Page 88 of Realm of Wind and Vines
“I’m coming too,” Draven announces.
Turning towards him, I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “That’s not part of the plan.”
“It is now.”
“We’ve already agreed. You will stand out too much, so you will stay here.”
His eyes gleam, and he steps closer. “How interesting. That almost sounded like an order.”
I raise my chin. “That’s because it was.”
“I see.” He slides two fingers along my jaw. “Would you like me to remind you what usually happens when you try that?”
A pleasant shiver rolls down my spine. For a few precious seconds, I can seehim. I can see Draven in his eyes. The way he used to look at me. The way he used to touch me. The way he used to tease me and flirt with me and banter with me.
Then the hatred snaps back into his eyes, and he yanks his hand back down from my face as if he had been burned. Taking a step back, he gives me a vicious look.
“I’m going into the city as well,” he declares. “Wanna know why?”
My head is still spinning from the sudden switch in personality, so I don’t manage to respond. Draven answers anyway.
“Because you always ruin everything,” he says. “And I don’t trust you not to screw this up.”
Pain spears straight through my chest. It couldn’t have been a better precision strike if he tried. I truly do always ruin everything. My parents. Him. Us. Everything I touch.
And I will never get it back. I will never get any of it back. So now, all I want is revenge.
That all-consuming rage inside me burns like black wildfire as I turn away from Draven and start towards the city. Alistair quickly jogs to catch up. Unfortunately, Draven does follow as well.
I get a suddenly overwhelming urge to use my magic to create an emotion. Just so that I can feel that wonderful pleasure that comes with it. But I manage to suppress the urge as we sneak in through North Gate and make our way across the city.
We intercept Lavendera and her guards a little sooner than we had planned for, so we stick to the shadows and trail them while we wait for them to reach the location we have preselected for our ambush. I can feel Draven glaring at me from where he looms behind me, but I don’t even care anymore. I just want someone else to feel the pain that I constantly have to live with. And soon, I will.
Lavendera has stopped at the edge of a small square. People are hurrying across the open space, desperate to finish whatever task they’re in the middle of. Others are seated at the worn tables that have been placed out in the sunlight. Empty cups litter the tabletops as they try to drink their hunger and sorrows away. All of them cast fearful glances at the dragon shifters in silver armor,but no one seems to realize that they’re there for Lavendera since she is standing a short distance away.
“Stop,” she suddenly snarls.
The people around her jump in surprise. Then they notice who said it, and the fear is quickly replaced by ridicule. They all still believe that she is just a weird person who lives out in the thorn forest. They have no idea who she really is. What she really is. A traitor.
“Enough!” She blinks hard and shakes her head. “It’s so fucking crowded!”
Next to me, Alistair stares at her with his eyebrows raised.
“Huh,” he whispers. “So it wasn’t just a cover to fool us. She really is crazy.”
Since I came to the same conclusion earlier as well, I just nod and reply, “Yes.”
Waves of burning rage crash inside me as I watch her and the soldiers from the Silver Clan stand there out in the sunlight. The people who chained Draven’s wings together. The people who murdered my parents.
Regret hits me like a gut punch.
I should have prioritized them. I should have gone to see them while I could. And now, it’s too late.
Those black waves crash over me again, threatening to suffocate me.
Panicked, I pour more fuel on the burning hatred and rage inside me until it’s so intense that it overshadows the sickening regret again.
Alistair cocks his head as he studies Lavendera from across the street. “I wonder what the Icehearts put her through to make her like this.”
