Chapter 22 Eveera
Eveera
His snores were anything but white noise.
After about two hours of restless sleep, I woke up to him having an even worse time, his body having a fit on the chaise.
Quietly, I slide out from underneath my blankets and tiptoe over to where he's contorted himself. He has deep lines furrowed between his brow, and his mouth is turned down in a frown. Of course, now that I’m awake and standing over him, he’s completely silent.
But you couldn't be silent when I was trying to sleep.
I roll my eyes at his display and trudge over to where my clothes are still piled in the bathroom. Not wanting to risk him hearing me open the heavy door back out into the passageways, I choose the more daring route — walking straight out into the hallway.
Considering I’m not dressed, I'm relieved to be met with no squires standing outside the doors. Though that means at some point tonight, Rorin dismissed them. Wonder if that will become a habit now that we’re… married.
With no time to waste, I move away from the door, awkwardly hopping down the hallway as I pull my pants on underneath my nightdress. My arms fight to get the tight neck of my tunic on over my curls while I stomp my foot all the way down into my boots.
By the time I’m done, I’m a sweaty mess.
Stealthy? In theory. Quiet? Not as much as I would like to be. I step through the wall of magic, cloaking my end of the hall, and make a beeline for the courtyard where I know Vada already waits for me.
"Eveera?"
My body freezes mid-step at the voice, my head swiveling around slowly. In the center of the hallway is a mussed-up and groggy-looking Max.
The dark circles under his eyes have gotten worse, and hisWield flickers at his fingertips absentmindedly. I know that, look. I wear that look, and my chest tightens at seeing him so disheveled. "Maxwell…"
"He haunts me." His voice cracks.
My lips flatten against each other, holding in the strangled sob that threatens to tear out of me. I nod my head violently, the tears burning behind my eyes. "I know." The words come out strangled, the two of us staring at each other, our pain hanging in the air.
We're tethered by a tragedy that is entirely my fault, and there's nothing that I can do to change it.
Two traitorous teardrops mirror down our cheeks, and we stand there holding space for the other. In the next moment, it’s over, we roll our shoulders back and share a knowing look before turning our separate ways.
I sprint the rest of the way, bursting through the doors out into the courtyard. Vada lifts her head at me, but I don’t give her a chance to register the pain on my face. My legs carry me up her forearm, and I urge her to take off.
There’s no need to command what to do or where to go; she understands perfectly and propels her body up into the air. Clinging tightly to her spines, I nestle my body between them, allowing the wind to take every one of my tears away as we fly.
The pressure builds in my chest, my heart matching the loud and rapid beat of her wings, as we pick up speed in our descent.
When the ground comes into view, I wrap my Wield tightly around my fists, letting the magic fully take over.
The moment her talons hit the ground, I'm leaping from the top of her shoulder onto the forest floor.
My knees hit the damp moss, my fingers digging into the dirt, as my magic floods from me.
Piercing cries ring out through the trees, and I close my fists, the magic splitting into my tendrils.
I drag myself up, the tendrils gripped tightly in my palms as I call the Wield back, reeling in a handful of red-eyed soulless creatures.
Vada and I have spent every available moment we have out here on the outskirts of my kingdom's cities. And every time I stand here studying them.
The beasts gnash their teeth at me, thrashing against the bindings I’ve wrapped them in.
The more human-esque ones that I’ve snatched hold my stare, while the others can only twitch, scream, and hiss.
I eradicate any that are too far gone for me to attempt any sort of control over, my tendrils going from a rope – to blades that dice them up, ending their mindless existence.
Three remain, watching me as I eviscerate their companions and turn my attention onto them. A wicked grin creeps up my face, "I'd love to believe I’ve given you fuckers some kind of intelligence, but that example doesn't leave me much hope."
They snarl and fight against my Wield the same as the others, but I don’t relent. I can’t. When Rorin and I saw one of the creatures appearing to be… sentient, on our way to Vellar. We both watched as its beady eyes bore into us, acknowledging us.
After my Wield brought Axel back as that — oh gods… his face. My resolve snaps, and the tendrils holding the creature to my left splice through it, its inhuman shriek spearing through my eardrums.
"Stop playing cat and mouse with them, little demon. You either can control them or you can't." Vada growls in my mind.
I crack my neck side-to-side, ignoring her grumbled warning.
I know she's right. But I have no idea where to start.
Holding them here in my grasp, rendering them into nothing — forcing them to squirm under my hold as I work up my courage to manipulate what mush is sloshing up in those ashy skulls of theirs — it puts me in control.
I am in control.
The creature standing opposite me tries to lunge and fails, its mangled body wrestling the threads of my magic. "Sweet. You think you're going to get out of this? Or do you not think at all?" I taunt.
I guess I'm about to find out. My conscience whispers as I focus a fragment of my Wield on its mind.
Spearing through the frail remnants of the creature’s psyche, I’m accosted by a sharp and mind-splitting pain.
My knees buckle, and I clamp my hands over my ears, trying to free myself from the unnatural scream tearing through my head.
The sound is debilitating, and I lose the grip I have on my Wield, the power slamming back into my body.
Vada’s roar shakes the forest, followed by the feel of heat blistering my skin.
