She pulled against the chains around her arms, starting to take a step forward, but stopping upon seeing the Belwarks shift their weight. She swallowed hard and met Rhaif’s gaze.
“Rhaif…” she heard herself whisper.
“She is your sister,” Draven managed.
“Brother,please!” Nyssa shouted from the gallery.
Rhaif didn’t move. He stared at Aydra in a way that told her he was truly battling with the decision. A tear dropped down his cheek, for one brief moment, she thought he might say no—
“Burn her.”
Aydra’s heart stopped.
“NO!”
Nyssa and Dorian’s screams echoed in the room.
The noise of Draven’s shouts were distant in her ears. Her core felt void of every emotion as breath refused to catch. She couldn’t look away from the stare of debilitating hatred coming at her from her brother now that he’d made his decision.
This was the day she’d told herself would come.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
DRAVEN DIDN’T SEE Aydra for the rest of the day.
He was dragged, screaming, from the Throne Room and up into their tower dungeons. The door was slammed behind him as he was thrown inside.
He couldn’t stop the tears crawling down his face.
His love. His life. Both being put to death because of their love. Because of a child that had never grown within one of the Lesser being’s wombs before.
The sun had just begun to set when he heard footsteps on the steps, but he didn’t know who to expect as it was only one person. He shot to his feet, thinking maybe it was Balandria or Dorian.
“Nitesh?”
The Nitesh pulled her hood off her head and plopped down outside his cell door. “Sit, Venari,” she demanded. “Sit!”
Draven frowned, but sat nonetheless.
The Nitesh launched through the bars and grabbed his shirt, lifting him off the floor.
“What—”
“The Sun, Venari?!” she hissed, throwing him backwards. “You released the Sun for her?! You know who the noir phoenix is. You know breaking such a curse could start something you cannot finish.”
Draven’s jaw set. He rubbed his chest where she’d grabbed some of the hair on it, eyes glaring at her though the bars. “And I would do it again. For Aydra.”
The Nitesh’s nostrils flared. “My mother did not place such curses lightly,” she seethed. “Do you realize what you could have done?”
“It was one ritual,” he argued.
“A ritual that if continued to its potential or in the wrong hands could undo every curse my mother has ever placed upon this land.”
“Maybe I should have completed it,” he smarted.
“It isnotthe time!”
Her nostrils flared, and he knew if she’d been able to slap him she would have. “It’s the Sun, Nitesh,” he argued. “It merely allows her to take flight in her creature form. She is still imprisoned within the phoenix. What harm could breaking an Architect free bring onto this land?”
