Chapter 37 Rhea
Rhea
"What in the seven hells are you doing here?" Vaylen asks.
I let out a breath as if he's punched me and stand frozen before him, the joy of finding him alive crumbling into ash.
"I came for you," I say, my voice smaller than I intend. "We feared you were dead."
His face remains unyielding like stone, his eyes—those ocean depths I've drowned in so many times—cold as winter sky.
"So you could what? Finish the job Tahranis started?"
"Tahr tried to kill you?" The revelation isn't really a surprise. I suspected it, but hearing it confirmed makes hot rage burn in my chest. I will make that bastard pay. I swear it.
From a distance, the Screechclaws watch with unsettling intelligence, their feathers rustling in the breeze. I sense Zephyros's presence fade from my mind, but I'm too focused on Vaylen to worry.
"I didn't know," I whisper. "I swear it. I had nothing to do with it."
He laughs, a hollow sound. "More lies? You're marrying Craven. Working with Tahr. And now you're here? You are certainly a conundrum."
I step closer, fighting the urge to touch him.
"I would never marry Craven, and I don't give a fuck about Tahr.
Things happened so quickly, and my mind was such a mess that I lost sight of…
everything. He used his Weaver powers on me.
It's no excuse. I'm to blame for most of what happened.
I take responsibility, but I… I never stopped caring about you. "
His cold eyes never soften, leaving me no doubt he feels nothing but contempt toward me.
I change tactics. "How did you come to be here?"
Nothing. It seems he was more at ease with his tent pitched right next to a host of Screechclaws than with me standing before him.
I try a different angle again. "Phoebe has discovered something. Old texts that talk of Omneira. It seems to be real, but not only one person. It's four. Two riders, two dragons."
Vaylen takes a step back, eyes narrowing. "So you've come to collect me like some missing puzzle piece? Your fourth for this Omneira wyrm-shit?"
"No, I told you. I came because—" My words falter. How do I explain everything in a way he'll believe me? "The harpy brought me the ring. The one I gave you. I had to know if you were alive."
I twist the ring in my finger, feeling its smooth surface.
Vaylen's face remains impassive, no crack in his armor.
I stare at this man who holds my heart. My chest aches with a weight I've been carrying for over a year, but that Tahr's manipulations concealed.
Seeing him now, alive and whole despite Tahr's attempt to kill him, the truth overwhelms me.
I don't only love him beyond reason or sense, and I can't imagine a world without him in it.
"I'm just so relieved to see you," I whisper, voice breaking. "You look well."
His jaw tightens. "No thanks to you or your actions."
The accusation stings, but it's nothing less than I deserve. I nod slowly, accepting his fury.
"I deserve your anger. Your hatred too. I've made so many mistakes. Enormous ones. But I'm learning. I'm fighting to untangle the web of lies and find what's true."
The cloud shifts, revealing waning moonlight that highlights the wariness in his eyes. He doesn't trust me, and why should he? I've given him every reason to doubt me.
"Good for you," he says.
Dragon's breath! I can't lose him. "Vaylen, please—"
He raises his hand, cutting me off mid-sentence. His eyes harden like sapphires under pressure.
"I'm done, Rhealyn. Every word from your mouth is either a lie or manipulation.
" His voice doesn't waver, doesn't crack with emotion.
It's worse than if he'd shouted. "I'm a man who has always valued honesty and honor above everything else.
And I'm just tired, really tired. I don't care Tahranis manipulated you in any way.
I don't have the energy or desire to sift through it all. "
The breeze that cuts between us fades away until there's nothing but his voice, each word another nail in my heart.
"I forgot that with you," he continues. "I let myself be blinded by love, by what I thought was love. But now I see clearly."
He steps back further, widening the gulf between us.
"You're no good for me, Rhealyn Rose Wyndward." He speaks my full name like he's exorcising me from his soul. "Whatever is going on with you, Tahranis, Craven and maybe even these Screechclaws… don't count me in."
I've faced death before, felt wind tear through my body, but nothing has ever hurt like this, the gentle finality of his rejection.
"Please, Vaylen. Let me explain everything." My voice cracks, desperation leaking through every syllable. "I know I've hurt you, but there's so much you don't understand."
"There's nothing to understand." His expression hardens further. "No explanation will change what's happened between us. My heart is shattered. Ruined for good."
I flinch as I realize this isn't the Vaylen who fought for me, who pursued me despite my many faults.
"I once thought—" His voice catches, the first sign of emotion breaking through his cold facade. "I once believed it didn't matter how many times you hurt me as long as I could have you. But no more."
I shake my head, stepping closer despite his retreat.
"You don't understand. It was all horrible timing.
" The words tumble out desperately. "In the beginning, my distrust, my damn self-reliance made me guard my heart.
Something burned within me, yes, but I didn't let myself fall.
And that also stopped me from seeing that you had fallen for me to the point where you were willing to wait when I disappeared. "
His eyes break from mine to hide the pain.
