14. Chapter Fourteen #3
I hovered high above an enormous cavern, its walls glittering with veins of glowing stone.
A hidden city clung to the rock like it had grown there—hundreds of wooden and stone homes perched along ledges and ridges, webbed together by swaying footbridges.
There was no sun, and yet the light glowed golden and warm, radiating from lanterns that floated and flickered like stars.
I gasped.
Children raced along the wooden paths, their laughter rising like music.
Horned women leaned over balcony gardens.
A man with ocean-blue skin lifted a toddler high above his head as they both squealed with delight.
Wings shimmered in the darkness. Smiles bloomed everywhere.
This place wasn’t just surviving. It was thriving.
And then— A scream tore through the air, sharp and gut-wrenching.
My head snapped toward the sound, and I saw them—shadows spilled over the walkways—soldiers bearing the crest of King Aberdeen, charging like a dark tide.
My chest tightened as I watched the blue-skinned man fall first, gutted where he stood, his entrails spilling onto the ground as he wailed in agony.
A horned child screamed—then her head rolled across the boards.
Her mother’s anguished cries echoed, mingling with the clatter of swords and the roar of flames.
I tried to scream. My throat wouldn’t work.
My limbs wouldn’t move. I was a ghost in my own mind, forced to watch as the child’s head rolled across the wood.
Mothers begged. Fires roared. A woman threw herself onto a soldier’s blade, shrieking, clutching her child behind her. It didn’t matter. The soldier ripped them apart anyway.
I sobbed. Hands clawed at my face—but they were only illusions. My real hands wouldn’t move. I couldn’t close my eyes. Couldn’t escape. Couldn’t breathe.
Please, please let me wake up?—
The vision snapped again.
Suddenly, I was looking at myself—from outside my own body. I saw the wheat fields, the tree line, the road beneath us. Drake’s gaze. His panic. He shouted, leaping from his horse with inhuman speed as I began to slump in my saddle. I saw my body tumble.
The ground rushed up to meet me. Agony bloomed in my shoulder as I hit the earth. Everything turned white, and then I was back. My own lungs. My own eyes. My own pain. And Drake’s face hovering over me, terrified.
“Evandra! What happened?” His voice cut through the spinning world like a blade. I tried to focus on him, his presence grounding me even as my vision spun.
Tears welled in my eyes as the memory of the vision flooded back. “It was… so horrible,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “The children…”
His jaw clenched. He turned sharply as Felix and Fen galloped back to us. Felix dismounted first, falling to his knees beside me. His hands moved gently over my injured shoulder, searching for the damage.
“What did you see?” Drake’s voice was steady but tinged with worry.
“I saw… an underground city,” I began, closing my eyes to recall the details.
“There were Riftborn everywhere, living peacefully.” I choked on the next words.
“But then the King’s men came… they butchered them,” tears spilled freely down my cheeks now.
“The children… the women… I could hear them screaming.”
Drake’s face darkened, his eyes glinting like molten steel. “Riftreach,” he murmured, exchanging a grave look with the others.
Felix leaned forward sharply, curls bouncing, golden eyes intent. “Darling—did you sense time? Was it memory… or warning?” His voice was gentle but edged with urgency.
I shook my head, still trembling. “There was no sky. No sun. I couldn’t tell. Just death.”
Fen’s jaw tightened. “Then I ride ahead.” She was already moving toward her horse.
Felix threw up both hands with a disbelieving laugh. “Absolutely not. What do you think you’re doing, galloping off like some martyr? Riding Castle Road alone?” He was already moving toward his pony.
Fen shot him a scathing glare. “Felix, the girl needs a healer. You know I can handle myself.” She gestured to the assortment of daggers and swords strapped to her belt.
“Captain?” she asked, turning to Drake, who was still crouched beside me.
Drake’s gaze flicked between me and Fen.
Reluctant. Sharp. “Go,” he said. “But take the high ridge and stay out of sight.”
Felix muttered something colorful under his breath but didn’t argue further. He adjusted his pony’s reins with unnecessary vigor, golden curls catching in the wind as Fen mounted and charged off.
Drake turned back to me, his voice softer now. “Can you ride?”
I nodded, though the movement made me dizzy. With his help, I managed to get back on my horse, gritting my teeth against the pain. Every step of the journey would hurt, but the image of Riftreach’s destruction burned in my mind. I needed to get there to understand why the Rift had shown me this.
