He had been given power.
And choseusinstead.
And that… meant more than he’d ever know.
Tae lay back on the cot, one arm draped lazily across his stomach, the other bandaged and still healing from the knife that should’ve done far more damage than it had. The golden light of Meri’s magic had faded, but the warmth of what he’d just done hadn’t.
I sat beside him and reached out, resting my hand lightly on the edge of the cot.
“Tae,” I said softly. “That was… a big deal. You didn’t have to turn them down.”
He cracked one eye open, the ghost of a smile already forming. “Please. Stormforge takes themselves way too seriously. And I would never be able to spike the morning tea.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
He tried to brush it off, as always, his voice light. “What can I say? Thrall Squad’s more fun. And Ferrula would gut me.”
But Riven, and I both knew the truth.
He wasn’t choosing fun.
He was choosingus.
Because his own brother, his blood, had betrayed him. Had taken everything.
And now, we were what he had left.
We were his family.
I gave him a look, lips curved into a smirk. “You just like the attention.”
He winked, the cocky edge returning for just a second. “What can I say? I live to be admired.”
Then, like the fight had finally caught up to him, his eyes fluttered closed.
Meri moved closer, pulling the blanket up to his chest. “He needs rest,” she murmured. “That power of his takes more out of him than he lets on.”
I nodded and stood.
Riven moved to follow, but I touched her arm lightly.
“Give me a moment,” I said. “I need to speak with Kaelith.”
She nodded, squeezing my hand once before slipping into the corridor.
I turned back toward the door, and the dragon who still hadn’t spoken to me since she had me block my bond from Zander.
I stepped into the shadowed edge of the courtyard, beyond the torchlight, where the air was quieter and the hum of castle life faded beneath the sound of distant dragon wings.
The clouds above slid by coldly, and Kaelith circled them like a shadow gliding through, silent, watching.
Kaelith,I reached out through the bond, tentative, unsure if she’d answer.
For a long, aching moment, there was only the wind.
I hear you,her voice came, quieter than I’d ever heard it. Not cold, just… wary.
I need to talk to you, I said.About the prophecy.
