Chapter twenty seven - Across the Border
The ravine felt unnaturally still after Kael's confession,as if the world itself had paused to absorb the weight of it. Liora stoodfrozen, her breath uneven, her thoughts tangled and sharp. Erevos strainedagainst the chains, snarling, but even his fury felt distant compared to thestorm inside her.
Kael stepped back, his face shuttered, his eyes fixed on theground.
He looked like someone who had ripped open an old wound and was nowtrying to hold himself together with shaking hands.
Thalen moved around Erevos,checking the knots with practiced precision.
He didn't look surprised. Hedidn't look shaken.
He simply worked — steady, resigned, as though he had beenwaiting for this moment to surface.
Liora finally found her voice, though it came out rougherthan she expected.
"Kael."
He didn't answer.
"You can't just say something like that and expect me tostay quiet."
His shoulders tightened, but he still didn't turn. Shestepped closer, Ashwing shifting protectively behind her, feathers brushing herback like a warning.
"Where are we taking him?"
Kael's jaw clenched.
"To someone who can contain him."
"That's not an answer," she said. "Who?"
Kael hesitated — too long. Before he could speak, Thalenstraightened and cut in, his tone calm but firm, his eyes never leaving Kael.
"Kael. Before you say anything... is she to be trusted?"
Liora's breath caught. She turned toward him sharply, heatrising in her chest.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Thalen didn't look at her. His gaze stayed locked on Kael —unwavering, protective, loyal in a way that made her stomach twist.
"If we bring her with us," he said, "if she hears the truthand stays with us after this... there's no going back. So I need to know. Can shecarry this? Or will she break under it?"
Liora felt her pulse hammering in her throat. Kael finallylooked at her — really looked at her — and she felt the weight of his gaze likea hand around her heart. He wasn't judging her. He wasn't doubting her. He wasmeasuring her strength.
After a long moment, he inhaled slowly.
"Yes. She can be trusted."
Thalen nodded once, accepting it without question. Liora'sbreath shook — not relief, not anger, something in between.
Kael looked away again, voice low.
"We're taking him to my father."
Liora blinked, stunned by the simplicity of the answer.
"Your father? Where is he?"
Kael's fingers tightened on the reins.
"Valeborne."
The name hit her like a cold wind. Valeborne — the enemykingdom. The land across the border. She stared at him, her pulse quickening.
"Why is he there? I thought you were royalty here."
Kael's expression shifted — something tight, somethingpained. He looked at her with a heaviness she hadn't seen before.
"My mother was the sister of the king," he said quietly."That's where my royal blood comes from."
Liora's breath caught.
"So your father...?"
"He's a noble," Kael said. "But not from this kingdom."
Liora felt the ground tilt beneath her.
"He's from Valeborne."
Kael nodded once.
"He served as an ambassador when my mother was alive. Aftershe died... he stayed there. Permanently."
Liora swallowed hard, trying to make sense of it.
"So you're taking us straight into enemy territory," shewhispered. "To a noble of the enemy Kingdom."
Kael didn't deny it. Thalen's expression tightened, but hesaid nothing.
Liora forced herself to breathe.
"Why not take Erevos to the Academy? They have containmentchambers. Researchers. Healers. They could—"
Kael cut her off sharply.
"No."
Liora froze.
"Why not?"
Kael's voice dropped, rough and bitter, the words scrapingout of him like something sharp.
"Because the Academy would use him for more experiments.They'd tear him apart trying to understand what went wrong. They'd finish whatthey started."
Liora's stomach twisted.
"And Valeborne?" she asked quietly. "What would they do?"
Kael's expression darkened.
"They'd try to cure him."
The words hung between them like a spark in dry grass —dangerous, impossible, and yet somehow... hopeful. Ashwing shifted beneath her,feathers rising in unease.
Liora felt a cold dread settle in her chest. Whatever waitedfor them across that border... she waswalking into it blind.
The flight into Valeborne felt like crossing into anotherworld.
The air grew colder the farther they traveled, the sky dimming beneathheavy clouds that clung to the jagged mountains like smoke.
The land belowshifted from rolling green to dark stone and frost?bitten earth, carved by deepravines and shadowed valleys.
Even Ashwing sensed the change; his feathersbristled, his wings beating slower, more cautiously, as if the very airresisted them.
Kael flew ahead without a single glance back.
His posturewas straight, controlled, almost regal.
There was no hesitation in him, nofear, no uncertainty.
He moved like someone who had walked this path many timesbefore, someone who knew exactly what waited on the other side of the border.Thalen stayed close behind him, his expression alert but not surprised, as ifthis cold land was familiar to him as well.
The fortress emerged from the mist like a beast waking fromslumber. Massive walls of black stone rose from the mountainside, carveddirectly into the rock. Towers jutted upward like jagged spears, and banners ofdeep crimson and obsidian snapped in the wind. The colors of Valeborne. Theenemy kingdom.
Ashwing tensed beneath Liora, feathers rising in a ripple ofunease. She felt it too — the heaviness in the air, the cold that seeped intoher bones, the sense of being watched by something ancient and patient.
