Chapter 21
Aeson
SHARP STONES DIG INTO THE soles of my feet, and wind beats angrily at my back.
I shake out my arm, hoping it will banish the last vestiges of the Scream Eater’s phantom grip.
My dragon fully recedes, leaving me standing on a rocky ledge barely big enough to shift from dragon to drake.
Calling my scale armor, I roll out my shoulders now that they’re absent of wings.
Anticipation makes my skin tingle as I stride into the mouth of the cave, and Chastain lands on the ledge behind me to begin his shift back to a drake.
I abandon the bright morning light for the dark interior of the cave, and my eyes adjust in a matter of blinks.
Glass crunches under my boot, and I look down and notice a pummeled flier off to the side.
Tendrils of smoke rise from the dead engine, and the body is damaged beyond repair.
Not that they started out looking much better from what I observed while chasing them.
A growl crawls up my throat when I take in the full scene. I put a hand out and summon the heat from the two smoldering flashpoints, and the curling wisps of smoke immediately disappear.
What was Ever thinking flying around like her bones won’t break and her blood can’t spill?
Rage surges through me at the shortsighted futility.
The furious rumble reverberating in my chest grows until some of the crystals deeper in the cave begin to hum with the resonance of it.
A frigid flash of foreboding spikes through my chest, and I abruptly cut off the sound.
Ever, I instantly recognize. Then a keen sense of urgency trickles through the leak in our bond, and I’m once again flooded with fury because I know exactly what she’s doing.
“Ever fucking Tenebrae,” I snarl into the cave. “Stop. Running!”
The command echoes loudly around the cavern, and I like the besieging effect it intones. Silence gradually fills the enormous cave as my decree dies off, and my Wing and I listen for the slightest sound that could help us pinpoint the direction the Syphon is fleeing in.
“Well?.?.?. that’s not my name,” a velvety voice declares from the void, and shock renders me a statue as Ever’s words wash over me like a sultry promise.
“And I’d like to point out all of the times you’ve tried to order me around, Commander Noctis, and then invite you to consider all the ways it didn’t go well for you. ”
Behind me, Chastain gives a little cough, but it does nothing to cover up the laugh he’s trying to swallow.
I level him with an unamused look. “Go stand guard outside,” I order, and his smile dies a quick death before he turns and walks out of the caves.
“Someone needs a nap,” Ever announces, and I can’t tell where her voice is coming from.
Signaling to Ogdan, Jori, Karis, and Tove, I direct them to spread out and start trying to track her.
I need to keep her talking, but suddenly, I can’t think of what to say.
I’m torn between demanding answers and throttling her.
I also wouldn’t be opposed to locking her up for a few hundred years so she can never pull something like this again, but it would be a mistake to lead with any of that.
“It appears you had a craving for road pancakes again, judging by the state of your flier back there,” I observe, and then bite back a groan. Why the fuck are we always talking about road pancakes?
“Breakfast of champions,” Ever’s disembodied voice croons.
Her throaty tone climbs into my chest and nestles low in my gut, and I have to take a moment to remind myself of a few things: that same throaty tone has lied straight to my face and cannot be trusted, and the only reason I’m hearing it right now is because this is what Ever does when she’s trapped—she tries to talk her way out of it.
Movement in my periphery has me swinging around, but all I find is my reflection in a towering pillar. I exhale a deep breath and urge my pounding heart to stand down. I step onto a small path that veers off to the right and begin searching every nook and cranny for my mate.
“In case you were wondering,” I call out with a practiced casual air despite feeling anything but, “I don’t care if I have to spend months shattering every crystal in these caverns to find you—you are caught, Ever. There’s no getting around that?.?.?. or me.”
A husky laugh echoes around me, and I spin in place, intent on following it, but it dies out too quickly.
“We’ll see, Spare,” Ever challenges, and I close my eyes against the rush of emotion that stupid fucking nickname engenders.
I tamp down the need that courses through me and wave away the familiarity that tries to bloom in my chest. I refuse to acknowledge the smile I hear in her taunt or to wonder if her dimple is on display.
This is how she got me last time. Her strength and cunning reeled me in, and I thought our bond would keep her from using it against me.
