From the time we were about fifteen.I snuggled deeper into his lap, kissing the scars on his neck that still twisted, a testament to the rage meted out on his body by a monster I’d soon scorch from this world.He was born Lydel. Would you believe that?
How?
His father was one of my mother’s mainland generals, one who sacrificed himself to protect her, though we know how that turned out. When he traveled to the city one time, he met Ivenrail and allied himself to him. Ivenrail told him to watch out for women with power.Ultimately, me. The snarling hatred he’d vomited out at me after I took him to the cliffs near the aerie, where I confronted him, echoed in my mind.He protected me at the king’s command. Not because they knew who I was, but because I was one of many with the potential to become who they feared.
When you left for the Claiming, so did he.
I’m surprised he didn’t talk me into going. The end goal was to bring me to Ivenrail.
Maybe he didn’t have enough power to contain you if you fought back.
He had enough to keep casting forget spells on you.All the times where he’d rub Vexxion’s shoulder or sit beside him on the sofa were designed to keep Vexxion from remembering me and the love we’d shared. To blunt our combined power.
Together, we’re unstoppable, Vexxion said.I felt our bond growstronger with each challenge we faced. Our love is formidable enough to make the king’s knees quake.
Brodine started wooing me a year ago at the king’s command. They assumed it would make me easier to manipulate. Brodine planned to hand me to Ivenrail himself.
Vexxion tightened his arms around me and placed his chin on the top of my head. He was back, and he’d never leave me again.Why did he claim Brodine?
To convince me that my friend was in grave danger.I huffed.Would you believe he mocked me for believing we were friends?Only now did the pain of my loss wash through me, but I could never grieve the man I’d killed. He’d never existed. I’d loved a mirage.He twisted my emotions and manipulated me every chance he could. A short time ago, he dared to stand in front of me and scorn me for being with you. He told me you didn’t truly love me, that our mate bond wasn’t real. Even as I lashed him with power, he snarled and told me I was useless, that I was a fool to think I’d ever get close enough to the king to kill him.
I should’ve killed him for you.
Because he saw himself as my shield, my protector from everything in life that might do me harm or cause me pain.
I had to do this myself. Facing him alone was the only way to end it.I had to prove to Brodine that he was wrong.He sent me to Prager, projecting Madrood’s voice in the meadow near the inn. He was poisoning everyone.
I’m sorry.
He mocked me right until the end. Slashed me with his scorn and disgust. Belittled me for believing there was anyone around me who wasn’t using me for their own gain.
Are you alright?
Surprisingly, yes. Something inside me has changed.I wasn’t hard—no harder than Vexxion. But the horror and dismay I’d felt after killing Delaine didn’t flood me. My hands didn’t shake, and my core didn’t feel hollowed out with dismay.Why don’t I care about this?
Because you were ready to do it.
Prepared?
In a sense, yes.
I was mad at him. I literally shook. Not with anguish but with fury.He used me. All this time, I loved him when he never felt the same.
Killing a person went against every instinct screaming inside me. One lonely tear trickled down my cheek, but I was mourning what I’d never had, not what I’d lost. I swiped it away and held up my fingers, studying the hot liquid as if it would reveal to the world what I’d done.
I didn’t make it easy for him,I said. How could I after what he’d done?
I’d blasted him with power and pinned him to the ground with magic. I stood over him while he begged, while he told me hehadloved me, that I was a sister to him, that he’d been completely drained by the king, but I’d brought him back from the ether.
“All lies,” I’d hissed. “The king never drained you.”
He’d flinched and a vicious, corrupt expression crossed his face as he braced himself up off the ground. “Join with us, and we’ll give you the world.” He spoke with the voice I’d run to for most of my life but also with the voice I abhorred.
Ivenrail had slipped into Brodine, their faces morphing into a brutal mix of monster and a true master’s minion. “Join me, and you will have everything,” Ivenrail shouted through Brodine’s mouth.
“No,” I’d said.
“Then I’m coming for you,rider,” Ivenrail snarled. “Can you feel my rage scorching across your skin? When your pitiful, insignificant body is bound by my feet, I will destroy you.”