We rode for a long time in silence. The fields stretched endlessly before us, golden and swaying, their beauty stark against the vision still echoing in my skull. My pulse hadn’t fully calmed. I couldn’t shake the sounds—the screams, the blade against that child’s throat.
My fingers tightened around the reins.
I glanced at Drake, riding steady at my side. He hadn’t said a word since helping me up. His jaw was tight, eyes narrowed against the sun—but I could tell his mind was still back there with me. Still seeing what I’d seen.
I swallowed thickly. “Thank you. For catching me.”
He looked over, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. “Don’t mention it.”
The wind shifted, rustling the wheat around us. I let the silence stretch, let my mind settle until the rawness dulled just enough that I could breathe again. My body still throbbed, but the weight in my chest had lessened. I needed a distraction.
“So, where did you find my horse? She’s beautiful,” I asked, reaching out to pat the mare’s silken neck. Her coat glimmered in the sunlight.
Drake cleared his throat, glancing sidelong at me with a sheepish look that immediately raised suspicion. “Well… I may have borrowed her.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Borrowed?” My jaw dropped. “You stole Colin’s horse!?”
“She was tied up. Saddled. Ready to go,” he held up a hand. “That’s not stealing. That’s reassigning. And she clearly likes you better.”
“Drake,” I said slowly. “You stole a dead guy’s prize mare.”
“She’s fast and reliable, and you needed a horse,” he said flatly as if this justified everything. “It’s not like he had future plans.”
Ahead of us, Felix barked out a laugh. “You’re fucking ruthless.” He gave me a grin over his shoulder, golden curls bouncing in the sunlight. “Darling, only you would end up with a stolen nobleman’s mare as a parting gift.”
I groaned, heat rushing to my cheeks. “Don’t call it that.”
“Too late,” Felix said airily, giving the horse an approving look. “Prize mare, tragic backstory, dramatic entrance—it’s practically poetry. So very you .”
Drake’s lips curled into that familiar sly grin, and I couldn’t help but feel both exasperated and amused. He looked so unapologetically pleased with himself.
“What are you going to name her?” Drake asked after a moment of silence. His voice softened, his usual sharp tone replaced with something almost thoughtful.
I hesitated. My hand stroked the mare’s silken neck. The name surfaced before I could stop it. “Morwenna,” I said finally. “Wenna for short.”
Drake tilted his head, curious. “Hmn. Why Wenna?”
“It was my mother’s name,” I said softly, patting the mare’s neck again. As if she understood, Wenna let out a chortle, her ears flicking back to catch my voice.
Drake nodded, his expression unreadable for a moment. “I like it,” he said simply.
We rode in silence for a time after that, the rhythmic sound of hoofbeats filling the quiet.
I let my gaze drift to the horizon, the golden fields shimmering in the sunlight, the endless expanse feeling both liberating and daunting.
My thoughts began to wander to memories of my mother, but before I could lose myself completely, Drake spoke again.
“Do you miss her?” His voice was gentle, almost hesitant, like he wasn’t sure he had the right to ask.
“Yes,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “Every day.”
He nodded solemnly, his gaze fixed on the path ahead. “I miss my parents, too.”
The unexpected vulnerability in his tone made me look at him, studying his face as he stared forward. “What happened?” I asked softly.
His jaw tightened. “My father was Riftborn. My mother was human,” his voice dropped. “The King’s men murdered my father during the first purge. I was just a kid. My mother went into hiding. I haven’t seen her in years.”
The weight of his words settled over me like a heavy blanket. “Drake, I’m so sorry,” I said, wishing I could say something more meaningful.
He shrugged, but there was nothing casual in the tension across his shoulders. “It’s why I fight.”
I felt the sincerity in his words, the resolve in his tone.
I felt the sincerity in his words, the resolve in his tone.
But something tugged at me. Riftborn. That word again.
Yet even after all this time, he had never said what his Rift truly was.
My gaze drifted over him—the way his broad shoulders caught the light, the faint shimmer I’d glimpsed once at his collarbone, almost like scales beneath the skin.
A memory flickered: the strange heat radiating from him when he stood too close.
His teeth almost resembling fangs. Questions pressed at my lips, but I swallowed them back.
Not yet. “We’ll stop him,” I said firmly, surprising myself with the strength of my conviction.
Drake finally turned to look at me, his eyes meeting mine. There was a flicker of something there—gratitude, maybe. Or hope.
“We don’t have another choice.” I replied without hesitation.