I was wrong, and now there’s a clusterfuck of epic proportions waiting for us back in Four Tiers.
I square my shoulders and shutter my defenses against her influence and that of the bond.
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask brusquely before turning another corner and squeezing through a narrow gap that leads to a wider walkway. “Spend the rest of your life running?” I scoff. “There’s no way your time in Four Tiers was so terrible that this is the better option.”
“I don’t know, this place has its charm,” she retorts, and I grunt my disagreement. “Besides, can’t a girl run a few errands without getting hunted down in a rage?” Ever sighs dramatically.
“Errands? Is that what we’re calling murder these days?”
“Yes, errands. A to-do list, so to speak. You know, grocery shopping, laundry, save my people, break a curse?.?.?. the usual.”
I pause and study the towers of crystals around me, the crunch of my boots against the pebbled ground suddenly loud in my ears. “Your people?” I repeat.
Silence stretches between us, lasting so long I give up on thinking she’ll answer, but then she does.
“Yes, my people,” she declares matter-of-factly.
“And exactly who are your people?” I press, but this time no response surfaces out of the dark recesses of the cave. I shake my head. “Still playing games,” I grumble, pissed that I went for such obvious bait.
I turn another corner and then freeze. Shock stalls my thoughts, because she’s right there. No more than ten paces away, facing a gleaming pillar that’s twice as wide and tall as she is.
Her back is to me, and my attention zeroes in on the dragon mark on the back of her neck.
Black strokes of different sizes run down her nape and shoulders, disappearing into the top of her shirt and reappearing below it.
The lines trace her spine, but I don’t see where they end, because the waist of her pants blocks my view.
Her flame-orange hair is piled haphazardly on her head, and the short shirt she’s wearing is torn and stained.
Her pants are covered in pockets, and I have no doubt there are all kinds of things she can slice, stab, and shoot me with hidden within each and every one.
It takes one look, nothing more, and the desire that ignites in my veins and starts dripping down my body is so intense that I almost stagger from the sheer force of it.
The bond blazes to life in my chest and wastes no time demanding that I claim Ever right here, right now.
I fight to regain control, barely managing to keep my feet from pulling me closer and my tongue in my mouth, away from her dragon mark.
I tear my gaze from her back and force myself to concentrate on anything but her while I fight for control.
It’s just a bond. It doesn’t command me.
All I need to do is get her back to King’s Keep and then I can figure everything out from there.
I nod to myself when I’m once again in the driver’s seat and not the bond.
I inhale a measured breath and then blow it out, ready to catch Ever Tenebrae and turn her over to my father to face what she’s done.
Without making a sound, I crouch low so Ever won’t catch my reflection behind her as I sneak up on her.
Tentatively I take a step toward her, my breath trapped in my lungs, and my pulse loud in my ears.
Tension lines my limbs, but Ever doesn’t react in any way, so I take another silent step?. .?. and another.
“What are you doing, Spare? You’ve gone very quiet,” she asks tauntingly, and then her gaze lifts and her eyes find mine in the crystal’s reflection.
I leap for her just as she gasps in surprise, and the next thing I know, I’m crashing into the hard, unforgiving surface of a fucking crystal.
The hands that were reaching for Ever grasp nothing but a smooth, cold surface, and I lose my footing and fall.
My scale armor takes the brunt of the impact, but a radiating pain still pulses up my spine when I land on my ass.
Slightly disoriented about how I ended up on the ground, I look up and find Ever facing me.
Before I can do or say anything, she steps to the side and disappears altogether.
Utterly confused, I watch as Ever’s reflection pops up several crystals down from me, only to disappear again and flash into place on the opposite side of the path.
What the fuck?
I shove back onto my feet and chase the jumping images. I start breaking several pillars as I go, cracking their facades, just like I promised I would.
“That’s some temper you’ve got there,” Ever admonishes sharply, her voice sounding closer than before.
I whirl in search of it, pulse racing, chest heaving, and notice a circular clearing that’s framed by a stunning array of crystals.
Ever stands on the far side, but this time, I note the sheen layered over her features and lack of overall dimension.
I look around, trying to make sense of how she’s doing this.
I don’t think it’s her affinity; I don’t recall coming across anything like this in their records, but who knows.