24. Chapter 24
twenty-four
Ares
A nxiety clutches my chest as Rodi’s plan swirls inside my mind, preventing me from taking a breath. I roll my neck, trying to loosen some of the tension in my muscles, but the unsettling feeling doesn’t fade.
All I’m left with is concern for the future nagging at my soul, warning me that we should leave.
So badly that I want to whisk Rodi away from this world so we don’t have to worry about being separated again, and we’ll be our true selves, not these vessels the gods created for us.
Rodi doesn’t fully understand all I’ve gone through, which I’m mostly grateful for because I never want her to endure the pain and suffering that I have due to this curse. Or to know all that I’ve done .
But I wish she were able to fully understand why I’m so adamant about leaving. It’s safer that way for both of us, and Ethan can still live a full life here in this world. He can meet another rider and fall in love with her.
But I’ve seen the way they look at each other. They’re connected, and it will tear them apart to separate.
What can I do? I’ll always put Rodi first, but she doesn’t fully understand the circumstances.
She’ll think that I’m selfish and trying to keep her all to myself, which I suppose, in a way, I am.
I love her more than life itself, and I can’t go through more lives without her.
I won’t do it.
Ethan should understand my plight, but the feelings that he has for her have clouded his mind, and he’s struck by the same selfish love that I feel.
That’s how special Rodi is. She truly has no idea the effect that she has on others, especially Ethan and me. Untapped power courses through her veins, but she’s still so humble and kind.
When I fell in love with her for the first time, I knew I was a goner. I knew that this woman had my heart and soul from the moment we first met. Years and lives later, I love her even more now.
That’s true love. That’s fate.
I pull myself out of my own mind as silence lingers in my office. I’m used to it being fairly quiet in this place, but there’s something in the air. Something different.
What is it?
My eyes do a sweep of my office as if there’s a clue somewhere. There’s nothing that seems off physically, but there’s an unsettling itch in the back of my mind that I can’t ignore.
Paranoia coils around me like a serpent, squeezing tighter .
Grayson enters my office, his shadow morphing in the dying light. His blue eyes flicker with a raw edge of fear, and I wonder if it’s toward me or if he feels it too, this suffocating cloud of unease.
“Aetherion,” he whispers, his voice barely a tremor.
I force a smile. “Can you send someone after Dominion Cedric? Something doesn’t feel right.” He nods, and before he can disappear into the dim corridor, I call out, “And Grayson?”
He turns, his hand hovering on the doorknob.
“Tell them not to let him out of their sight. Not for a single damn second.”
He closes the door behind him, leaving me alone with the fading light and the unease. The unease I have no explanation for.
The dragon shifter did nothing out of the ordinary, but my soul screams at me, making my skin itch and my lungs tighten.
Something is happening, and I don’t know if I can stop it.
I get up, my chair scratching over the stone floor, and make my way upstairs. I need to talk to Rodi. I need her scent to calm me before I do something I’ll regret as my instincts urge me to squeeze the life out of Dominion Cedric with my bare hands.
Quietly, I sneak into her room. Rodi and Ethan are both asleep. He’s curled against her. My eyes wander over their bodies, wondering if Rodi’s idea was so wrong.
I’ve always seen Ethan as family, and even though I tried my best to cast him out of Rodi’s life, out of mine, could I really cut him off?
I get into the bed beside them, curling up against Rodi, letting her scent surround me. When our skin touches, I gasp. Her skin is cold, her body limp. I jump up, my hands clutching her shoulders as I try to wake her, shaking her lifeless body.
Ethan grunts, hearing my struggle. “What is it, Ares? ”
Panic claws at my throat as I cradle Rodi’s limp form. Her alabaster skin is nearly as white as the sheets she’s lying on. Her breaths come in shallow gasps, each one fragile.
Ethan’s face mirrors my own terror as he scampers up, brushing the back of his hand over Rodi’s icy skin.
My hold tightens as tears cloud my eyes. “Get the doctor,” I say, surprised by my own calmness. A calm before the storm, because now I know what my gut was telling me.
My hand skims down over her arm, taking her hand in mine, and then I see it, the black veins painted under her skin, starting from a small cut. The one from the rose.
Ethan rushes out, yelling for the doctor. He sprints down the stairs, his footsteps echoing like thunder in the hollow halls.
I hold Rodi close. The faint rhythm of her heart against my chest is the only thing that keeps me tethered to reality.
“I’m so sorry I failed you. We should have left the moment I found you,” I whisper as my tears fall, knowing this is all my fault, my doing.
The door swings open, framing Doctor Brown’s soft face. Her eyes, usually sharp as a hawk’s, are clouded with concern as she approaches Rodi with practiced calm. But as her fingers brush Rodi’s skin, a flicker of alarm crosses her features, a brief breach of her usual professional mask.
