Chapter 214

“That’s right. I did have some help, though. Dragon magic, as it turns out, has different properties to the regular sort. That little dragon really made all the difference. That eye was very helpful too.” Adrian smirked at her. 

“It was you? You stole the eye and not Lenia?” Noah took another step back from Adrian, her breathing growing erratic. There was too much information, and none of it made sense. Was the imprint candidate Lenia, and not Adrian? Who was the Adrian that stood in front of her? 

“Why are you doing all of this? What does this even mean? Answer me, Adrian! No, forget that. I’m leaving.” Noah turned to flee, but Adrian grabbed her by the arm and yanked her backwards. Before she had time to recover, he clasped his hand around her neck, his blood now oozing down her skin and soaking into her shirt. 

“You’re not going anywhere, Noah. You’ve asked all your questions, and now it is my turn.” Adrian gripped onto Noah’s neck, his nails digging into her flesh. His calm, if unnerving, smile had vanished. Now he was baring his teeth, like a savage animal about to devour its prey. His eyes, too, were burning with rage, the likes of which Noah had never seen. 

“Adrian, please…” Noah tried to plead with him, but her words fell on death ears. 

“Eleonora’s body, where did you put it?” Adrian growled. “I know you put it somewhere when you finished using it. Where is it?” 

Noah was suffocated by the intense pressure of the hand around her neck. She knew that Adrian was close to Eleonora, and was pleased to see her using the body of the woman he loved. And now that she was in her own body, he was furious that Eleonora had been lost to him forever. But the truth was, she had no idea where it was out what had happened to it. 

“I didn’t do anything with Eleonora’s body, I swear!” Noah clamped her hand around Adrian’s, trying to free herself. His grip was slipping due to the blood, but not enough that she could run away 

“Then where is it?” Adrian yelled, slamming Noah against the wall. 

“I didn’t do anything with it. I didn’t even lose it… Muell’s got it!” Noah’s vision blurred as her head connected with the wall. Her answer seemed to satisfy Adrian, who laughed as he loosened his grip slightly to allow Noah to breathe. And then, what should have been a comforting presence, Noah could sense Muell’s magic throughout the air. 

“Well then, it worked. Noah, you were a splendid decoy.” Adrian smirked, pulling out a blade from the waistband of his trousers. A decoy. Adrian was going to use her as bait to call out Muell. Noah struggled again, reaching out for the dagger that she originally used to cut Adrian. She strained to get the psychic rope around the hilt, and pulled with all the strength she had left. The blade flew through the air and landed in Adrian’s arm. He let out a pained scream, and dropped Noah to the ground. Not wanting to stay around and give Adrian a chance to recover, Noah set off running back towards the main hall. On the way, she passed by an alarm system. With Adrian now on the verge of insanity, she wanted to evacuate the hotel as quickly as possible. Just as she was about to activate it, she figured that she may as well make a real emergency. 

At the same time as she slammed the alarm, she generated a small fire ball and threw it at the ground between her and Adrian. The alarm had clearly not been in use for some time, and the ear-piercing scream was deafening on the ears. Disoriented from the noise and the smoke now rising from the flames, Noah fled back to the main room, where the patrons were now getting to their feet in a drunken stupor. All of them were looking at each other with expressions of confusion, until a doorman burst into the room and yelled, “Fire!” 

Chaos erupted, with tables and chairs flying around as people leapt to their feet. Many tried to cram themselves through the tiny doorway, causing a stampede and a blockage. Noah realized that she would not be able to escape that way, and she didn’t fancy dying in the flames. She grabbed a bar stool and hurled it at the windows, frowning when it bounced off. 

“Here, like this!” Someone smashed a glass bottle open and used it to carve an X into the glass. Smoke was rapidly filling the room, causing Noah to have to duck there the air was breathable. She almost wept with joy as the widow shattered. 

But where was Muell? She had sensed that he was around, but where was he? And did he have Kyle with him? Would they be caught up in the flames?