Page 122 of Swift Wings Shadowed Heart
I meet his gaze and lie. “I’m not hiding anything.”
A muscle flexes in his jaw. He doesn’t believe me. I know him well enough to tell that much. He mulls over something then says, “I always thought myself a good judge of character.”
I wait for more, but that’s all he says, leaving his implied meaning hanging in the air. He doesn’t think I’m a good person anymore. His blue gaze trails upward, following the length of the peak behind me. I stare at his strong features in the moonlight, my chest growing tight. He’s so beautiful, his jaw firm, his cheekbones high and stately… same as his values. The moment he learns who I truly am, he’ll hate me.
He already knows, Rhea,a cynical voice whispers inside my head.He must already hate you. Why not make it easier for him and tell himeverything?
Tell him!a desperate part of me pleads.He deserves to know.But another part, the one that’s kept me alive this long, screams,He’ll hate you. He’ll turn you in. Don’t do it.The truth would explain everything: why I killed Cindergrasp, why Zephyros reacted so violently, why I’m always so guarded. It would also shatter the image he has of me, the image I’ve tried so hard to maintain. He’d see me not as the strong rider he trusts, but as a killer, a liar.
“Did you kill him?” he asks, no preamble.
A few beats of silence.
“I did,” I finally answer, my mind made up.
He staggers back as if I’ve punched him. He suspected I’d done it, but he didn’t reallyknow. He still harbored hope for my character, for that goodness he looks for in people, which I guess I lost a long time ago.
“Why, Rhealyn?” he asks. “Why would you do that?”
“I had my reasons.” Reasons that will only prove I’m a bigger liar, that will make me fall even farther from his regard. Everything went wrong with Cindergrasp because I’m a Weaver. My mother would still be alive if I weren’t a Dual.
“What reasons?” he demands.
The weight of his question, the disbelief in his eyes, finally break something within me. The dam of lies and pretenses crumbles, leaving me exposed and raw. “It’s more than just killing Cindergrasp,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “I... I can hear your thoughts.”
Vaylen recoils. “What?”
I close my eyes, the moonlight filtering through the ruins illuminating the lines of his face, the shock and… is that fear in his eyes?
“I’m a Weaver, Vaylen,” I confess, my voice barely a breath.
“No.” He shakes his head repeatedly. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
His mind races. I can practically see the thoughts rushing behind his beautiful blue eyes, then it clicks. “You can talk to Zephyros.” He nods, this new information causing too many things to make sense. “That’s why he was upset earlier. You figured out I suspected about Cindergrasp, and he just knew.”
I smile sadly. “He wanted to fly away with me… to the isles.”
He grabs his head, squeezing. Maybe he hopes to push out the truth, to forget any of this is happening.
“I’m sorry I’m not who you hoped I would be,” I say.
Vaylen says nothing. He just stands frozen in shock. I remove my blocks, peer into his mind.
—It can’t be. It’s not true.His thoughts are steeped in denial and fierce incredulity.
“Itistrue,” I say.
His gaze snaps back to mine. Something like disgust shapes his features. He’s probably wondering how often I’ve rooted through his thoughts. How many times I’ve violated his trust. I don’t tell him I’ve respected the sanctity of his mind from the start. He probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. I have lied too much already.
“So… you killed Cindergrasp because… he knew?” he asks, still trying to wrap his head around all the moving parts that make up my elaborate lies.
“Not exactly.”
He waits for more. When I don’t say anything else, he takes a step forward, his stance threatening. “I deserve to know, Rhealyn.”
“I know. That’s why I told you.”
