Chapter 43 Sleepless
SLEEPLESS
The library stairs creaked as I climbed to the top floor.
This section was…eerie. Not dusty. Everything here felt preserved. Intentional. Tall black shelves loomed overhead, disappearing into shadows. The first shelf I passed held nothing but theory texts, their spines embossed with gold lettering.
Blood as Ink: The Ethics of Living Runes.
Plague Craft: Designing Pestilence Runes.
Runic Possession: Historical Accounts of Magical Hijacking.
I swallowed. “Cheerful.”
I kept walking, scanning the rows.
Binding Gods: The Fall of the Dragons.
I grabbed it, tucking it under my arm with the others. I reached the back wall, where the locator rune’s soft glow pulsed above a thick leather-bound tome. The cover had no title, just a single rune burned into the hide: a curling symbol.
I pulled it from the shelf, set it on a table, and opened it slowly.
Sketches sprawled over the pages. Dozens of them—eggs, dragons mid-hatch, and runes etched into shells. Notes scribbled in Old Fae, with ink that bled through the parchment. I flipped to a diagram of a rune labeled in common tongue: Stasis.
Beneath it, in faded script, read:
Bind at time of full breath. Seal warmth within. Halt growth, stirrings, all quickening. Rune is to be placed at shell’s base. Do not carve should hatching be sought.
I rubbed my eyes, shoving the book aside hard enough that it slid across the table. The crystal lamp cast long shadows, and my eyelids fluttered until I noticed an illustration—a dragon mid-flight, flames pouring from its jaws.
My ancestors.
I was descended from these…these creatures…the gods fae were taught to fear. I picked up Binding Gods. I skimmed through it, but it was vague on specific details about the seals, only offering one infuriating line:
Two realms bore the weight of gods, but their locations were struck from record, lest the foolish seek what should remain buried.
Dawn crept through the windows, and then the words started bleeding together. I shook myself awake and pulled Elemental Runes open.
This volume presents a comprehensive examination of elemental runic classifications as established by Third Age scholars, with particular attention to foundational principles of magical conductivity…
My head nodded.
Darkness swept me from the library, into a tower high above the sea with water crashing against the walls. The room was empty except for a dark-haired girl pacing back and forth.
“Rheya?”
She turned. Her face was gaunt, hollow-eyed, nothing like the girl I’d seen in the pool. Chains hung from her wrists. “You left me here.”
“I didn’t! I’m trying to find you.”
“You left me.”
She opened her mouth, baring teeth that belonged to a much bigger jaw, and a forked tongue rolled out, snapping at me.
I lunged for the door, but it pounced on me and a sharp agony sank into my throat. Blood gushed into her mouth, and the powerful jaws wrenched. Sinew ripped—
The dark scene morphed into a piercing blue sky and green, rolling hills. Kairos and I danced across a meadow. The dream was hard to follow, dizzying, but the sunlight warmed my skin and the terror completely washed away. Kairos bent closer, his lips touching my cheek.
My eyes flew open.
Where was I? Not the library. Soft sheets, warm blankets. My bed. My heart hammered. The last thing I remembered was words bleeding together on a page.
Kairos sat at the breakfast table, his mouth pulled into a faint smile. Golden light highlighted his broad frame like an old painting, and something in my chest squeezed tight. Had he been here all night?
“Morning,” he croaked.
I blinked blearily. “How did I get here?”
“I found you in the library, sleeping on top of Elemental Runes.” His lip quirked. “I’ve fought battles more exhausting than that book.”
I pushed myself upright, yawning. “I didn’t read past the first page.”
“Can’t blame you.”
I slid from the covers, a little embarrassed at the state of my hair. I resisted the urge to grab the silver mirror on my desk and sat beside him.
Silently, he set a plate in front of me and doled out eggs, bacon, all my favorites. He seemed to think I had the appetite of a warrior. I suppressed a smile.
I picked up some bacon. “I had a nice dream.”
He grunted, shoveling food into his mouth.
“It was something else, then you and I were dancing in a field. It was…very peaceful.”
Kairos placed his fork down, sobering. “You were having a nightmare. Twitching in your sleep, moaning, shaking. So I slipped into your dream and changed it.”
“You can do that? How?”
He hesitated. “I used an obscure rune.”
“Whispercraft?”
He shook his head.
Fine, be vague.
I watched him dreamily, my heart somersaulting in my chest. This ancient fae who commanded armies and struck fear into his enemies, he’d carried me to bed and protected me from my own mind.
“So you spent the night with me.”
He nodded, slurping his tea.
Had he really held me while I was trapped in nightmares?
I wanted to ask, but the words clogged in my throat.
Gods, I wished I’d been awake. Just to remember the weight of his arms around me.
To know if he’d stroked my hair. Did he whisper anything?
Maybe something soft he’d never say while I was conscious?
Warmth unfurled in my chest, melting down to my ribs.
But he didn’t look happy. He sat rigidly, jaw clenched even while he ate, and shadows dusted his eyes.
“Did you sleep?” I asked.
He glanced up. “A bit.”
