Chapter 15 #4
She woke with a start from dreams of a shadow cat’s teeth sinking into her.
Her magic swirled around her as attendants rushed to her side and others raced out the door.
Heart galloping in her chest, she reached for calm.
She was alive, whole. But to what end was anyone’s guess.
She’d failed spectacularly. Her odds of escaping Theron’s watchful eye were low and dwindling further as she counted the veritable army arrayed before her in the waning light of her bedroom.
She could swear she felt him before she saw him.
Theron.
Her fated. Her jailor. The bane of her existence.
Aurora refused to look at him, at his damn face. Betrayer and hindrance wrapped up in temptation. He couldn’t even let her die.
“Aurora? How are you feeling?”
“You should have let me die,” she whispered.
“All of you, out. Now.”
When it was just the two of them, he reached out to touch her. Wrath rose in her like a tide. She slapped his hand.
“First you lie to me. Then you convince me to care for you. Then you betray me. You call me mad. Now you’ve allowed Drakon to go free.
You’ve brought the calamity to Trisia, and you dare to ask me how I’m feeling?
” she shrieked. “You had the chance to kill Drakon and you chose fucking politics. How do you think I’m feeling? ”
“I have people hunting Drakon down as we speak.”
Her laugh was bitter.
“I’m sure that will go as well as everything else has.”
“I swear to you, I will present the beast’s head to you,” he said, brow pinched with worry.
“I won’t hold my breath.”
“Aurora, please…” He reached for her again.
“No!” she screamed.
“Just look at me,” he pleaded softly.
“No,” she croaked, throat tight.
“Please,” he whispered.
“There’s nothing left, Theron. I can’t allow you to keep hurting me. I’m done.” Despair overtook her. The tide swallowed her whole, making it impossible to believe she’d ever been so foolishly hopeful. There was no saving anyone now.
“Then look me in the eye and say it. If your passion is extinguished, it shouldn’t be so hard for you to look at me and tell me you’re done with me.”
He wouldn’t even give her a chance to sit with her grief before demanding something of her. Pressing her to make him the centre of her attention, of her world. To get what he needed from her.
At least the shadow cat had only wanted to eat her.
So, exhausted, angry, with a heart full of bitter ashes, she looked him in the eyes.
“I’m done with y—”
Blinding white made her eyes sting. She blinked back the gathering tears and shielded her eyes with a hand at her brow. All around her was dark, rocky debris mixed with snow and ice. A chill breeze had her cupping her frozen hands to her mouth and heating them as best she could with her breath.
But amongst the white, grey, and black, a hint of red peeked up at her from beneath the snow. Aurora knelt, tucking the thick fabric of her dress under her, and wiped away the coating of hardened snow. Her heart raced.
A scale.
One of Drakon’s.
“Here!” she called.
Theron bounded over to her and knelt by her side, pushing more of the snow from the enormous scale. He put a gloved hand to his mouth.
“He’s gotten bigger.”
Frustration overwhelmed her.
“He was here, Theron. If only we’d come sooner, we might have caught him.” She pounded her fists on the scale.
“I’m so sorry, my queen. If I had just—”
She put her hand on his, bitterness and affection a strange push-pull in her heart.
“What’s done is done. We need to keep searching.”
He stood and offered her his hand. She remembered a time she would have swatted that hand away but instead took it with a weary smile. This was the man she loved.
“Your Majesties! Look!” Hyllus shouted, pointing.
Theron turned first, instantly paling.
“Merciful Triad, no…”
Aurora turned.
“Aurora!”
She blinked. The searing brightness of the snow under the sun was replaced by the dimness of a room lit by firelight at dusk, the eyes of her husband roaming her face.
The chill was no more, replaced by the warmth of Theron’s hands on her shoulders as the feel of his magic invaded every inch of her.
Another vision.
The woman in her vision had…forgiven this bastard. Loved him even.
Rage unlike any she’d ever felt turned her innards to bubbling acid. Aurora hated her future self as much as she hated Theron. How dare he find his way back into her good graces! How dare she give him another chance to harm her! How dare she be so fucking weak!
“A vision?” Theron asked.
She shrugged from his grasp, peeling his fingers from her and glaring at him long enough that he withdrew his magic as well.
“What did you see?”
“Weakness. Now get out.”
His brows pinched and he turned away, his fists clenching her sheets.
“Sleep well.”
When he left, she spat on the very ground he’d stepped on. Moments later she was again surrounded by vultures wearing the Aurean colours. Aurora pulled the covers over her head and curled up as best she could, biting her lip as hot, angry tears threatened.
She’d be thrice damned before she let that vision come to pass. He’d called her his queen. From this moment on, she would render to ash every olive branch he pretended to extend. His nobles would be braying for her blood by the time she was done.
If Theron thought she’d caused chaos the last time she sat in his court, he didn’t know the meaning of the word.