“Do you think I will just stand here and let you cast a spell before attacking me? Fool.”

Jade’s eyes widened. Actually, everyone in the courtyard was in disbelief.

“That was…” Jade thought aloud.

“Draven, I thought that you had no aptitude for sorcery?” Garm approached and asked.

“Recently, I have developed a bit of an aptitude for Chaos sorcery.”

Blaire couldn’t believe what he had just seen. That was, without a doubt, Blink- as incomplete and short-distance as it was. Blink was one of the core spells for Chaos Sorcery, which was the rarest form of Vampire Sorcery. It was rumored to only be granted by the Shadow Mother to those that had the strongest of bloodlines. How could Draven possess it?

Lara hollered.

“You’re despicable! You threw dirt into his eyes in a duel!”

Draven picked his ear with his pinkie as he walked back toward the mansion.

“Garm, we will practice here at noon every day henceforth. Plan accordingly.”

“Understood.”

After his leave, everybody was silent and unmoving. Blaire sat back in his seat, digesting that which had happened. He started to speak to Samara, but upon glancing at her, a single question left his lips.

“What… is that look for?”

Samara’s lips had curled into a smile.

“Why else? For the first time since having children, I now have undeniable proof that one of them takes after me. I am over the moon.”

“Ah, you mean Draven’s Chaos Sorcery? It is truly a pleasant surprise, to be sure.”

“No, not that.”

“?”

“Certainly, his affinity for Chaos Sorcery is a shock… but… His look…” She reflected on the look of his eyes as he kicked Jarrett- with no hint of fear of accidentally killing his older brother.

“The cold stare that he had… That is truly, without a shadow of a doubt, my son.”

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Draven past Cornella, who had been observing through a window of the mansion. She looked at Draven as he approached. She had no idea what to say… She felt anger, but she knew that she had no right to express it. What would Draven say? Would he harass her for hoping to escape his grasp? Laugh? However, deep in the depths of her soul, she had hoped that he would say something along the lines of, ‘I was not going to lose you- even if it meant tainting my honor.’ However, as Draven approached, and she tried to speak, nothing left her lips.

Nothing left his, either. He kept walking to his destination of his desk, and left Cornella expectantly waiting in the hallway- shocked that he had not said anything at all. As he disappeared into his room, words finally left her mouth.

“You are just… the worst…”

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