Trade
"You'll be safe." Aaryn told her, clutching Thea's hands. "You’ll come back from Evergale. With Rolim. You won't get hurt." As if it was a dare, or a demand, or simply the truth.
Thea swallowed. "Not if I have anything to do with it."
"I'll be waiting for you," Aaryn said, and squeezed. "Please be careful. Please think of yourself." Of me, she wanted to say, who doesn't want to lose you.
But she would not burden Thea with such things, even if they might be understood anyway. This wasn't about Aaryn, no matter how much the idea of Thea walking into the hands of Evergale scared her.
"Now go save the damsel in distress," Aaryn said.
"My favorite part," Thea teased, and Aaryn pulled her in for a kiss, hand tangling at the back of her neck.
She pushed all her feelings into her lips, the love and care she had for Thea, but also her faith—that the Great Dragon would protect her, that Thea herself was confident and capable of anything. Especially pissing Evergale off.
And what would piss Evergale off more than stealing their first execution in millennia out from under their noses?
With one last kiss and a lingering hand, they broke apart, and Aaryn turned her attention to the other love of her life. She placed gentle hands on scaled flesh and as his warm breath huffed in her face, she laughed.
"You stay safe too, okay? Bring her home, and bring yourself home. Got it?" she asked.
Starspark nudged into her hands and she met him halfway. Her forehead brushed the bridge of his snout, and she tried to still her heart shaking in her chest. "I believe in you, Starspark," she said.
Before the ache in her throat could escape, she stood straight and held out a hand to Thea. Without hesitation she placed a pale purple palm into hers.
Aaryn led Thea's hand to Starspark's head and rested her hand on his scales. Their gazes met.
"Bring him back to me this time, yeah?" Aaryn taunted.
Thea predictably rolled her eyes. "I thought we were past this," she grumbled, a smile tugging at her lips. Aaryn found it cute.
"It's too fun to tease you about it," Aaryn told her.
Starspark nudged Aaryn, and she stumbled forward, bumping into Thea. With a soft laugh of affection, Aaryn and Thea stroked their hands over his scales and then leaned in together for one last kiss.
"Good luck," Aaryn said.
"Don't need it," Thea returned.
Then Aaryn was turning, leaving with one last glance while Thea awaited the other druids accompanying her on the mission.
She sucked in a breath, ignoring the lump in her throat and the slight ache beginning in her head. Stress.
Stress she did her best to bury, the teleportation runes glowing around her until the landscape changed to that of the Heart with the woozy feeling that Aaryn barely noticed now.
What she did notice was Runa skidding to a stop before her, her familiar face lit by the runes and something like panic and relief and… fear there.
"Aaryn! There you are." Runa latched onto her arm with a gasp. "There's something I need to tell you."
Her urgency struck Aaryn, her stomach dropping. "Are you okay?" Aaryn asked, hands hovering as if she had any idea what to do with this amount of concern.
"It's not about me, it's—"
Runa glanced around them. Beyond the runes and the rocks and the trees, to the dozens of people going about their lives with chatter and laughter that hadn't been as present lately.
"Something’s going to happen," Runa said, and Aaryn's heart skipped a beat.
"What do you mean?" Aaryn stared at her, the tremor in her hands, the paleness of her face, the way she clutched at Aaryn as if afraid she'd pull away.
A sinking feeling threatened to swallow her, and she was afraid if she said anything more she'd somehow scare Runa from saying anything at all.
So she patiently waited, expression open and worried and—skies, why was waiting all Aaryn seemed able to do lately?
Wait for training, wait for magic, wait for Thea and—wait for someone to give her answers.
Answers she wanted to shake from Runa, but refrained.
Runa inhaled deeply, and Aaryn watched something in her quiet as she said, "The execution is a trap. While they're gone, Evergale is planning to attack."
"Attack here?"
Runa nodded.
"How?"
The circle was protected, and no one could get in through the barriers without…
Aaryn lifted her head slowly, looking out past the tall rocks and to the people of Cloud Haven. The druids, those that had made their home here.
And those that had been rescued from Skymore, still struggling to find their footing.
The pieces clicked into place.
Why Evergale had not bothered battling the druids for Skymore. Why they had set it aflame and left it for the druids.
It wasn't just to find Aaryn. It was because those they saved had a purpose.
A brief moment of relief washed over her because she wasn't to blame for Skymore's destruction after all. But that feeling was fleeting in the face of the devastation that was about to be wrought.
