Aurora changed after my duel.
Before, I was a foreigner. A trash from the bottoms of which one laughed.
Now every step I took resonated as a threat, a parameter to be taken into account.
The rumors had spread faster than a fire. In the corridors, in the hanging gardens, even in the refectory, the subjects remained the same:
— He can fly, you see that...
— It seems that he is closely or remotely linked to Izac Drakthorne...
— Hey, did you lose your shit or what, not talking so loudly...
Some whispered my name with fear, others with hatred, still others with fascination.
But everyone was talking about it. This level of attention was something new and disturbing for me with a pleasant and suffocating faith, which gave me a pressure impossible to bear in normal times.
In the evening, in the refectory, the political aspect of Aurora appeared to me in broad daylight... Many were neither great nor imperious; many, in fact, were only children. Children puffed up with self-love, but children all the same, who had never had to make an effort in their lives.
In the center, the Montclairs. A wide, illuminated table, full to the brim. Cassian sat there, surrounded by an invisible guard made of looks and admiration. His words, when he deigned to speak, were listened to like divine words. No laugh dared cover his own.
On the other hand, the Draxion table sometimes cited as just as dangerous as the Montclaire. More discreet, but just as influential. They spoke low, calculated, exploited possibilities. And among them, Selene Draxion, her golden eyes reflecting light like two mirrors. She sometimes stared at me, without hiding the curious interest she took in me.
Around these two poles gravitated the most influential families after Montclaire and Draxion: the Veyrel, the Theryn, the Kareth, the Reinar. Each formed a circle, protected by their name, their rank, their reputation. They hated each other as much as they respected each other.
Then came the peripheral tables: families of lower rank, opportunists, survivors. It was there that my allies — Elias, Lyra, Dorian and Asha—settled. No pomp, but a brutal honesty.
I didn't have a table. Not yet.
I shouldn't have displayed this new alliance. At least not right away, according to Elias.
And every time I appeared, all eyes converged.
— It's him...
— Cursed Vongold... this family is truly a task for Guidence.
— Yet no Patriarch, nor even the Montclaires, dares to rub shoulders with Albus Vongold...
— It's not possible they made a pact...
— I heard that he would be the new Izac...
The name was coming back. Again. Again. Until it flattened me.
In the gardens, rumors took on other forms.
Some said that I was a secret experiment of the Vongold: a bastard whose blood would have been altered to reproduce the Gods of yesteryear.
Others swore that I had sold my soul for this ability.
Still others murmured that I wasn't even human.
Every rumor added a layer of chains around me.
They didn't know my true story: the weakness of my old body, the disgust of my old life.
And yet, paradoxically, these rumors attracted.
Minor heirs came to see me in secret, at night, to ask:
— Is it true that you can really float in the air?
— Could you... teach me?
I sent them all away. But I saw in their eyes this strange glow: a mixture of fear and admiration.
Meanwhile, the alliances were forming.
The Kareth and the Veyrel had gotten closer to the Montclair.
The Draxion recruited from middle-ranking families, weaving a discreet web.
The Reinars stood back, calculating, gauging every move.
My name, however, did not fit into any circle. I was the only one of my age to represent the Vongold.
And that's what scared them.
A free spectrum, belonging to no one, alone but sufficient to shake their certainty.
And in a world built on chains imposed on men... it was the worst threat.
Elias ended up telling me one evening, while we were walking near the fountains.
— Do you know what you mean to them?
— I feel that you are going to enlighten me...
He smiled sadly.
— A threat, my friend because you mean too many things. A being able to use the ability "fly"... it can't last long in our world if "well done". Either you attach yourself to a chain. Or they break you.
I stared at him for a long time.
— And you, what do you hope to accomplish?
— Me? I just want us to progress together.
His words remained in my chest like an echo.
That night, I understood that Aurora was not just a place of physical trials.
It was a cold war. A war of glances, whispers, alliances, where the mind counted as much as our superhuman abilities.
And that my greatest strength was also my greatest weakness.
Later in the middle of the night, in the gardens, the fountains sang softly, and the pale glow of crystals embedded in the walls bathed the air with an unreal light. The wind crept between the columns, carrying with it the distant whispers of the city.
I walked alone in my thoughts. I wanted to escape the glances, the rumors, the incessant whispers. But even here, in the silence, I was not at peace.
I closed my eyes for a moment. I was breathing deeply.
— You walk like a real ghost my word... you wear that nickname well. Are you sure you're not really one?
I jumped despite myself.
She was there.
