43. Chapter 43
forty-three
Rodi
T he stiffness in my fingers makes me groan as I peel them from the scales. Dried blood coats my skin as broken blisters stare back at me.
“Are you okay?” Ripley’s voice echoes inside my mind, and the small hint of concern doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I’m fine.” The crack in my words, the lie it brings, makes tears sting in my eyes. How can I be fine? I’m lost, broken, tormented, and alone. And then, anger takes its place, anger at myself for not thinking about all those lives lost trying to protect Ares and Ethan. Anger at Hephaestus and his need for power.
“It’s okay to be angry,” he says, and my body stiffens. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.”
“You can hear my thoughts?”
His dragon shifts beneath me, crouching down and dropping to his belly. A big sigh leaves his nostrils, and fire crackles in the air. “Yes, but I thought. With your being the Draconis, I couldn’t.”
My cheeks heat as I squirm on his back, tossing my leg over him as I stare at the ground.
“It seems I’m a shitty Draconis,” I mumble, tossing his cloak and boots to the ground as I brace myself to slide down.
His ribs quiver, shaking under my form as a strange sound falls from him, and I fear I might fall. “Stop that!”
The movement slows. “ I’m sorry ,” he says, amusement lacing his voice.
“Wait, were you laughing?” I ask as a smile tugs on my lips. His silence is enough, and I chuckle softly.
“I’m glad you find it amusing,” I grumble and let myself glide down a bit.
“Turn around and use the scales to slow yourself down,” he says, and I do. Turning around, I press my front against his body as I try to grip the scales that curve outward with my broken hands.
A hiss leaves me as one cuts through the palm of my hand, and the dragon’s head moves towards me, his nose nudging against my legs as he keeps me steady. I wonder how I managed to climb up so fast.
Every part of my body seems heavier than before. With all the danger to come, hindrances like this can likely get me killed. It may even cost the lives of my dragons if they have to mainly focus on protecting me rather than themselves.
I grit my teeth as I hang on tightly, my body almost shaking from the exertion. I have to get stronger than this.
He leans to the side, his body curving with me. “Let go, Rodi,” he says .
Slowly, I release my grasp and drop down, my body resting on the bridge of his head until I feel the ground beneath my feet.
“Thank you,” I whisper and take a step back. My gaze travels over his dragon, a question tickling my tongue, but I know I can’t even keep my thoughts from him.
“What happened to your species?” I ask, and his slitted eyes snap to me.
“ A war we could never win .” His voice feels like venom, an anger beneath it that makes me ask another question.
“Why?”
His head tilts. His nostrils tremble as his teeth are bared. He stares at me for a few seconds, the air growing tense as I wait for an answer that will probably be hard to hear.
“You can’t win a war against a god.”
My blood runs cold as I connect the dots. What other god could he possibly be talking about? “Was it Ares?”
“If you’re wanting the full story of what happened between Ares and my species, I will not share it with you. You must hear it from Ares. He needs to own what he has done.”
My heart pounds heavily as I try to even picture what happened. It must’ve been terrible, but I’m sure Ares has a good explanation for it. He must have.
He can’t possibly slaughter others just for fun. That’s not the kind of person Ares is. When I gaze into his eyes, I don’t see evil.
I see love and determination, but maybe that’s a dangerous mix in certain situations because I know that Ares would do anything for me.
“Is there anything you can tell me?” I ask him.
Suddenly, bones crack, his form changing, becoming smaller with every breath until the man I know stands before me. His naked body is covered in a thin layer of sweat as he crouches down, taking his cloak and boots, covering his bare skin.
“Ares’ lineage is unlike any other dragon shifter I’ve ever heard of. Some bloodlines are gifted with abilities, but never more than one… Until his line,” he starts and walks past me.
I don’t doubt. I don’t wait and follow closely as he leads us through the dense forest, the steep mountains looming ahead.
“What kind of abilities?” I ask, my voice coming out timidly. I know that Ares is powerful, but just how powerful? What kind of damage can he do?
Ripley’s eyes look haunted for a second before he shakes his head. “I’m not sure. A simple dominion defeated him, killed a descendant, one we believe has the same powers. So maybe his power has been exaggerated over the years.” He shrugs.
I sigh and lower my head as nerves crawl under my skin. “I know he’s powerful for a dragon shifter.”
Ripley scoffs. “His bloodline was insistent for some reason.”
A lump forms in the back of my throat as my chest tightens. He was searching for me.
As I fidget with my fingers, I wonder what I should tell. I promised to explain everything, but now I’m second-guessing whether I should.
His gaze flicks at mine, and I know I don’t have a choice.
“Ares… he doesn’t have descendants . He never had a mate.” My breath is shaky as my body heats in warning. “He’s cursed by the gods because of my betrayal.”
I still don’t know the full story of what Ares did, and I have no idea how the pieces of my story will fit with what he’s heard.
What if Ripley turns on me out of anger? Out of fear?
“You told me that you’d tell me everything, Rodi,” he reminds me as he steps closer to me .
I swallow hard and nod, my brow furrowing as I try to figure out where to even start. At least from what I know, which is less than I thought. How far in the dark am I?
“Both of us keep coming back after we die. He somehow keeps his memories, while I don’t.”
Ripley’s eyes widen slightly. “Cursed?”
My face warms up as I look away for a moment. I don’t pride myself on being unfaithful, but with the time I’ve spent with Hephaestus, I can’t blame my old self for betraying him.
