not neither," I said with trembling lips, returning my gaze to the woman who would surely end my life, "what am I?"
She looked pleased with the question as she closed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You are both, my dear. The combination of two, one of blazing heat and domination, and the other of pure delicacy that many perceive as gods by their beauty alone. Whether you're a product of chance or were created to see what could result with such unity, your parents succeeded marvelously. You're the one struggling to give up that human side of yours."
"I'm not struggling to give my human side up," I argued. "I've been human all my life."
"You've been fed a lie written on a piece of paper one calls a birth certificate. If you were human, the very parents who ditched you after they made a vow to keep you safe would have done their part and informed you of such nonsense. Instead, they sacrificed the blessing given to them by another in promise. Breaking a promise to gain something else in return."
She laughed, her wings curling around her as if comforting her body that wasn't dressed for these chilly temperatures.
"They say we supernaturals are evil. What creature makes a promise to care for an innocent babe, only to let them go to the highest bidder who only wants death for the creation made between two powerful souls?"
"How—"
"How can I tell what is written in the past?" she interrupted. "Just as how Alisha can predict the future."
"You know Alisha?"
"I know who is destined to intertwine with my life. That includes you." She lowered her arms, her judging eyes staring me down and making me wish to be as small as possible.
"For twenty years, you've wasted power that has been blessed to you. Those who expected your safety in a loving family must already be aware of the dark circumstances you were thrown into and they can do nothing as they must handle their own problems instead. Elimination of your existence is the only way the individuals who seek your downfall won't be caught as the stars begin to shift in alignment and our destined paths begin to unlock our true purpose. All of that starts with you, Cassandra Cyldrirth."
"Cyldrirth?" I struggled to pronounce the foreign name. "That...sounds like—"
"Dragonhood," she revealed. "The half that burns when that guard gets too close to you. The reason why, though he's been asked multiple times to get rid of you, he visits your cell when you sleep peacefully and he leaves in lust, wishing that you could be his. He's too stubborn to acknowledge that your heart can widen for one more, and you've been too caught up in your predicament and need to ignite the relationships you've ignored for eons to see his desire for you."
She took a step forward, followed by another, the second step reaching the edge of the grass and turning it black before it erupted into flames.
"He pushed you here to give you an opportunity to either hide or attempt to release the power within you. The burning energy that awakens when your life is about to end."
Another step of flames.
"It's so ironic how supernatural captivity works. You won't understand it with a human mind, but when you've awakened the beast within you, everything will fall in place. You become new as you see who wants you dead and why being behind bars is a blessing as you plot your revenge."
Another step.
"Isn't that what you need to do? To fade away, so that Ms. Widow, the very one who gave the Thorns enough knowledge and money to build their empire in exchange for abandoning you, doesn't end your life with her own slithering hands? A lovely invitation has been presented to you, and now you can either succumb to your unconscious desperation to be normal or to bask in your magical essence and transform into the person you were destined to be. The sole daughter of the Cyldrirth family and potential heir to their infinite den of majestic dragons."
"I-I need more time," I pleaded. Her words meant so much, and yet it felt like rushing waves hitting me left and right. Far too much information to suddenly accept what had been hidden until now.
The worst part of all of this was how vulnerable I felt. It was as though everyone knew I was special but me. Why was that? Why couldn't I return to the life I'd lived two and