Page 1 of Silver Claws, Crimson Tears
1
Vaylen
Pain is a confession from Rhealyn’s lips.
She’s not the person she claimed to be. She lied to me.
My world tilts on its axis.
Oh, Heratrix!I fell for a creature that shouldn’t exist.
A Weaver.
Rhealyn is on her knees, her face tear-streaked, her features disfigured in pain. She’s stricken by the revelation that she killed her pregnant mother. But how could shenothave known?
Because she was only a child, a child who was torn asunder by a man who should never have been allowed to get near her and touch her.
Much less perform herCleansing.
She must have blocked the horrible events from her mind. She’s not to blame. And yet… she is. At least for some of it. She knew what she was and despite everything, she enlisted in the Aerie Academy and fought to become a Skyrider, despite knowing it is forbidden.
Then she killed Cindergrasp, told me she was innocent, and I… I believed her because I was blind with lust and with…
I open my mouth unsure of the words that will come out, unsure of what to say to her.
Suddenly, the mountain heaves, and the ground trembles. An earthquake? Not in this region. I fall to my knees. Fissures spread over the ground like spindly fingers, rushing in our direction. The other Skyriders shout in a panic, stumbling like drunkards fighting for balance. Then there’s a roar as the mountain splits in two, a giant egg cracking open.
Wyrm’s rot! What’s happening?
Rocks tumble from the top of the peak as we stare in awe and utter confusion at the chaos.
Then it stops.
The eerie silence feels like the world holding its breath. Dust hangs suspended in air that’s now perfectly still. My ears ring with emptiness where moments ago there was only destruction.
Rhealyn rises slowly, her movements unsteady. Blood trickles from a cut above her eye, leaving a red trail down her cheek.
Crimson tears.
Even now, with everything crumbling—both the mountain and whatever lay between us—I fight the urge to wipe it away.
My training takes over. I scan the surroundings, assessing the damage. Half our tents collapsed under falling rock. Equipment lies scattered like forgotten toys. Two of my Skyriders appear to have minor injuries, though they still seem mobile. Everyone huddles close to the ground, eyes wide.
“What the fuck is that?” Silas Pyrewing says under his breath.
Following his line of sight, I glance up to find the most unlikely creature spilling fromthe mountain.
A man.
As if birthed from the bowels of the earth, he surveys us, obscured by a cloud of dust left in the wake of the earthquake.
A giant fissure gapes behind him, light emanating from its depth, casting Rhealyn in an eerie glow that makes the hollows of her cheeks appear sunken and her wavering eyes too large. The light pulsates and grows in intensity, blinding. I raise a hand to block the glare. Power rolls off the man like from storm clouds before lightning strikes. My skin prickles with a warning.
The stranger’s gaze locks onto Rhealyn like a predator finding prey. I step forward instinctively, even though something in my blood warns against it. He lifts a hand toward her, fingers splayed. The light from the fissure intensifies, washing the mountainside in an unnatural brilliance that burns my eyes, but I refuse to look away.
“She’s mine,” he proclaims, his voice echoing across the ravaged landscape, resonating inside my chest like thunder. “A new era dawns.”
My fingers instinctively gather wind. Whatever claim this mountain-born creature thinks he has on Rhealyn, he’ll face my power before I let him have her.