Leaned nonchalantly against a column, her silhouette cut by the blue light of the crystals and the clarity of the full moon as if even the heavens were attuned to support her goddess rhythm. Her black hair was cut into an impeccable square, perfectly aligned with her warrior queen face. Her brown, smooth and supple skin free from any imperfections. And her eyes... her eyes shone like two golden mirrors.
Selene Draxion.
Her smile was perfect: neither hostile nor gentle. Between the two.
— You've been making a lot of noise since your arrival, especially lately,' she says in a low voice, almost amused.
I straightened up, tense like an idiot. I couldn't help it, her beauty did not leave me indifferent. I instantly recovered.
— For what it does to me... I don't think I did more than what was expected of me.
— You should worry more. You did much more than that. You sought to threaten them... those Great Houses of which you know absolutely nothing. Everyone understood that your opponent was just an example to display for you in order to convey a message to us
Her footsteps barely echoed on the cobblestones as she moved forward. Each of her movements praised the elegance and grace of her status. She approached until she was only a few meters away. Then a few centimeters from me.
— Do you know what that means, Iron?
I held his gaze.
— That the message has passed?
She laughs softly, almost sincerely.
— That you don't respect them. You can touch the sky... and you showed that you could have the strength to do so. No one had done that since...
She left her sentence hanging.
But I understood.
Izac.
This name still echoed in my skull. It stuck to my skin.
She continued:
— You are dangerous, Iron Vongold whether you are aware of it or not. And Aurora loves and hates dangers at the same time but in your case you don't really leave any option...
I shrugged. She seemed to know so many things... and the weight of this knowledge must have been a burden to bear, but I couldn't yet become aware of everything that was at stake here.
— And you? Should I consider that you came to warn me, or threaten me?
She smiled. Approached again, until brushing my shoulder as she passed behind me. Her voice became lower, almost intimate.
— Neither. I came... to observe you. See what kind of boy you were.
— Are you disappointed?
— Not in the least way, on the contrary, you intrigue me more and more...
— So why not become allies? I interrupted him.
I obviously don't talk to him about my alliance with Elias. However, I am not offering it to him purely for a whim but because if we think about it, I have everything to gain from it, a possible alliance with one of the most powerful Houses in the world is unmissable.
She ended by finishing her sentence that I had interrupted earlier.
— But you leave me perplexed despite everything, I have a family and a father who has high expectations of me, and you, I don't know what you will become, today you are a teenager but tomorrow you will be a man and no one knows that his will will animate you. If you become a threat to mine, I will not hesitate to kill you.
I turned quickly, but she had already shifted, observing me from the side.
— In Aurora, she continued, no one survives alone. And from what I notice like all the Vongold you are honest, not very clever but honest. It fits with your House... we immediately see that you have easily anchored yourself in their character. The Montclairs have their circles. The Veyrel weave their nets. Even lower-ranking heirs group together like hungry dogs. You, Iron... what do you wish for? What do you expect from this world now that you know who is leading and who is suffering?
— You don't leave me much margin to be able to give you an answer that I myself would be satisfied with, I don't have great ambitions, nor any dreams, maybe just become an honorable man I would say... who will have lived a much better life than what it was intended for, I replied without hesitation.
His eyes shone, reflecting mine.
— A dangerous response. Poetic. But suicidal.
I finally replied to him annoyed.
— Maybe. But I prefer at least to try than a life of dog on a leash.
She burst out with a brief laugh, which echoed against the columns.
— I like you a little, you know, Iron... But be careful... those who claim to belong to no one often end up swallowed by everyone.
She turned around me like a hawk encircling prey, but her gaze was not that of a predator. Rather that of a player who is gauging a new opponent.
A silence weighed. Only the fountains were still singing.
A silence weighed. Only the fountains were still singing.
She moved closer, so close that I could feel her breath. Her voice fell whisper:
— I could reach out to you, you know. You could become mine. I could lift you higher than you imagine. Than you ever imagined.
I stared at her, breathless.
— And when I will fall?
Her smile widens, carnassive and soft at the same time.
— Try to make sure that doesn't happen...
His words slipped like a haunting symphony.
She took a step back, bowed slightly, like an actress finishing a scene.
— Know this, Iron Vongold: you have just set foot in a game bigger than you. And I fully intend to see if you are just a pawn... or a player.
Then she turned heels. Her steps disappeared in the shadow, leaving me alone in the middle of the garden.
I stayed still for a long time.
Her smile, her words, her gaze still echoed in me.
Manipulation? Seduction? Both?
I only knew one thing:
Selene Draxion was not just very beautiful.
She was a blade.
And sooner or later, I would find out if she would try to protect me... or cut me.