"Aram!"

Red heard his name being called but ignored it as he swiftly ducked into the dimly lit tavern. The air was thick with the scent of ale and the sound of raucous laughter. The low lighting and hazy smoke that thickened the air should be enough to throw off his pursuer. Red ensured his careless, continuous stride was confident enough to throw off his follower.

Unfortunately for Red, his luck wasn't that good, and the man chased him into the tavern. Red slipped out the back door and caught a look at the man chasing him. It was Hakan. His older brother must have hightailed it here to stop the hemorrhaging of gold Ceren was losing.

Red could escape Hakan's eyes this time because he was quick enough. It was time to push his brother's death up. Red didn't want a direct confrontation, and he couldn't risk being near Hakan when he died. He'd learned the hard way after Cem's death.

"Your eye never stops glowing now," Reu said.

Red gave a twitch of his lips. He'd long considered it a consequence of watching Cem die. His Habrin side of the family was satisfied that he had nothing to do with it, or else he'd have died as well. But the Elan blood in him knew better. It understood that he allowed a piece of his blood to die in front of him without helping.

Red was losing the protection of his Elan blood. It was the only bandage staunching his innate hunger for violence and blood. His Habrin blood will win over if he isn't careful.

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"You should go be with Merin," Reu said. "I can handle this portion of Ceren."

"I'm not leaving until it's done," Red said. "Hakan will die tomorrow, and Ceren will fall. Did Ece receive our letters?"

"They'll be here to attack Ceren and burn it down," Reu said. "There's not much left to defend it."

"I'll leave after that."

It didn't seem to matter that Red kept his hands clean. With another brother dead, Red's blood lust was even more challenging to contain.

Red rubbed his eyes and fought hard to stop looking at people walking by him in the walkway. He could hear their hearts beating in their chest. Red could smell those with sick, exemplary, or nasty blood. He could all but taste them in his mouth.

He never wanted to kill someone more than his father before. The hunger was blurring his eyes, and he could feel his hands twitch as they clenched into fists.

His hunger can't be contained at this rate.

A piece of his hair was yanked, and Red flinched at the sharp tug. Acuzio was chewing on Red's hair, and the man was grateful for the dragon.

The pain was replaced by a brief moment of clarity.

"Thanks," Red said. He didn't have time to unravel and fall to pieces. Red still had three more brothers to see dead. After that, their father was next, and then Red wasn't sure what would be left of him. He didn't have time to care now.

Red left Reu to meet with the Ece survivors and headed back to the capital where Merin was nesting. His sense of unease grew as he got to the capital and saw the outlying damage around the surrounding land.

Huge cracks in the earth told the story of something tragic.

Little aftershocks and tremors made Red move faster as his fear overwhelmed his reinitiate. He was right to trust his instincts.