or because I didn't want to lose her — but either way, her hands slid from my wrists to my waist, and I barely had time to breathe before she lifted me clean off the ground.
I gasped, gripping her shoulders for balance, my legs instinctively tightening around her.
> "Drizella—" I tried to say, but she kissed me again, cutting off the sound with her mouth. Her lips were soft, then fierce. Her hands held me like she'd done this before. Like she knew my shape, my tension, the rhythm of my racing breath.
Then she snapped her fingers.
And the world cracked.
But I didn't register it.
Not really.
Because her mouth was back on mine, moving with a slow-burning hunger that made it impossible to care where we were or what had just happened. The air shifted, the light changed — but all I felt was her.
Her mouth. Her hands. Her skin brushing mine like silk lit on fire.
She lowered me against something solid — a desk, maybe — and her hands spread heat everywhere they touched. My breath came out in short gasps between kisses, and she swallowed every one of them like she needed them to survive.
We didn't speak.
There were no words for whatever this was.
No one else saw me today. Not really.
But she did.
She touched me like she knew something was waking up inside me, something dangerous and ancient and lonely. And instead of running, she held me closer.
The tension between my ribs broke apart as her mouth moved lower, and my back arched off the wood. Fingers dug into fabric. Breaths tangled. I felt like I was falling into something deep and warm and endless — and she was the only thing I could hold onto.
And then—
I shattered.
Heat surged through me, coiling, snapping, rushing out in waves I couldn't stop or understand. My hands curled in her hair, breath caught on her name. I didn't know if I moaned or whispered it. I just know she heard me.
Everything blurred.
And I let it.
Let her.
---
When I opened my eyes, the world had changed.
The alley was gone.
The noise, the crowd, the Quadrant — all of it replaced by the heavy silence of a classroom bathed in soft gold light.
We were alone.
Drizella stood in front of me, brushing a strand of hair from my face like nothing was strange about any of this.
I blinked, still dizzy.
> "Wait—" My voice came out hoarse. "When did we—?"
> "Teleportation." She smiled lazily. "You were a little… busy."
My face flushed hot.
> "You could've warned me," I muttered, tugging at my skirt, even though I knew it wouldn't help. Everything still felt too hot, too alive, too real.
She leaned against a desk, arms crossed, watching me with a softness I hadn't seen before.
> "You said a word today," she said after a moment.
The air in the room shifted again. Not with magic — just with the weight of what came next.
> "Drakora."
My heart skipped.
The heat from earlier curled into something colder in my chest.
> "Where did you hear it, Scarlet?"
I swallowed.
Because I didn't even know the answer.
I just knew… everything changed after I said it.