"I didn't realize the depth of your feelings," I whisper.
"My own fear blinded me to what was right in front of me.
By the time I understood what we could have, what we should have been, I'd already set events in motion that would tear us apart.
" The tears I've been fighting spill over.
"I never meant to break your heart. I was just too late in realizing you had mine.
Because you do, Vaylen. You have my heart.
Fully." My voice breaks, the words I've held inside finally spilling out.
"I fell too, fell so hard there will be no other fall ever again. "
The wind whips around us, carrying my confession across the barren landscape. Not too far, Screechclaws stand together, but here, in this moment, it seems there's only him and me and the truth I can no longer contain.
"The love I feel for you could never be replaced, could never end, not until the day I die." I reach for him, my fingers trembling in the space between us. "Maybe not even then."
Vaylen steps back yet again, denying even this small connection. His eyes—damn, those eyes—find the steel they lost just a second ago.
"It's too little, too late, Rhea."
Rhea. Not Rhealyn.
Each word falls like stone as he adds, "Some bridges, once burned, can't be rebuilt."
His resolve to push me away crushes something inside me. I search his face for any flicker of the man who once looked at me with adoration, who kissed me like I was air and he was drowning, but no trace is left.
I accept then—with aching clarity—that he's truly beyond my reach. There's no way I can redeem myself in his eyes. It's all over.
Swallowing thickly, I blink rapidly, refusing to let him see me cry again. Each step backward feels like leaving a piece of myself behind. The rocky ground beneath my boots blurs as I stare downward, my chest aching so damn much I can barely breathe.
It was a mistake coming here. I should have known he was as good as dead to me the moment I chose Embernia, Heratrix, Tahr over him.
And what now? Go back to Fort Ashmire? Tell Tahr exactly where to find the Screechclaws and attack? Ironically, the thought makes me sick.
But Vaylen has given me no answers... What is he doing here? Why is he with the Screechclaws? So many questions swirl in my mind, but how do I keep talking to him when everything between us is damaged beyond repair?
I turn away, unable to bear another moment of his rejection. Hour ago, my hope was merely to find him alive, but when I laid eyes on him, that hope morphed into something else that now cracks and shatters completely.
"I'll go," I whisper, more to myself than to him. "I'm happy you're all right. I won't trouble you again."
I need to leave before I collapse. Before the last shreds of my dignity abandon me completely. Zephyros. I need Zephyros. As I lift my gaze skyward, I expect to see him circling overhead, but the sky is empty. Panic flickers through me.
—Zephyros? I cast my thoughts outward, reaching for his familiar presence, the only thing that can soothe me in this moment. Nothing. Not even the faintest whisper along our bond.
Where there should be warmth, connection, the steady pulse of his consciousness against mine, there's only... emptiness. A void so profound it steals my breath.
"No," I whisper, spinning in a circle, scanning every inch of the cloudless expanse above. "No, no, no. Zephyros!" My voice echoes across the barren landscape.
The Screechclaws shift, their feathers rustling. I reach again for our bond, clawing desperately at the empty space where he should be. The silence that answers is deafening.
"ZEPHYROS!" I scream his name until my throat burns raw.
Tears stream down my face, no longer held back by pride. He's gone. My dragon, my friend, my protector. Even our sacred bond has disappeared as if it never existed. I fall to my knees in the dust, a keening sound escaping my lips. Not Zephyros too.
A hand on my shoulder startles me from my grief.
Looking up through tear-blurred vision, I find Vaylen standing over me.
His eyes hold no forgiveness, just a flicker of unwanted pity.
Even now, even hating me, he can't watch me suffer alone.
He doesn't speak, just offers his hand. I take it, allowing him to guide me to a nearby rock.
My legs feel useless, my entire body hollow without Zephyros's presence anchoring me.
I cover my face with trembling hands, unable to meet his gaze. "I can't feel him," I whisper, voice breaking. "I lost him too."
The admission tears through me, raw and bleeding.
My dragon, the one being who knew me completely…
has left me. The emptiness where our bond should be feels like a wound that will never heal.
What will I do now without the Sky Order, without Vaylen, without Zephyros?
Who will call me his little one and soothe me back from this abyss?
Who will I give my love to and care for in return?
"Maybe we're not worthy of our dragons anymore," Vaylen says quietly, standing apart from me.
Not worthy. I shake my head. What have I done to deserve losing Zephyros? What has Vaylen done for Fragor to also leave him? We've both been pawns in games larger than ourselves, yet we're the ones paying the price.
Before I can respond, the sky erupts with white light. A blinding explosion of radiance bursts from the western horizon, so brilliant we shelter our faces with our hands. The supernova of light expands outward, consuming it all like a tsunami blanketing the shore.
Through cracked fingers, I watch, transfixed by the impossible spectacle. Beside me, Vaylen stands rigid, face illuminated in the unnatural glow.
"What is that?" I whisper, fear for Zephyros's life eclipsing even my grief.