“You stayed with me, but you didn’t sleep?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I reached across the table, covering his hand with mine. “Have you slept at all since we got back?”
His throat worked. “Not much.”
Guilt twisted in my stomach. Of course he hadn’t. He had a war brewing at his borders, all because Vaeris wanted me. And here I was, giving him one more thing to worry about.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“For what?”
“For all of the chaos I brought to your realm.” My voice wobbled. “You’re trying to keep Sanguir from falling apart and I…I drowned a palace and broke a dragon seal.”
He went very still.
“I keep making everything worse, and then you still have to sit up all night and babysit me.”
His hands curled around the arms of the chair. “You think I’m not sleeping because of politics?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Every time I close my eyes,” he said quietly, “I see you die.”
My lungs forgot how to work.
“I can survive politics, war, dragons, all of it.” His raw gaze came back to mine. “What I don’t know how to survive is watching you almost die.”
A lump swelled in my throat. I was the thing keeping him awake? Not his crumbling alliances or the villages burning at his borders? Me.
“Kairos.”
“Don’t ever think you’re a burden I’m tolerating.”
I blinked hard, refusing to cry in front of him. I stood and climbed into his lap. His arms wrapped around me, and his face pressed into my hair.
“Did you find anything in the library?”
“Not much,” I whispered. “Just some mad books about hatching dragon eggs. Did fae used to steal eggs? Is that why there are books on raising them?”
“Yes. We did everything we could to control them. Dragons are capable of incredible magic.” Kairos blew out a tense breath. “Vaeris is a fool.”
“He talked about them often. He said that long ago, dragons lived among us. Some fae made bargains with them, but most just tried to survive.”
“If you were lucky,” he said. “Gods help you if they felt slighted by your tribute. Cities burned because a dragon was insulted.”
A world where fae weren’t at the top of the food chain. Where they bowed and bargained like everyone else. It didn’t feel real. Fae ruled the realms—they built the cities, carved the runes, decided who lived and who died. But once, they’d been the ones begging for mercy. Just like humans were now.
Vaeris’s words slithered back in. The fae had suffered under dragons, then climbed straight onto human backs the moment they had the chance.
Kairos smiled faintly. “Hard to imagine, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “How did they trap dragons?”
“Three realms banded together,” he explained.
“Thalir, Skaldir, and Sanguir—the only time we ever united like that. The others refused to get involved. Thousands perished to draw two seals, blood magic on a scale we’ll never see again.
The cowards who sat it out benefited from our sacrifice anyway. ”
A sharp knock shattered the peace.
Kairos pulled back, his jaw tightening. He pressed a kiss to my forehead then lifted me off his lap and stood.
“Enter,” he called.
The door slammed open.
One of my guards burst in, breathless. “My king. Message from the northern scouts. Vaelrith’s been hit by Skaldir forces.”
My stomach dropped. Vaeris had warned me.
Kairos hardened. “Casualties?”
“Unknown. The survivors claim that the whole village is…gone. Some sort of rune attack.”
This is my fault.
“How many soldiers are occupying the village?”
“None. Apparently, they all fled.”
Kairos seethed. “I want two warbands ready in ten minutes. Tell Uther to meet me in the courtyard.”
The guard nodded and sprinted out.
Kairos turned, and steel materialized from air. It clinked into place, piece by piece. Shoulder plates, chestplate, gauntlets. They sealed over his tunic in a ripple of mist. His hair whipped back as the last piece appeared in his hand: a helm with horns curling like a ram’s.
He looked every inch the warlord, but I’d seen him bleed. Seen him unable to heal while a binding rune tore him apart, and he was riding into battle sleep-deprived. What if he fell in battle while I was here?
Kairos headed out, and I followed, my heart in my throat.
The halls were a blur as I trailed his quick strides. Outside, warriors were gathering. Mairen stamped against the ground, their forms shifting. Kairos barked orders, and fae moved—mounting, shouldering weapons, rallying beneath crimson banners.
I touched his gauntlet. “Kairos.”
“Go inside,” he growled. “Keep researching the seal.”
My throat tightened. What could I even say? That the thought of him riding into battle pained me? That I kept seeing him bleeding on the floor while he couldn’t heal?
I closed my grip on his arm. “I want to go with you.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
“If they’re using runes, I can break them. Disable their defenses. Whatever they’re throwing at your warriors, I can destroy it. Give you an advantage they won’t see coming.”
He was quiet for too long.
“Your warriors are watching. They saw what happened at the summit.” I glanced at the males nearby, their faces blank.
“They’re wondering why you’re risking so much for a girl who causes disasters.
Let them see what I can do in battle.” My voice shook slightly.
“That I’m not just someone who breaks things. I can save people.”
I couldn’t stand sitting in this castle while villages burned because of me. If I was going to be the reason people died, the least I could do was try to save the ones still breathing.
The slits of the helm burned, mist roiling at his shoulders.
“You stay at my side,” he finally growled. “Not one step away from me. Understood?”
I nodded.
“I mean it. If I tell you to run, you run.”
“I promise.”
He grunted. “Mount up.”