By the very hands that gripped her arm.
Aaryn shrugged off Runa's hold, betrayal cutting deep and sudden and shocking.
"I-It was the only way to fix my mistake, of losing you, according to the pr—king," she urged. "It would have cost me my life if I'd refused. But I won't do it. I had to warn you before it was too late—"
Aaryn was already moving, leaving Runa and her deceit behind as she pushed her away and slotted the tile into place to activate the runes.
"I'm sorry, Aaryn!" Runa's voice cut off as the runes activated, and suddenly she was on Claw Hold searching the wandering druids for a familiar head of braids, heart pounding.
Aaryn didn't bother looking back as she darted between groups. A familiar guard she'd seen before caught her eye and she grabbed him by the shoulder. "Where is Vaelen?" she asked.
He clearly did not sense her distress. "Ahhh, I think she might be in her office."
Aaryn thanked the Great Dragon for her predictability, and took off in that direction.
Her pulse was on the back of her tongue, the ache in her head sharper.
All she could think about was Thea, their last conversation, how even now she was preparing to leave for Evergale, to stop the execution, to save Rolim.
For once, fate was shining down on her and she spotted Vaelen's shape on the path outside her tree.
"Vaelen!" Aaryn called out. At the desperation in her tone, Vaelen snapped her head up and turned towards her.
"Great skies, child, what's wrong?" she asked.
Aaryn caught her breath just enough to lower her voice, yanking Vaelen close by the shoulder. "The execution's a trap. They're going to attack here, the circle. The ones we took in, they're planted," she gasped out. "And Thea's leaving for Rolim."
Vaelen paused, processing, her eyes flickering as Aaryn was sure a thousand thoughts burst through her mind. "Try to stop Thea. Tell her. Go," she demanded, and gave Aaryn a shove.
Aaryn sucked in a breath and bolted for the travel runes, their glow beckoning.
She caught herself against the tall stones making up the teleportation circle, then with a scrape of tile she was on the Dragons’ Nest. Her feet snapped into the grass over and over as she raced, passing dragons lounging, playing, eating.
"Thea!" she shouted, her voice echoing as some of the dragons picked their heads up in curiosity. "Starspark!"
In response to her desperate plea, she heard a whine, achingly familiar, and her heart fluttered with relief and exertion as she cut through the trees and dodged boulders, looking for—
Starspark wrestled with Thea as she tried to grab onto his harness. An amused group of druids already seated on their respective dragons waited, all in matching dragon scale armor.
Starspark was the only dragon Aaryn trusted to get Thea back safely to her. And right then she was so thankful for her stubborn dragon.
"Thea!" she cried.
Thea jolted at the crack in her voice, and Aaryn skidded to a stop, hands on her knees.
She heard the hiss of grass, then Starspark was bumping her with his snout. She offered him a hand, petting his scales.
Briefly, Aaryn considered telling Thea good luck and letting her ride off to save her brother in arms. Because once Aaryn delivered this news, she knew where Thea's sense of duty would lie.
But Thea deserved the chance to choose, anyway.
"The execution is a trap. They're going to attack here. Runa told me." The words punched out of her heaving lungs.
Thea stilled. Aaryn didn't know if she'd ever seen her so motionless. Her gaze flicked between Aaryn's eyes. "How would they get here? We're hidden. Safe."
"Skymore."
Thea's expression hardened and she glanced into the distance, toward where they both knew Evergale lay. Where Rolim waited for his execution.
Aaryn did not know the plan. She did not know the intricacies of a mission like this.
But she knew, in this moment, that Thea had to choose between her brother and her people. And Aaryn hated that for her. And yet, the situation did not change just because Aaryn willed it to. Imagine that.
Thea turned to the few men and women already on dragonback. "Change of plan. I need—"
They heard the screech of a nearby dragon, then the flap of wings. Scales the color of a fierce rain cloud eclipsed the bright sun as Carissa hovered with Stormstrike, grim determination set in the lines of her face. "Runa told me. I'm going to save my husband, with or without you."
Thea pivoted effortlessly, hand decisive as she motioned, voice impressive. Aaryn thought she was so, so admirable. When this was over, she would tell her. Show her.
"Six of you, go with Carissa. Fill her in as much as possible. Don't die. The other four, stay with us. Protect our people."
They parted, Carissa and the others headed to Evergale.