They landed in a wide stone courtyard surrounded by toweringwalls.
Soldiers in dark armor lined the battlements, their dragons perchedbehind them — lean, sharp, disciplined creatures with eyes like polishedobsidian.
The soldiers watched the group with cold precision, but when Kaeldismounted, something shifted.
Several of them straightened.
A few dipped their heads.
Recognition flickered in their eyes.
Kael didn't acknowledge them. He didn't need to. He walkedforward with the quiet authority of someone who belonged here, someone who hadbeen raised between two courts and learned to wear a mask in both.
Thalen landed beside him and secured Erevos to a reinforcedanchor embedded in the ground. The black dragon snarled and twisted violently,the chains rattling against the stone, but the soldiers didn't flinch. They hadseen worse. Or they had seen Erevos before.
Liora slid off Ashwing, her legs unsteady. The courtyardfelt colder than the air outside, as if the stone itself held memories ofthings she didn't want to imagine. She stepped closer to Kael, her voice low.
"Where is he?"
Kael didn't look at her.
"He'll come."
Liora frowned.
"When?"
"When he chooses to."
Thalen shot her a brief look — a silent warning not to push.So she didn't. Not yet.
They waited.
Minutes stretched into an hour.
An hour into two.
Two into three.
The soldiers never moved.
The dragons never blinked.
The fortress never made a sound.
Kael stood perfectly still the entire time. He didn't pace.He didn't fidget. He didn't show a single crack in his composure. He stood withhis hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on the massive iron doorsahead, his expression unreadable. Cold. Controlled. Certain.
Thalen stayed near him, arms crossed, eyes scanning thecourtyard with quiet vigilance. He watched everything except Kael — as if Kaelwas the only thing here he didn't need to worry about.
Liora sat beside Ashwing, her dragon's warm feathers pressedagainst her back.
She studied Kael from a distance, trying to understand him.The stillness.
The control. The way the soldiers kept glancing at him with amixture of respect and wariness.
He wasn't afraid of this place. He knew it. Hehad walked these stones before.
And that realization made something twist inside her —something sharp and unfamiliar.
Eventually, she stood and approached him again.
"Kael."
He didn't turn.
"You're very calm."
"I have no reason not to be."
"That's not true," she said quietly. "You're hidingsomething."
Kael's jaw tightened — the only sign she had struck close tothe truth.
Before she could say more, the iron doors groaned open.
A cold wind swept through the courtyard, carrying the scentof stone and steel. The soldiers straightened in unison. Thalen pushed off thewall, his posture sharpening.
Kael didn't move.
A tall figure stepped through the doorway, dressed in blackand silver, moving with the calm confidence of someone who feared nothing — notdragons, not kingdoms. His presence filled the courtyard like a shadowstretching across the stone.
Liora's breath caught.
Kael's father had arrived.
The man who stepped through the iron doors carried authoritythe way others carried weapons — effortlessly, dangerously, as if it weresimply part of him.
His black?and?silvercloak trailed behind him like a shadow, and the cold mountain wind seemed tobend around him rather than touch him.
His presence filled the courtyardinstantly, commanding attention without a single word.
Liora braced herself for anger. For accusations. For thefury of a man whose wife had been killed by the dragon chained only metersaway. She expected hatred, violence, grief sharpened into blame.
But that wasn't what happened.
Kael's father stopped in front of his son. For a heartbeat,neither of them moved. Then the man exhaled — a slow, trembling breath thatcracked the mask he wore — and he stepped forward and pulled Kael into hisarms.
Kael didn't resist. He didn't stiffen. He didn't flinch. Hesimply let himself be held, his face pressed against the shoulder of a man whohad clearly missed him more than he would ever admit aloud.
Liora stared, stunned.
This was not the reunion she expected.
Not in Valeborne.
Not between a father and son divided by kingdoms andpolitics.
And certainly not between two men who had both lost the samewoman to the dragon chained behind them.
Kael's father held him tightly, one hand gripping the backof his son's neck as if afraid he might vanish again.
"I've missed you son," he murmured.
Kael's voice was low, steady, but softer than Liora had everheard it.
"I'm here."
When they finally pulled apart, Kael's father cupped hisson's face briefly, studying him with a mixture of relief and grief. Then hisgaze shifted — sharp, assessing — to Liora, to Thalen, and finally to Erevos.
Liora's breath tightened.
She waited for the explosion.
For the blame.
For the rage.
But Kael's father stepped closer to Erevos with a calmnessthat made her skin crawl. The black dragon snarled, chains rattling, but theman didn't flinch. He looked at Erevos not with fear, not with hatred, but withsomething far more complicated — something Liora couldn't decipher.
And that was when the bitterness rose in her throat.
Because she did blame him.
Erevos had burned her village.
Erevos had killed her family.
Erevos had destroyed everything she had ever known.
She could still smell the smoke.
Still hear the screams.
Still see the flames swallowing her home.
