Chapter 40 #2
“Behold the monsters.” Alaric’s words dripped with venom from the rise, breaking the hush before I had the chance to silence the wolf or reassure the assembly. He jabbed a finger toward Nicolai and me. “This is why the Empire hunted their bloodlines to extinction.”
He moved to the platform’s edge, his face contorted into a mask of self-righteous fury. “The only thing you ever bring to a village is death, Gregory. Ash and ruin follow you like a plague.”
“Alaric,” Adam barked, moving to intercept the healer. “We are here to plan a defense, not to air old grievances.”
“I am a member of this council!” Alaric shouted, shoving Adam’s arm away. His wild stare found Lord William. “I have the right to voice what these people are afraid to say. I have the right to speak the truth before we are all slaughtered for his sins!”
William watched the exchange with cold calculation. He checked Adam’s advance with a sharp glare. “Let him speak.”
Emboldened, Alaric leaned over the people. “He is the one who brought this doom to our door! A village of peaceful farmers harboring abominations that attract war!”
Alaric flung an arm toward Evan, who still stood near my transformed bulk. “And we are supposed to support him? Or his mate? A Conduit! Another fugitive the Empire wants in chains! You ask us to bleed for the very things that will destroy us!”
His shouts faded into silence, but the accusation lingered, naked and ugly.
I snapped my head around, ready to snarl and tell the healer I would burn him where he stood if he spoke of my mate again. But movement beside me checked my fury.
Evan stepped past my shoulder, refusing to hide behind me. He didn’t shrink from the healer’s hatred or the crowd’s fear. He walked into the center of the square. He stood alone in the open space, between the villagers behind him and Nicolai and me in front. Every gaze fixed on him.
The space around him warped with the metallic taste of portal magic. His irises ignited with an emerald glow that pierced the gloom.
He faced Alaric, his expression calm yet frighteningly composed.
“We will go. Gregory and I are going to fight them. I am not hiding, if that is what you are trying to insinuate. I am not denying who I am.” He paused.
“But hiding is what the Empire wants. They want you to be afraid. They want you separated.”
Evan turned away from the council to speak to the villagers. He faced the scared mothers, the men clutching farming tools like weapons, and the children hiding behind skirts.
“I did not come here to bring doom,” he said, his words carrying over the square. “I came here looking for salvation. I came from a place where I had everything, yet in truth, I had nothing by the end. I was empty. But here… I found a home.”
He seemed so small standing there, a solitary figure in a tunic amid an army of fear. But his tone didn’t waver. Instead of fire or claws, he held something much more powerful—hope. Breath left my lungs. Although I was the shield, he was the heart.
He walked along the line of villagers, catching their stares one by one. “You’ve shown me what you can do. Lyra, with her presence that lights up the darkest rooms, healed wounds that should have been fatal, and she stood by my side when I was a stranger.”
He gestured toward the dais. “Adam crafted crystals with his electric magic just to make me feel welcome in a world I didn’t understand.” A nod toward Harren. “Harren, who summons walls of rock, possesses a strength that has nothing to do with his nature and everything to do with his heart.”
He spread his arms wide, encompassing the whole square. “And you, all of you. When the danger came to the square because of us, you didn’t run. You protected your families. You shielded your children, creating barriers of thorns and roses that even a dragon would hesitate to cross.”
The murmurs ceased.
“You are strong. But you are stronger together. I am not asking you to come with us. I am not asking you to die for us.” He pressed a fist over his chest. “But you are not just farmers. You are the roots that hold this mountain together. If you stand your ground, no Empire can uproot you. Protect your home. And we will destroy the threat that hunts us.”
Silence stretched across the square. No one moved.
Then, an older woman near the front glanced at her neighbors, at the transformed creatures before her, and at Evan standing alone in the center.
She trembled as she lowered herself to the cobblestones.
A man beside her hesitated, then followed.
His legs hit the ground. Another person bowed.
Then another. The movement spread through the crowd like ripples across water, hundreds of people sinking down in reverence.
I was the Unholy Alpha—the failed Dragon Lord. I was death and ruin. They should have been running. Instead, they offered me their necks and their loyalty. It terrified me more than the dragon at Emberfall Cliffs ever had, because now, I had a thousand more souls I could fail.
And it was all because of him—my infuriating, defiant, sweet Evan from another world. My mate, my life, my love. He never ceased to surprise me. He walked into the fire of their judgment and turned it into a hearth, finding a strength I had lost long ago.
On the council stage, the condemnation vanished. William went down on one knee, his pride set aside. Adam and Lyra mirrored the position beside him. Genevieve remained standing only because of her cane, but even she dipped her chin in acknowledgment. The other Elders knelt in turn.
All except Alaric.
The healer stood rigid at the platform’s edge. He balled his fists at his sides, and before anyone could speak, he spun on his heel and stormed off the dais. His boots pounded against stone as he pushed past the platform’s base and disappeared down a side path, leaving the kneeling assembly behind.
William rose first, brushing off his trousers as he reclaimed his position at the center of the dais. He motioned, commanding attention without uttering a sound, and the square fell into an expectant quiet.
“The wisdom of the Dragon Lord’s mate has spoken,” William announced. “Now, I ask you, people of Mossfen, what say you? Will you stand and fight?”
A young farmer near the front straightened his shoulders. “I will fight. I will protect the Dragon Lord and his mate.”
Another stood. “I will fight.”
“I will protect them.”
More people joined, a chorus of declarations rising from the assembly until the square rang with their vows. Men, women, and even some of the older children pledged themselves.
Genevieve lifted her cane and brought it down once with a resounding crack. “Then the assembly is concluded. Let us begin our work. We have walls to build and defenses to prepare.”
She struck the ground again, and the cobblestones beneath our feet trembled and creaked. The groaning continued, growing louder as the earth magic spread outward from Genevieve’s position.
Evan sprinted toward me and launched himself at my transformed frame. I caught him instinctively, my massive arms wrapping around his smaller form. He captured my lips in a fierce kiss that tasted like salt and relief.
A deliberate clearing of the throat severed the moment. “Thank you,” Harren said, the words directed at both of us. “For standing with us. And for not letting them tear me apart.”