Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-Five
The dream was hazy at first, a swirling mist of cold and shadow, but then I saw her—Aeliana—standing in the distance, her form flickering like a flame in the wind. She wasn’t the bright, warm figure I remembered from our childhood. Her eyes glowed in the dim light, an intensity that chilled me to the bone. And when she spoke, it wasn’t with the tenderness of the sister I had lost.
Aeliana’s lips curled into a sad smile. “Sometimes, we have to do what we must,” she murmured. Her voice was softer now, almost… forgiving. “It’s okay.”
I took a step toward her, confusion twisting inside me. “What do you mean, Aeliana? What are you trying to tell me?”
Before she could answer, the dream began to dissolve, her form fading into the mist. “Wake up, Elara,” she whispered, her voice growing distant. “Wake up.”
I jolted awake, my breath coming in jagged gasps, heart hammering in my chest. The room was swathed in darkness, save for the slivers of moonlight slicing through the curtains, casting eerie, shifting shadows along the walls. I blinked, disoriented, the remnants of the dream still clinging to my mind like cobwebs. Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and the unmistakable sensation of being watched crawled up my spine like ice.
I wasn’t alone.
Isolde stood over me, her silhouette harsh and unnerving against the pale light. She was a statue—rigid, unmoving, her face a mask of cold indifference. Her dark hair spilled down her back like a curtain of shadows, but her eyes—those piercing, unfathomable eyes—pinned me to the bed.
“Get up,” she said, her voice low, each word razor-sharp. “Now.”
I froze, my body still tangled in the sheets, heart thundering so loudly I was sure she could hear it. “Isolde?” My voice cracked, barely more than a whisper. “What are you?—”
Her face lowered, the moonlight catching the edges of her expression. She leaned in until I could feel her cold breath against my cheek. “Unless you want every soul in this castle to know who you really are,” she hissed, her words like venom, “get up and follow me. Now.”
Every inch of my skin went cold. She knew. She knew the truth.
I didn’t move, my mind grasping at empty thoughts, trying to calculate what she was going to do—what I could do to stop her. But before I could react, her hand shot out and gripped my wrist with alarming force. “Don’t make me ask again, Elara,” she whispered, her tone so smooth it was almost worse than a shout. “There’s no time. I don’t care if you’re scared. You’re coming with me.”
Swallowing back the rising panic, I threw off the covers, fumbling for my robe. My fingers shook as I pulled it on over my nightgown. “Where are we going?” My voice trembled, my throat dry as sandpaper. “What’s happening?”
“Shut up,” she snapped, yanking me to my feet with startling strength. “Just follow me. No questions, and for gods’ sake—don’t make a sound.”
She dragged me toward the door, my feet stumbling over each other as I scrambled to keep up. The cold stone beneath my bare feet bit like shards of ice. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything but the quick, rhythmic steps of Isolde as she led us through the darkened corridors.
As we turned a corner, the dim outline of a figure slumped against the wall stopped me dead. Rhydian. My heart lurched, the sight of him crumpled and still sending waves of dread coursing through me. “Rhydian?” I breathed, stepping toward him instinctively, but Isolde yanked me back. “What did you do to him?”
“He’ll live,” she said without a shred of concern, her grip tightening on my wrist until it hurt. “He’s just… asleep. For now.”
A shiver of unease slithered through me. This wasn’t right. None of this was right. “Isolde,” I whispered, my voice cracking as I tried to twist free. “Tell me what’s going on. Why are you doing this?”
Her silence only deepened my panic. She dragged me deeper into the castle, moving swiftly, her iron grip unyielding. We climbed a narrow, twisting staircase, the walls closing in around us as the air grew colder, thinner. My breaths came faster, and I stumbled, almost falling as my legs struggled to keep up with her pace.
At last, we burst onto a balcony high above the castle, the night sky vast and endless above us. The stars glittered coldly against the ink-black sky, but the wind bit through my thin robe, cutting to the bone. I sucked in a quick breath, the vastness of the night sky doing nothing to soothe the terror gnawing at my insides.
Isolde released me. “There are forces at work here, Elara,” she said, her voice like a blade. “Things you can’t even begin to understand.”
I took a shaky step back, my stomach twisting. “I’m sorry,” I blurted, desperate, my hands trembling as I raised them in a weak attempt at placating her. “I didn’t want to lie—I had no choice. Please, don’t?—”
“Kill you?” Isolde’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile. “Elara, if I wanted you dead, you’d already be lying at the bottom of this tower.”
Before I could even process the twisted mockery in her voice, a low, powerful whoosh cut through the air, sending a violent shiver down my spine. I froze. The sound was unmistakable—like wings beating against the wind, massive and terrifying. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned just in time to see the enormous figure descending from the sky.
Valen and his dragon.
The dragon’s dark wings spread wide, the moonlight glinting off the dark scales that lined his body as he landed with a thunderous crash on the stone balcony. His presence filled the space, the power that radiated from him suffocating, oppressive. The air itself seemed to bow to him as he folded his wings, the heat from his body palpable even from across the balcony.
Valen’s eyes, blazing with an intense, molten glow, locked onto me, and I felt my knees nearly buckle beneath the weight of his gaze. “Elara,” he said, his voice a low growl that rumbled through the air like distant thunder.
I took another step back, the wind whipping my hair around my face. “What—what are you doing here?” My voice wavered, barely a whisper against the roar of the wind.