“I don’t remember exactly what happened, just what I’ve been told.” I sigh. “Hephaestus. I was married to him once but fell in love with Ares. Hephaestus found out and convinced the others to exile Ares and me. He cursed us to live here. He has taken over the vessel of a dragon leader called Cedric.”
I glance back at Ripley, expecting to feel a wave of judgment, but he merely nods. He still looks curious, and there’s a lot of missing information for both of us.
“How was he cursed? Can it be broken?” Ripley asks.
Since I can’t remember any of my past lives, I don’t have an answer. All I know is that Ares and I keep having to start over again and over again, being forced to stay apart.
“He has to start over with each life alone. As do I. He’s always been without a rider,” I say. “So, the man your species have been fighting is the same. Not a descendant.”
Ripley shakes his head, a light breeze ruffling his hair and the leaves of the trees towering around us. “You’re wrong.”
I blink. “What do you mean? Wrong about what?”
“We know he had a rider. We found her. ”
My blood runs cold. My skin tightens as my heart stammers in my chest. “You’re lying.”
He shakes his head. “No, I’m not.” He sighs as he steps to the side, leaning back against the tree. “We never managed to find his rider until two hundred years ago. But we were already too late.”
“Too late for what?” My hands ball into fists, my jaw tense as my body trembles.
He shrugs. “She was already pregnant.”
“You’re lying. He told me he’d never marked another,” I say because otherwise, Ares lied, kept this from me, even when I specifically asked, and it makes me wonder what else he kept from me.
“Eleanor hadn’t told Ares. So, there’s a possibility he didn’t know, and she didn’t wear his mark.”
I shake my head, as if that’s going to help me make sense of all this.
“What happened to the… child?” I don’t even know if I want to know, but I went down this path and now I can’t seem to stop.
“She had a daughter, and we…” He pauses, doubt lingering. “She grew up with our species and mated with… Fangar.”
“Isadora,” I breathe.
He nods and lowers his head. “This was our chance to control his descendant, to ensure our future, but then…”
“He was back.”
“Yes.” He scratches the back of his head. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”
I swallow thickly. “I don’t like to be lied to.”
“No one does.” He cocks his head to the side, a shy smile pulling on his lips.
Can I be mad at what Ares has done in previous lives if I can’t even remember mine? What if I did the same? Found love, built a family …
My head spins as I move to lean against a nearby tree, my knees threatening to weaken under my weight. “I don’t… I don’t know what to do from here on.”
Ripley takes a deep breath, grounding himself before moving closer to me. “We get to where we need to go, and we need to figure out what to do about… Hephaestus. Do you know what he wants now?”
That’s a loaded question, one I also don’t have the exact answer for, but I’m sure that what he wants is far from a good thing. “I don’t believe he’ll go back, not when he can live here as an Aetherion.”
“He can’t exist here. He’ll destroy everything, take over everyone.”
I nod as a sense of dread looms over me. “He can’t exist anywhere. One way or another, he needs to be taken down.”
I’m afraid to think about what life will be like if we don’t succeed.
Ripley parts his lips to speak, but he freezes at the sound of a distant screech and the flapping of wings.
I push myself off the tree and find a clearing in the trees where I can get a clear view of the sky.
“What are those?” I ask as my gaze fixes on the sky, watching how these creatures cut past each other. They look similar to dragons, but without front legs, and they’re much smaller. They are quick, though.
“Wyverns,” Ripley says as he moves to stand beside me. “Born from unmarked riders or Netherlings.”
My brows pinch and he continues. “Once an unmarked rider becomes pregnant with a female and no one claims the unborn, she becomes a Netherling.”
I scrunch my nose as I hate the title Netherling.
“It’s about keeping the bloodline pure and mostly politics. But males that come from the unmarked, these creatures they birth are feral. Once they shift, sometimes, they can’t shift back. Loose cannons.” He sighs .
“Right,” I mumble. “So, Ares’ child was a Netherling?”
His lips curve slightly. “She should have gotten that title, but she was strong and fierce and then… she shifted.”
“Shifted? But how?” Unease stirs in my stomach as I tear my eyes away from the wyverns.
He shrugs. “There has never been a female dragon before, until her. We always believed it had something to do with Ares’ lineage.”
My brows knit together. “Isadora? Is she a dragon then?”
“Fangar said she is.” Ripley motions for me to follow him through the cluster of trees ahead of us. “We should make camp for the night. We’ll start again tomorrow.”
“You haven’t seen her shift?” I ask.
“Only Fangar,” he says without missing a beat.
Then how can he be sure? Even if her mother was one, she still comes from an unmarked bloodline. I sigh as everything he shared swirls inside me and I try to make sense of it all. But there’s one thing I know, if I die, I’ll have to start all over again. I’ll never know what happened in this life, and I’ll lose the chance to be with both of my mates forever. That can’t happen.
“You have to help me survive this, Ripley. I need to get stronger. I have to be able to wield my power on command,” I say, my brow furrowing in determination.
“We have to maintain our pace to get there as soon as possible,” Ripley points out, seeming unsure.
“There’s no point if I’m going to die the minute we get there.” My voice is firm and steady, unlike my weak steps. “Hephaestus can be unpredictable, but it’s not a matter of if he shows his face again. It’s a matter of when , and I need to be ready. You know that.”
Ripley holds my gaze before nodding. “Tomorrow. ”
There’s a flicker of hope inside me, but as the day fades into night, I become wary of what tomorrow may bring.
I’ll either become stronger or have to face the reality that I may fail in the end.