The gods warned us that division would bring ruin, but they never said how much it would cost in blood, in love or sacrifice. I swallowed hard, the ache in my chest a reminder: every step we took was built atop her absence.
“How did they die?” Ford asked, careless as ever.
“Ford,” we all snapped at once, though Nezra was the one who leaned across and cuffed him hard on the arm.
His hands flew up. “What? It’s aquestion.”
“It’s okay,” Wells shook his head before the rest of us could flay Ford alive. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is the promise I made to them. One I intend to keep.”
That was all steel, no hesitation, no crack where doubt could slip through. In that instant, it was clear, our boy was gone. Whatever innocence he’d carried had been forced into something harder.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Callum watching him, his expression unreadable. The kind of look that left a sting, because it was the same one he wore when he thought I wasn’t looking.
And when I reached for him, for the bond he’d given me all those years ago, the only thread tying me to the family I had left, I didn’t just find it sheltered. I found it shattered.
Another hour had passed of us twiddling our thumbs, waiting, until it was Elva that decided the quiet had sat with us too long.
She turned to me. “So,” she hesitated, “what did Maerin tell you...before…”
Callum’s head lifted from his map, eyes drawing together. “She wanted you alone, why?”
I shifted uncomfortably as every damn pair of eyes latched to me. Mae’s last words hadn’t settled; their omen was still certain.Let them feel the ascension of your Vyratheon blood.
Vyratheon.
The name sounded so familiar, like it had been whispered into my mind while I was sleeping, settling into my soul like a first heartbeat. The moment I thought about it, the darkness stirred, hissing against my ribs, winding tight.
The way Mae had said it made it clear this wasn’t just a name. It was the truth of who I was, who I am. If it meant nothing, she wouldn’t have spent her last breath giving it to me. But what good was a name without a history? Without a root? It was still only a reminder of everything I didn’t know about myself.
I forced the name back into darkness I kept locked, trying to shove the Viper down with it.
“She said that if war came, if Obrann or the Bale pressed further, her people would stand with us. That we wouldn’t be alone.”
Elva’s shoulders eased, soft relief spilling across her face as she murmured something to Wells.
“She didn’t want to share that kind offer with the rest of us?” Ford bit out, lounging over stone while he sent small force-shields to catch and entrap escaping embers from the fire.
Callum only grunted, resuming his incessant planning as Inessa and Kanoa joined in, showing him our best route to take. Killian never looked up, the lie sliding neatly into the circle of firelight before us.
Except Nezra. Her eyes caught mine, unblinking. She wasn’t fooled. But she let me keep the secret, let me cradle this name like a blade pressed to my own throat.
The fire popped, sparks snapping skyward, and I tore my eyes away before Nezra’s stare could strip me of every lie.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Verena
REALIZATION CAME OVER ME LIKE A WAVE.
Sudden, overpowering and then quiet, relief spilling into every vein, washing me clean.
Three days I’d been holding my breath, waiting. Not just for him to return safely—
But for him to return tome.
Ronan landed, wings folding, smoke trailing. And before thought could stop me, I was running. The bond tightened, pulling me faster, harder, its force a raging heartbeat that had ached the entire time he was gone.
I hadn’t noticed until now, that ache, it was distance. The wound on my body had healed, his magic mending torn flesh. But another wound, one deeper and unseen, had only begun to close because of him.