Valen didn’t answer at first. His eyes snapped to Isolde, who remained stone-faced, her hands clenched at her sides. Tension crackled between them like the snap of a flame meeting ice. Whatever was happening, they were in on it together. And I was the target.
“We don’t have much time,” Valen finally said, his deep voice rough and commanding. “You need to come with me. Now.”
The words sent a jolt of fear through me. “No—no, I can’t. I won’t!” I backed up until I hit the cold stone railing.
Valen’s eyes narrowed, the heat of his gaze pinning me in place. “You don’t have a choice, Elara. Not anymore.”
Valen’s eyes bored into mine, burning with a fierce, consuming intensity that made my blood turn to ice.
“What… what is this?” I managed to choke out, my voice barely a whisper as the panic clawed at my chest. “Why are you doing this?”
Isolde took a slow step forward, her voice almost gentle, but threaded with something far more dangerous. “You still don’t understand, do you? You’re bound to him, Elara. You always have been.”
I blinked, my pulse roaring in my ears as I tried to make sense of her words. “Bound? What are you talking about?”
Her gaze softened—just for a second, a flicker of pity—but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “It’s a bond forged in blood, prophecy, and destiny.”
My world tilted, the ground beneath me shifting like sand. “No… I don’t understand.” I shook my head, backing away, but Valen’s presence swallowed me whole, trapping me.
“We don’t have time for this,” Valen said, stepping closer, his voice like velvet—dark, smooth, and far too intimate. “I’m taking you home.”
The words hit me like a hammer to the chest. I stumbled backward, my mind spinning, grasping at anything to hold onto, but there was nothing. I was falling. My heart raced, hammering against my ribs, but it couldn’t drown out the truth settling over me like a shroud.
The night air bit at my skin as Valen closed the distance between us. Each step he took made the space around me shrink, the walls of my world closing in. My pulse thundered in my ears, my throat tightening in terror. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t have me.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head violently, every nerve screaming in protest. “I don’t belong to you. I’ll never belong to you.”
Valen’s lips curved, a slow, predatory smile that sent ice through my veins. “Oh, but you do, Elara,” he said softly. “You’ve always belonged to me.”
My hands flew up instinctively, ice gathering at my fingertips, sharp and jagged as my panic bled into desperation. I hurled the shards toward him with all the force I could muster.
But they never reached him.
The ice melted the moment it touched the air around him, dissolving into nothing more than a mist that vanished as quickly as it had formed. My heart plummeted. He was fire. He was untouchable.
I screamed in frustration, my voice cracking as tears stung my eyes. “Leave me alone!” I threw more ice, desperately calling on every drop of power within me. But it was useless. The shards melted before they even came close, evaporating into steam and water at his feet. I was powerless against him.
“Stay away from me!” I cried.
Valen’s expression darkened, the smile fading as he stepped closer. “You can’t fight this, Elara. You can’t fight me.”
My breath came in frantic, ragged bursts as I looked around. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere but down.
My eyes locked onto the edge of the rooftop—the yawning abyss that stretched out into the night below. The ground was so far beneath me, lost in the shadows, an ocean of darkness waiting to swallow me whole. But it was a way out. A final escape. I would rather die than be his.
I took a step toward the ledge, the wind whipping through my hair, tugging at my nightgown as if urging me forward.
“Elara,” Valen warned. “Don’t.”
But I didn’t stop. I glanced over my shoulder at him.
The humor was gone from his eyes, replaced with a dangerous hunger that made my knees tremble.
“You think you can escape me that easily?” His voice was a low growl, every word a threat. “You think death will free you?”
“I’d rather die than be anything to you,” I spat.
Valen’s eyes flashed with rage. “Elara, don’t you dare.”
But I did.
My feet moved of their own accord, pushing me toward the edge, toward the void that beckoned me with its cold, final embrace. My heart pounded, the blood roaring in my ears as I stared down at the dizzying drop below. The wind howled, tearing at my clothes, pulling me forward. I could taste the freedom. No more lies, no more pretending. Just the end.
I stepped off.
For a split second, the world went silent. The wind rushed past me, the ground surging up to meet me as my body hung in the air. I was weightless. I was free.
But then the night shattered.
A deafening roar split the sky, shaking the very air around me. Before I could even process what was happening, a powerful gust of wind slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. Something monstrous, closed around me, yanking me back and sending my body jerking violently through the air.
The dragon.
Valen’s dragon had caught me.
Its talons wrapped around me, cold and unyielding as steel, squeezing the air from my lungs. I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the wind and the beating of enormous wings as the dragon carried me upward, away from the rooftop, away from the safety of the ground, away from freedom.
I thrashed, kicking and fighting with everything I had, but it was no use. The dragon’s grip was iron, my body small and helpless in its grasp as it ascended higher and higher into the night sky. The wind stung my skin, biting like shards of ice, as tears streamed down my face.
“Let me go!” I screamed, my voice hoarse, breaking under the strain of my panic. “Let me go!”
But the dragon only flew higher, its wings beating powerfully against the stars, carrying me farther and farther away from the castle below. The world spun, the cold seeping into my bones as the wind howled in my ears. I was trapped.
My vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges as the cold and terror swallowed me whole. The last thing I heard before the world faded was Valen’s voice, a dark, possessive whisper that echoed through the night.
“Mine.”