Page 77 of Swift Wings Shadowed Heart
His demeanor changes by degrees. His tired features form a strange expression I can’t decipher. “Did you?” he asks. “Did you kill him?”
I consider lying. Telling him the truth would be a confession, which he could use against me. He blames Cindergrasp for what happened, but he also blames me. This would be his chance to get revenge on at least one culprit, wouldn’t it?
—I did not know,Zephyros says,that this was a fool’s errand. Do not tell him, Rhealyn.
I know I shouldn’t. I know I should heed Zephyros’s advice, but Ineedhim to know. I need him to see that it wasn’t only his life that got ruined, that he wasn’t the only one who lost everything, even her father. I want him to know that I learned to hate just as much as he does, that we’re more similar than he imagines.
“Ididkill him, father” I say, my voice a cold monotone. “I put a dagger in his back while I held him in front of a mirror, looked him in the eyes, and told him why he had to die. I twisted the dagger and let him bleed out until life vanished from his eyes.”
My words seem to echo around the kitchen over and over again. My mother, once more standing by the sink, covers her face with both hands and shakes her head, sobbing, all while my father sits like a statue, saying nothing and wearing the same unreadable expression.
I swallow thickly, fighting the knot of emotions twisting in my throat. “Well then, will you lie for me?”
It takes him a long agonizing minute to reply, and when I finally hear his answer, a bolt of true shock goes through me.
“Yes, Rhealyn.” To my ever-growing shock, he reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “I will lie for you.” A sad smile stretches his thin, chapped lips. “I’m… so proud of you. You avenged us, and now that monster is where he deserves to be… suffering in the Seven Hells.”
I stare at his fingers as they cover mine, an incongruous image I seem unable to process. I don’t remember the last time he touched me.
I’m proud of you.
The words I’ve been wanting to hear from him all along… he finally said them, and it wasn’t because I graduated from the Academy with top marks, or because I earned a dragon and have joined an elite group few ever do, but because… because…
I am a murderess.
34
Rhea
As we fly back toward Sky’s Edge, I stand numbly atop Zephyros’s head. He sends soothing waves through our connection. They ease my distress somewhat, though not entirely.
—I am sorry I did not see that,he says.You kept it well hidden, amongst other things I cannot reach.
He prods gently at that dark corner of my mind. I shake myself and push him away. I feel prickly, defensive. He can’t go there.Ican’t go there.
—Stay out!I order.
Without asking or prodding further, he hums and soothes me. I relax, shoulders slumping.
—I’m tired, I say.
—I know. You will sleep soon. We are almost there.
Lost in my own thoughts and emotions as I am, the trip back feels short. When we alight next to the lagoon, I slide down Zephyros’s leg and land in a crouch. Gaze lost in the horizon, I undress, put my leathers back in the satchel, and jump in. I swim back, protected by Zephyros’s air bubble, satchel trailing behind me as I clutch its strap in one hand. I’m still unnerved by the utter darkness as I make my way through the tunnel, but at least, I’m short of terrified. That trust Zephyros keeps demanding isn’t so hard to muster now that he’s offered me so much proof of his various powers.
When I see light ahead, I kick faster, looking forward to setting my head on my pillow, resting my weary body, and forgetting about tonight.
As soon as I exit the tunnel, I push off the pool’s bottom and break the surface.
“What the fuck?!” someone exclaims.
Shit.Water sluices down my face. I paw at my eyes, pushing the plastered hair strands away.
Vaylen stares at me in shock. He’s in the pool, chest bare, wet hair limp atop his forehead.
Dear Heratrix! What now?!
“I… I…” I don’t know what to say. How long has he been here? Does he know about the tunnel?
