Page 37 of Black Wing and Shadows
“Does that change something? I guess I don’t understand.”
“Gods. I hate him.”
“Oh… I’m not him, I mean, I do love him, but we aren’t the same. Why?”
“Fuck, I know you’re not him,” he said, anger rising.
“Hey, I am trying to understand here.”
“I am sorry, I know. I have a lot of feelings about him. Five years ago, he sent a drift of dragons and phoenixes to my town. They incinerated a building where a group of leaders was having a meeting. My two uncles died that day.”
“Five years ago—near the Winterhand Stronghold?” I asked, a lump in my throat so big that I might stop breathing. I knew the answer, and I didn’t want to hear it. This couldn’t be fucking happening.
“Yes.” He cocked his head to the side.
The floor tilted. I slid off the bed and vomited before I could even breathe. Cold tile bit my knees. My arms locked around my shins, and everything narrowed to air, then no air at all. Every memory from five years ago flooded into my head.
“Auriella… you’re okay. You’re safe with me. What happened five years ago, because I am missing something. The amount of fear that overwhelmed me tells me something happened.”
I didn’t realize he had moved to the floor beside me. I felt his arms wrap tightly around my body as he lifted me into his embrace. I kept sobbing, trying to breathe, overwhelmed by a whirlwind of emotion. My racing mind refused to quiet. He carried me into another room. Through blurred vision and tears, I saw we were now in a private bathing chamber, with water running. He brought us into the shower, still holding me securely.
“Breathe, love, breathe,” he whispered in my ear.
He moved to sit down with me in his lap. He pushed my hair out of my face and lifted my chin to look at him. All I felt was sorrow. I was afraid to know what his uncles’ names were.
“It’s okay, love. I got you.”
“I don’t even… know… where or how…to tell this…” I managed to get out in between sobs. I was starting to get control of my crying. I couldn’t let this control me. It controlled the following two years of my life. Alex, knowing this, made him look at me and treat me differently. I looked up at him.Lili and I were raped!I screamed inside my head. His eyes widened, his eyebrows shot up, and he moved back from me. Wait, did I say that aloud? He stared at me.
“Did you just talk into my head?”
“I… um… I… don’t know? Maybe you read my mind, can you do that?”
“Not that I am aware of, one of my aunts told me that there were some unique bond abilities that happen for mates, I guess that would be it.”
He pulled me in closer, kissed the top of my head, “I am so sorry that happened to you.”
“Drusearons terrified me before coming to basic, because…” Tears started to flow down my face again, and he wiped my cheeks. “It happened five years ago. Lili and I were walking around when he stopped to ask us where this one store was...”
My chest felt tight, it was like I was right back to that day. Where we stood walking through town. Fuck. I don’t know how I can tell him this. I definitely never told Alex all of the details. Then again when he found out and came to the sanatorium, he looked at me like I was broken—as if I was a different person.
“Before we knew it, he wrapped his wings around both of us and shot into the air. We landed shortly after into a field. He tied us up… he—” I gasped in a large breath. Do I really have to say it out loud? It’s been five years, and it still consumed me.
“—He raped us. One at a time—making us watch. While he was raping her, I managed to get free, and I jumped onto him and tried to choke him, but I was weak and disoriented. He headbutted me and… I woke up and Lili was still tied to the chair, and I was on the ground. Blood everywhere. I untied us and we walked in the frigid air. I was convinced he had left us, hoping we would die out there. Kim, my dad’s dragon, and I had a unique connection. She sensed I was in distress and told my dad, and they found us. We both spent days in the sanatorium, recovering. The guy told us a name when he first approached us, David. It didn’t take my dad long to figure out it was indeed his name. He met with a couple of leaders, informing them that he needed to be turned in for punishment. After a couple of days, they responded and denied the request.”
I took in a deep breath. Tears flooded my cheeks, leaving a salt taste on my lips. I tapped my fingers on my thumbs, my knee bounced as fast as it could. It felt as though an elephant sat on my chest. My head felt dizzy with a wave of nausea. I could finish. I said the hardest part. He sat in silence, not interrupting me.
“Several weeks later, intelligence suggested he was hiding out in that building. It didn’t mention that a meeting was scheduled in the late hours. I rode on Kim with my dad to a village. Several other dragons and phoenixes rode out, including Lili’s dad. Kim landed near the building, as well as Lili’s dad. We moved in, and to our surprise, they were having a meeting of sorts. They were protecting him. My dad and her dad knocked them out. When we arrived, David was cowering under a table. My dad pulled him out, and I drove a dagger into his heart. I watched his life end, and afterwards, I pulled my dagger free. We got back on the dragons and incinerated the building...”
“I am truly sorry that you ever had to experience that.”
He communicated directly into my mind, similar to how the dragons did that day. Holy shit. I looked up at him, and his eyes were brimming with tears.
“I am sorry that you lost uncles that day.”
He kissed the top of my head, closed his eyes, and took a breath.
“David was one of my uncles, and don’t be sorry, he clearly deserved to die. I didn’t know any of that. We were told it was an unprovoked Rider attack.”