“Aetherion, please step aside,” she says as I feel a firm hand on my shoulder.
Ethan’s hand on my arm pulls me away from the bed. We stand there as Doctor Brown works. Every scrape of a metal instrument against skin, every muttered sound, feels like a knife twisting in my gut.
Finally, the doctor sighs, a sound heavy with resignation. “You need a witch,” she says, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Rodi is physically unharmed, but something… holds her. Magic. My skills don’t reach that far. I’m very sorry, Aetherion.” She shakes her head, her curls bouncing on her head.
“A spell,” Ethan breathes, his voice hoarse. “Who would…” He breaks off, his eyes welling again. “This can’t be happening. I can’t…” Sobs rack his body, each one a tremor against the shaky fortress of my composure.
But I can’t fall. I can’t break.
My hand finds his shoulder. “We won’t,” I say, my voice raw with a determination born of fire. “We’ll get her back. We have to.”
“Grayson!” I bellow over my shoulder, knowing he’s standing outside her room.
“Aetherion.”
“Declare Dominion Cedric a traitor and put a bounty on his head,” I say, the words cold and sharp as ice.
“How much?”
“Red Wing Regiment leadership for his treacherous head.” The red wing is a joint regiment between my clan and that of Fangar’s. The Dominion of the sun dragons.
Grayson’s eyes widen, then narrow with understanding. “Consider it done.”
“I’m going to kill him,” I growl, my voice a low rumble that vibrates with fury. My body trembles, not with fear, but with the righteous wrath of a dragon.
“We,” Ethan says, his voice rumbling throughout the room, and I glance up, meeting his dragon eyes.
“We,” Ethan repeats, “are going to kill him.”
My claws scratch over my desk. My chest tightens with every breath as there is no response to the ravens we send out.
Not a single message has come, and now I’m sure. The clans are behind whoever pulled this trick because I can’t believe this is all Dominion Cedric’s doing. How did he even know of Rodi? Sure, rumors travel fast, but this might have been too fast, especially since we hadn’t done the official marking ritual. Someone at the last gathering must have talked, and my hands itch with the need for blood. I have to do something.
Footsteps lure my empty stare from the dark wood under my claws, and I meet Grayson’s concerned gaze.
“He didn’t return to his clan and our scouts lost his scent.” His jaw tenses as he puts his hands behind his back. “I sent some additional fliers to check the other clan borders, and it seems troops are gathering.”
Goosebumps rise in warning as I feel my escape slip through my fingers.
“We have to move quickly,” I say, pushing myself up. “Let’s pay the orphanage a visit.” It’s all I have, the only lead before it’s too late.
He nods and moves aside to let me pass as I rush up the stairs to tell Ethan the plan. He hasn’t left Rodi’s side, and I can’t blame him. Somehow, this feels like my fault, as if I’m missing something important, something that could have stopped all this.
The door creaks as I step inside, and slowly, Ethan’s head lifts from the bed. The skin under his eyes is puffy as tears brim his eyes.
“Any change?”
He sniffs. “The witch still isn’t here. ”
I glance at Grayson, who turns on his heel and leaves. I wonder if the coven is going to show up at all, even though I don’t have any proof that they won’t come, not as they have always stood by me.
“I’m going back to the orphanage to see if I can find out anything,” I say as I edge closer.
“I found something,” Ethan whispers, and my brows pinch together. “I know I shouldn’t, but I thought there might be something else causing all this, and I found this.” He tosses me a leather book, and I catch it.
My fingers graze over the cover. Recognizing the markings, I skim the pages until I see the message.
“She had this?” I ask, surprised Rodi never brought it up. My heart stammers as I read the words. The fear, the regret… him… Hephaestus. The one who made this all happen, who caught me and Rodi together and ensured that the other gods join him to curse us to this life.
“The binding… it isn’t from here. I never knew she had it. I wonder how she got this, especially since she can’t remember her old lives.”
“Besides the flimsy dress she had, that was all she took from the orphanage.”
“Why not show us… me?” I could’ve helped her, answered any question she might have had.
“I should’ve listened to you. I’m sorry, Ares. If it weren’t for me, you two would’ve been safe.” He shakes his head, shame glinting in his eyes, and my legs move on their own, closing the distance between us and pulling him up to his feet.
“Look at me,” I snap. “This isn’t your doing, and if we weren’t focused on our drama, we could’ve seen this coming.”
My fingers dig into his shoulders as he stares at me, the tears drying, the shame fading, and then his gaze darkens, determination glinting with a stiff nod.
“Kill them all,” he says, heat radiating from his skin as his pupils turn into slits.