He howled, but he didn’t feel true pain. He was just giving voice to his frustration.
In that instant, she became the beautiful woman who must’ve captured my father’s attention and the adoration of all of Weldsbane. I could picture her dancing with him inside the same ballroom where I’d spun Tempest around, and the sound of her laughter was a precious balm to my tortured soul.
Even then, he’d used her, never loved her. He wasn’t capable of the feeling and that was why his soul remained cracked. It would never heal, and he’d die alone.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll make him do it for you.” The words clawed their way up Ivenrail’s throat.
“Never,” she snarled, the word bleeding with pain. So much pain that it consumed her.
“Look at him one last time, then.” Defeat did not ring in the king’s voice. No, it was charged with a determined force she could not withstand.
I didn’t blame her for letting her soul seep from her body or for leaving me in this monster’s clutches. She’d done everything she could to protect me, to ensure I knew what I’d have to do in the end.
Ivenrail slashed out with power, and I felt her lift away from the agony and drift across the room. Her fingertips were a mere whisper across my face.
Remember.
The power-charged knife dropped from Ivenrail’s hand, clattering on the stone floor, and he spun, striding toward me with limitless rage burning in his eyes.
I lifted my head, wanting one last look at my mother before I’d drag my gaze away from her and never peer in that direction again.
My mother did not hang from the wall.
Tempest’s bloody carcass did.
44
TEMPEST
After I flitted Reyla to her room and made sure she went to bed, I flitted to my own room, where I made myself lie down and sleep. I didn’t wake until Aunt Vera stood beside my bed.
“Are you ready?” she asked, giving me an indulgent smile.
I watched her, remembering the bone vision. What had she done to Vexxion?
“I’ll take you to the same place your mother went to claim the court’s core,” she said brightly. “When she died, the core returned to where it has waited for each new generation to swallow it down.”
“Give me a few moments, and I’ll go with you.” A glance at a timepiece showed me I’d only slept five hours, but I felt surprisingly perky.
I washed quickly and dressed in leathers; an outfit that made me feel as if I could survive almost anything.
“Perfect,” she said when I strode back out into the bedroom.
A hint of trepidation crept across my bones, but I stomped it flat. I didn’t have time to let it take over. I’d do better with this if I maintained control.
How far I’d come since I was a simple dragon trainer at the fortress.
“It’s good that you’ll have someone to help,” she said.
“You?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be almost no help at all.” Her nervous titter rang out. “I can’t swim either.”
“Yet here we are, living on an island.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t grow up here, though I visited often.”
“You were raised on the mainland?”