I scramble backwards, tripping over my feet until I feel my body hit Vada's thick scaly hide. Clawing my way up her leg, I lay my back flat against hers, my chest rising and falling rapidly, while my hand moves to scratch at my wrist. Through my lashes, I can see the glow of the rune, but I don’t have the energy to think about the fallout of triggering it.
"You were supposed to get in their minds, not melt yours — and especially not mine," Vada growls beneath me.
"I don't know what happened. That's not happened before. The others just… they just disintegrated the moment I tried manipulating their thoughts."
She huffs loudly, her body catapulting into the air. "You're not ready."
At this point, I don't know if I'll ever be, but I'm afraid if I say that out loud or down the bond, Vada will throw me off her back. My budding relationship I had with death has dissipated since returning home, and I’m not ready to be so quickly reacquainted.
She landed roughly, the motion jostling me awake when I was nearly thrown off her spine.
My eyes fly open, and I see that the sky is still pitch black, thank fuck.
The color of the night guarantees that I won’t have any staff, guards, or nosy council members to deal with on my way back to my room.
I slide down Vada’s back, patting her hide on my descent before she retreats, her weighty footsteps carrying her off to her cave.
She snaps her tail, the crack against the cobblestone ringing in my ears, and mixing poorly with the pounding in my skull.
“My head.” I hiss, and she snorts, snapping her tail down again. "Bitch."
"I heard that."
Before I become a human pyre, my legs move as quickly as my body will allow, carrying me through the halls until I can slip into my throne room. I wanted to cut through the passageways, just in case, and I was feeling pretty good that I’d hobbled all the way to the hidden door without–
"A-hem."
My feet come to a harsh halt at the raspy sound. Shit. The aggravating feeling of being caught spreads throughout my chest, and I grind my teeth together.
Draped languidly in my throne is Rorin. His cropped hair is disheveled beyond the point of just bedhead, the bandages are gone from his shoulder, and his eyes are bloodshot.
So I can safely assume, he didn't just wake up…
He drags his left hand down his face, gritting out, "how long?"
"Wha—?"
SLAM! His fist hits the stone arm of the throne — the sound jarring. "How long have you been taking off in the middle of the night?"
"Every night."
Rorin pinches his brow, swearing to himself before raising his voice at me. "Fuck, Eveera. Every fucking night?"
"It's none of your concern."
"None of my… none of my concern?" He asks, exasperated. I nod, but that only serves to make him angrier. Pushing up harshly from the seat, he sprints down the steps until we’re standing only a few feet apart.
"YOU ARE MY ONLY CONCERN." There’s a wild look in his stare, the vein in his neck bulging as he crosses the rest of the distance between us.
Fear. That's the look on his face… fear.
"I'm fine," I mutter, feeling uncomfortable with his distraught behavior.
"You weren't." He replies coldly.
"I was—"
Rorin’s head shakes, and he lifts his hand, showing off the angry rune on his wrist. "You weren't."
“I would have been–”
“I can't take any chances with you!" Rorin cries, and my heart stills. “You were taken once already, and what I did on my hunt to find you, to bring you home, the horrible things I imagined were happening… it would have been better for someone to have killed me. Losing you almost did."
"I didn't ask for you to react that way, to feel these things." I snarl.
"WELL, I FEEL THEM, EVEERA. I feel them all the fucking time, and when you behave this-this recklessly? How could you?"
My Wield prickles at the question, my mouth parting as I sputter, “ho–how could I? How could I take flight in my own kingdom, on my own dragon? Needing space from a court that has dozens of people hovering around me as if I’m a glass resting on the edge of the table, liable to fall and shatter? I am not fragile.”
Rorin brings himself another step closer until his bare chest grazes against me.
The new position bringing me eye level with the wound I’d left in him.
"You cannot be selfish; you don’t have the privilege right now.
We are at war, Eveera! Your lands are not as impenetrable as you'd like to think, and we cannot afford for you to be self-destructive.
" He continues his rant, and a hot tear slips down my face, a heavy silence descending over us.
Regrettably, I break the quiet first, "I know." Surprise flickers across his face, and I blow out a tense breath, "I know."
"What do you mean, you know?"
"I know that we are at war. I know what we have lost. I know who we have lost, Rorin, and I'm doing my damndest to make sure it never happens again."
His head tilts, "what are you doing out there?"
My jaw tilts up, defiantly, “what I have to."
The muscle in his jaw ticks, disdain for the vague answer plain on his face. He scrapes his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. "Arghhh." He growls, turning back to brace the sides of my face, dropping his forehead to mine.
"You drive me insane, Nightmare."
"You're no picnic either," I whisper, pulling my lip between my teeth and sawing it back and forth. "But, I'm not something for you to possess or control."
He nods, and through my thick lashes I can see his face twisting in pain, "no, you're not, but if anything ever happened to you again…"
"It won't, I won't allow it."
"You're right, because I won't allow you to slip through my fingers a second time, Eveera.
The realm won't survive it. What I’ve done over the past few months?
What I destroyed in my pursuit of finding you will pale in comparison to what I will do.
" My breath hitches as he holds my face back, his eyes boring into me while he speaks, "I will unravel the threads that tie this world together, for you, with very little remorse. "
And I thought that I was intense… "you'd sacrifice your soul?"
"What is love if not the sacrifice of one's soul?"