And yet here stood Kael and his father — calm, steady,unbroken — looking at the dragon who had taken their wife and mother withsomething that wasn't hatred at all.
Liora couldn't understand it.
She couldn't accept it.
She couldn't forgive it.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
The words slipped out before she could stop them. "You'renot... angry?" she asked quietly. "At him?"
Kael's father turned to her, his eyes sharp as winter steel."At Erevos?" he asked. "For killing my wife?"
Liora swallowed hard and nodded.
He looked back at the dragon, his voice calm. "No."
Liora's breath caught.
Her chest tightened.
Her hands curled into fists.
No?
No anger?
No blame?
No hatred for the creature who had taken the woman he loved?
Kael stepped beside his father, his expression as controlledas ever.
"He knows why it happened," Kael said quietly.
Liora stared between them, confusion and fury twistinginside her.
"What do you mean?"
Kael's father answered, his voice low and steady.
"Erevos killed her," he said. "But it wasn't his fault."
Liora felt her stomach twist.
Kael's father stepped closer to the dragon, his gazesoftening in a way that made her chest tighten.
"The experiments broke his mind," he said. "They twisted hisinstincts, shattered his bond, drowned him in pain until he couldn't tellfriend from enemy. He didn't kill her out of malice."
Erevos went still.
Completely still.
As if the words reached something buried deep inside him —something raw and wounded.
Kael's father continued, quieter now. "She died trying toprotect him. Trying to save what was left of him."
Liora felt the world tilt beneath her feet.
Her grief clashed with their grief.
Her hatred clashed with their forgiveness.
Her loss clashed with their understanding.
She whispered the only thing she could.
"I don't understand."
Kael's father turned to her, his expression grave.
"it is time for dinner."
He looked at Kael.
"lets eat."
The dining hall of the Valeborne fortress was carveddirectly into the mountain, lit by torches that cast long shadows across thestone walls.
A heavy wooden table stretched down the center, set with simplebut rich food — roasted game, dark bread, spiced roots, and a deep red winethat smelled stronger than anything Liora had ever tasted.
Despite the warmthof the torches, the room felt cold, as if the mountain itself seeped into theair.
They couldn't stay the night.
Kael had made that clear the moment they stepped inside.
The Academy would notice their absence.
Questions would be asked.
Suspicion would spread.
So this dinner was not a celebration.
It was a farewell.
A briefing.
A warning.
Kael's father sat at the head of the table, posturestraight, expression composed. Kael sat to his right, Thalen to his left. Lioratook the seat beside Kael, feeling out of place, watched, and very aware thatshe was the only one here who didn't understand the rules of this kingdom.
Kael's father studied her for a long moment before speaking.
"And who is she?"
Liora stiffened, but Kael answered before she could.
"She's with me."
His father raised an eyebrow.
"That wasn't my question."
Thalen leaned back in his chair, a faint smile tugging athis mouth.
"She's the reason we're all still alive," he said. "And thereason Erevos didn't tear Kael in half."
Kael's father's gaze shifted to Thalen, and somethingsoftened in his expression — familiarity, warmth, a hint of nostalgia.
"It's been a long time, old friend."
Thalen's smile widened.
"Too long."
Liora blinked.
Old friend?
Thalen and Kael's father?
Kael's father nodded toward him.
"You were her shadow from the moment she could walk. My wifetrusted you more than anyone."
Thalen's voice dropped.
"She was my best friend."
A heavy silence settled over the table.
Liora felt it like a weight on her chest.
Kael's father finally turned back to her.
"But that still doesn't explain why you're here."
Liora swallowed.
"I'm... helping."
Kael's father's eyes narrowed.
"Helping with what?"
Liora opened her mouth — and realized she didn't know theanswer.
Kael stepped in.
"She's part of this now."
His father studied him for a long moment, then nodded once,accepting it — or at least choosing not to challenge it.
The conversation shifted when Kael's father set down his cupand spoke with a gravity that made the air tighten.
"If we cannot heal him," he said, "then it is kinder to dohim a favor and kill him."
Liora froze.
Kael went still.
Thalen's jaw tightened.
Kael's father continued, voice steady.
"He is suffering. Every moment he breathes, he suffers."
Liora felt her stomach twist.
She looked at Erevos through the open archway — chained inthe courtyard, wings pinned, eyes burning with a pain she didn't understand.
Kael's father leaned back in his chair, expressiondarkening.
"And we do not have time. Valeborne is restless. The councilwants to attack. "
Liora's breath caught.
"Attack?" she whispered.
Kael's father nodded.
"I will buy you as much time as I can. But I do not know ifI can hold them off until graduation."
Graduation.
That word again.
Liora's mind spun.
Why graduation?
Why was everything tied to that moment?
What were they waiting for?
What did Kael know?
She looked around the table — at Kael's unreadableexpression, at Thalen's quiet tension, at Kael's father's grim certainty — andrealized she was the only one in the room who didn't understand the stakes.
Once again, she was left with more questions than answers.
And the night was far from over.