The rituals had made Alaris' dragon grow faster than he did, and that had made him more violent than he should be, because he was too young to be able to control his beast, too young to control his beastly desires for blood and death.
Instead, his beast controlled him.
Made him wild.
Then his parents got tired of how useless Eli was, and they were driven by the pollution of dark magic to get Alaris' power for themselves, and whatever it was that had been given to Eli.
The night they planned to sacrifice both of them was the first time Alaris shifted into his dragon and he killed them both, sending the castle down into a pile of ash, while ripping out the hearts of Eli's parents as a gift to him. In shock and fear, Eli had pushed him off the cliff, and for years he bore the guilt of having killed him.
Then he met Kestra.
He lived low with Kestra. He didn't even know that the witch had been so obsessed with him, that she had cast on him a curse and made herself the cure.
