I nodded.
He released his silver threads, and we separated.
“Do you have to return to the king?” I asked.
“He expects me to stand by his side at all times, especially after my recent disobedience.”
“Be careful.”
He nodded; his gaze locked on me. “Always.”
After he flitted from the suite, I walked to the bathing area, finding the bath drawn already, candles lit, and a solitary black rose with silver tips perched in a delicate vase.
He’d laid out a gown for me.
I laughed when I saw it was pink.
29
VEXXION
“How close are you to acting?” I asked Zayde. “The timing needs to be perfect.”
After working with Tempest in our secret meadow, we returned to our suite, where I left her.
My half-brother and I flew our dragons to an isolated spot in the valley below the aerie. No place was safe to speak, but with my threads surrounding us and our mounts grazing nearby, their clawed feet digging into the grass and their sharp senses alert, the location would do for a short conversation.
Blackness cloaked the world without even the hint of the moon or a star in the sky, just the way I liked it. If I couldn’t be with my fury, I didn’t want the stars trying to outshine her light.
Creatures moved through the woods around us, though even they were wise enough not to come near.
I sensed we were alone—for now.
“I am ready.” Zayde paced to the outer reaches of mythreads, gnawing on his lower lip, a habit he’d started when he was little and never shed. It was the only thing that gave away the tension coiling inside him. “She’s scared. She hates this. We both do.”
“I understand.”
“The situation is unbearable.”
If it wasn’t, would he be willing to join me in this or would he still waver? I feared the latter. There came a time in everyone’s life when they had to choose a side. I’d done so when I was five. His time was now. Did he finally see?
“Are you sure that we have to—”
I growled in frustration and raked my nails across the back of my neck. “Please don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts now.” At this point, if he didn’t follow through on his part of the plan, everything would fall to pieces.
“We don’t have to go through with it. We can handle it in another way.”
I slammed my eyes shut before opening them again. “I’ve spent months putting this into place. I need you.” I’d needed him for most of my life and while he’d often stepped back when he should’ve stood by my side, he was four years younger than me. I’d allowed him to choose his own path whenever possible, because I’d never been given that choice, and I’d wanted better for my half-brother.
But it was past time he grew up and faced what I’d been forced to see when I was still a child.
“If he finds out, he’s not going to just let you have her,” I said.
“And he won’t allow you to haveher.”
“I already do,” I drawled. No one was taking my fury from me. No one.
“He’ll claim her if he’s given the chance.”
