Chapter Forty-Three
Lena
The next day, Paradefense secured the fortress, repaired the barrier, and packed up to leave the freed soldiers in charge once again.
A crew had even cleaned the scorch marks from the buildings.
Lena's father hadn't left her side. With an arm around Lena, he helped her onto an erial.
Liria and Thaxvarien climbed in after them.
Lena barely spoke, doubtless worrying her family, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Was she being selfish? Maybe. But Lena had found and lost the man she loved, all within a month. Under the weight of a lost future, she couldn't rise. All she could do was flop into her erial seat and let her father strap her in as she stared blankly out the windshield.
They were in the air a few minutes later, soaring toward Thennis.
Lena didn't care where they took her. It didn't matter.
Neither did her father's indistinct murmurs, nor Liria's constant chatter.
She tuned them out. So lost was Lena to thoughts of Vor that the explosion didn't register at first. She frowned as the people around her panicked.
There were loud sounds, and the erial descended rapidly and erratically.
“Lena, hold on!” her father shouted.
Lena just frowned at him. They hit the ground hard, everyone flopping about as much as their seatbelts allowed.
A boom came. Lena banged back into her seat, her body limp.
She looked around. Liria and Thaxvarien were both unconscious.
Thaxvarien was wrapped around his destra and bleeding in several places.
Lena frowned at them. She could have had that kind of love, but her chance was stolen.
Her father groaned. “Lena?”
“I'm fine,” she said in a monotone. “Are you all right, Dad?”
“Yes. Oh, your sister! Liria?” He unbuckled himself and shifted to push Thaxvarien off Liria. “Liria?”
“Dad?” Liria's voice came, just a breath of sound.
Then the door beside Lena creaked open. She blinked against the sudden light. A shadow stood before her. Winged. Hands reached in and unbuckled Lena's straps before taking her waist and hauling her out of the erial.
Lena squinted up at her savior, and Rallorival's face came into focus.
She jerked back. In her mind, a memory exploded.
No, not a memory—a dream. The blond man who had raged at her to love him was Rallorival.
It all came back to her—a flight away from her loved ones, Lena screaming at him, a gag in her mouth, and then her lying naked on a bed beneath him, Rallorival between her thighs.
She had known the dream was a warning, but she'd thought it had been about Vor. How wrong she was.
Rallorival pulled Lena into his arms. “It's all right, Lena. I've got you now. It will be all right.”
“Lena!” her father shouted. “Let go of my daughter, you traitor!” He stumbled out of the crashed erial.
It was too late. Rallorival had Lena wrapped in his arms as he left the ground.
Higher and higher they went, the ground falling away to give her a view of the destroyed erial, one side charred.
Terror blasted away her apathy as she looked at Rallorival.
He must have shot down their erial. The fucking bastard!
Her dream was unfolding. Lena fought Rallorival, but he restrained her with one arm.
“Calm yourself. No one's hurt. They'll be fine.” Rallorival evened out their flight, joining a group of five Aethari who settled into formation around him.
“Put me down,” Lena demanded.
“Shh.” He nuzzled her neck. “You'll understand soon. You're my destra, Lena. Source has brought us together.”
“I'm not your anything!” Lena pushed against Rallorival's hold even though they were hundreds of feet above the ground. “You destroyed my future! The man Iove is underground because of you!”
“He's a monster, Lena. You're not meant to be with a monster.”
Her strength gave out, and her fear fled with it.
Lena slumped in Rallorival's arms. He was nearly as big as Thaxvarien.
There was no way for her to fight him. And what did it matter anyway?
Lena had already seen what Rallorival was going to do to her.
She was prepared for it, and she'd survive it because of Vor.
She had known love in his arms. Nothing could touch her now.
Let Rallorival take what he could. She would give him nothing.