Aiden.
Auraelia spooled her magic back into herself and collapsed into the chair. She hadn’t even realized she’d risen from it until her legs gave out from under her.
Staring into the cell, Auraelia’s stomach roiled. She thought she’d feel relief. Thought that ending Kyra’s life would have brought her some semblance of peace. But as she looked at the lifeless body in front of her—at the way Kyra’s limbs were broken and splayed in different directions, smoke rising in delicate swirls from the way her lightning had wreaked havoc on her body—she felt nothing but hopelessness.
She hadn’t just killed her; she’d obliterated her.
Panicked voices surrounded her, but they all sounded like they were underwater—muffled and muted to the point of being unrecognizable. Auraelia pulled her gaze from the lifeless body on the other side of the cell bars and stared down at where her hands were trembling in her lap. To the darkened green stain on the tips that had grown past her second knuckle, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they now mirrored her soul.
Auraelia squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to block out the image of Kyra’s battered body, but it was emblazoned in her mind; her screams were a nightmare’s echo.
She kept them closed despite feeling someone pulling the chair away from the cell. She kept them clenched when she feltwarm, callused hands wrapped around her own. And even still, when a wash of calm settled over her and a warm, hesitant voice filled her ears.
“Rae?” When she didn’t answer, the grip on her hands tightened to the point of pain, and the voice spoke again. “Come on, lightning girl. Talk to me. You alright?”
Auraelia let out a huff of a laugh as Aiden’s voice finally permeated the fog clouding her mind. “I thought I told you not to call me that?”
His laugh seemed to be one of relief, and he loosened his grip on her hands. “You did, but I think the moniker fits. That was some power back there. Are you alright?”
As she cracked her eyes, she realized that not only had she been pulled away from the cell, but Aiden had turned her chair away from the devastation she’d caused. She met his honeyed gaze before letting hers travel to meet the glassy eyes of Piper, who was squatting by her side. When she met Aiden once more, she released a heavy sigh.
“Honestly? No, I’m not. I never intended for it to go that far.”
“She got what she deserved,” Aiden said with conviction.
“Did she? Or is what I did no better than what she did to my mother? What Davina did to my people and is planning to do to the realm?”
“Rae,” Piper’s hands replaced Aiden’s, and Auraelia shifted her attention to her best friend. The tears in her hazel eyes made the green outshine the golden brown hues, and Auraelia latched onto them as she listened. “Kyra and Davina attacked your family and your peopleunprovoked.What you just did? No one can fault you for that reaction. And I hate to say it, but this isn’t the only time you’re going to have to do that. War is coming.People are going to die. There’s no avoiding that, no matter how hard we might try.”
Auraelia held Piper’s gaze, then nodded. She knew Piper was right. Knew that not everyone could be—or should be—saved. But that didn’t mean she shouldn’t do everything in her power to save the ones she could. Taking a deep breath, Auraelia pulled her hands from Piper’s and pushed up from the chair. Her knees buckled, and she was immensely grateful when Aiden wrapped his arm around her waist.
“You need to eat, Sparky.”
Auraelia’s eyebrows shot upward as she swiveled her head toward Aiden. “Sparky?”
“No, you’re right. Lightning Girl fits better.”
Auraelia shook her head and let out a small laugh. Knowing everything she did about Aiden, it shouldn’t have surprised her that he’d try to lighten the mood with ill-placed humor. “Whatever you say, Blondie.”
“Blondie?” Aiden gasped. “You wound me, Your Majesty.”
Auraelia chuckled at their exchange and leaned into Aiden as he carefully maneuvered her around the chair and toward the door.
When they reached the threshold, Auraelia paused as an idea sprung to mind. Killing Kyra was meant to send a message, and letting her body rot in the dungeon or in the ground wouldn’t do that. She pulled away from Aiden for a moment to meet his gaze head-on. “How discreetly do you think you could get her body to the border?”
“To the…border? Which border?” he asked hesitantly.
Auraelia didn’t think a person’s eyes could get as wide as Aiden’s had become, shock etching every feature on his face as she said, “Garnet’s.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Caius
The air was crisp, the snow falling in delicate flurries around him as Caius trudged across the white expanse to the Onyx Mountains. The missive from Auraelia hadn’t said much, but it had said enough that he’d jumped out of bed and threw on the first thing his hands made contact with in his wardrobe.
I left you something at the border at the foot of the Onyx Mountains. Consider it a gift from me to my cousin. A reminder of what she started and what I intend to finish.
-A
