Ezer, my heart.
That wouldn’t do, either, because she was not the kind who wanted sappy or soft words.
She wanted the truth, as cold and as hard as it was. And he hadn’t given it to her.
He should have.
Gods, he should have.
It wasn’t his choice to make, to hide the truth of her uncle. But when he’d gotten to know her...
He should have told her, from the second he felt that first traitorous flutter in his heart. He should have allowed her to face the questions she had...to know which side she stood on.
“What are you still doing here?” a voice said from behind him.
Arawn turned to find Indriya and Riven, her giant of a brother, walking back from the Eagle’s Nest. They were both splattered in darksoul blood...a sure sign that they’d just returned from the war. Without him.
And he?
He was losing his own battle, right here, as he stood before the catacombs door.
It was the one that led to Ezer, for he knew she’d be sleeping in the raphon’s cage, as she had for weeks now. It pained him that she was mere steps away, for she felt further from him now than she ever had before.
“Arawn.”
Arawn turned to look at his aerie. Indriya in her leathers, and Riven with his twin swords strapped behind his back. They’d been through so much together...Sacred Knights who knew what he once was like, in war.
They would be ashamed if they knew why he was really here,how much his heart was shredded over a Raphonminder that was not his.
But then Indriya sighed, and said, “Just open the damned door and go to her.”
He blinked.
“I...”
“You’re a fool if you think we didn’t see you that night on Absolution,” Indriya said, as she paused to hang up her sword beside her saddle. She elbowed her brother in the side.
Riven grunted, and added, “She’s right, Arawn. You haven’t looked at anyone like that since...”
“No,” Indriya corrected him with a smug smile. “He hasn’t looked at anyone like thisever.”She sighed. “She flies tomorrow, with the Descent?”
Arawn nodded.
This was a new boundary. A new line they’d never crossed before, not just as aeriemates but as Sacred. For a Crown Prince, to go after someone...anyonewho wasn’t his Matched? And on a night that wasn’t Absolution, no less?
He turned away from the door.
But Indriya put her hand on his chest...and pressed him gently back towards it.
“Go,” she said. “If it heals you, Arawn. If it does what it needs to do, to bring you back...”
“We never saw you here,” Riven said.
And it was a gift, as the siblings simply walked away, not looking back, not even once, to see if Arawn had gone through that door.
And he did.
His heart in his throat, he reached for the handle.
