Page 107 of Silver Claws, Crimson Tears
—Wyrm’s rot, you’re right, I say.We need to try again.I straighten in my chair.
—No.Zephyros’s response is immediate and firm.Your defenses are already up, stronger than before. You are a warrior. Fighting is what you do best, even against yourself. It will not work.
—Then what? I can’t just walk around with half the truth.
—Give it a day before we try it again. Let your defenses relax on their own. In the meantime, I have another idea.
His tone makes me pause.—What idea?
—I want you to look intomymind.
For a moment, I think I’ve misheard him. Zephyros, secretive and guarded, offering to open his ancient thoughts to me? The same dragon who refuses to speak of his riff with Fragor, who bristles when anyone mentions Silas’s brother in the wheelchair?
“You can’t be serious,” I whisper aloud, my voice echoing in the empty study.
—I am entirely serious.His tone carries a gentleness I rarely hear.If I ask you to tear down your walls, how can I keep mine standing?
I don’t move. During our time together, through training and ups and downs, through my darkest moments and rare happy moments, Zephyros has maintained boundaries. Even when I’ve pushed, demanding to know about his feud with Fragor, about the offspring he claims Fragor abandoned, he’s shut me out with growls and evasiveness.
—Why now?I ask, still incredulous.After everything, why offer this?
A beat of silence stretches between us. Outside, clouds drift across the moon, casting shadows that dance across the table.
—Because I understand now that you are the last rider I will ever have, Rhealyn Rose Wyndward.His thoughts wrap around me like silver wings.Our bond runs deeper than any I’ve known in my long life. You and I are one. And maybe you will find what was taken from my mind.
Tears spring to my eyes, unexpected and unwelcome. I blink them back furiously.
—Are you sure?My mental voice sounds small, even to myself.
—I am. No more secrets between us, not when unknown powers are taking root in your mind. Not when some ancient force threatens what we are to each other.
The weight of his words settles over me. Five thousand years of memories, offered freely. Truths he’s guarded longer than human civilization has existed.
“Zephyros,” I whisper, unable to keep emotion from cracking my voice. “I don’t know what to say.”
—Say nothing. We should be near each other when we attempt this, so come to me at dawn. Before your duties. We will face our pasts together. Now, you need some rest.
RHEA
I sinkinto my bed after leaving the study, convinced I won’t sleep at all. Yet somehow, exhaustion claims me, dragging me under into merciful darkness. A few hours later, I wake upfeeling almost human. Not rested, exactly, but functional. The barracks still breathe with the deep sleep of my fellow riders. Perfect.
Like before, I avoid the guards that patrol the courtyard, and creating Vortex Lift, I leave the fort and slip into the pre-dawn world.
As I land on the other side, morning mist curls around my ankles, drifting ghostlike across the hills. The moon hangs low, casting just enough silvery light to navigate by. Birds haven’t started their dawn chorus yet. It’s so damn peaceful out here. Hard to believe a war rages just beyond these tranquil hills, that people die while dew forms on grass blades.
I sense Zephyros. Looking up, I catch a flash of silver wings through the mist circling lower.
—You are early,he observes, banking toward a clearing just beyond the tree line.
—Couldn’t sleep.
—You did sleep. I felt it.
—Fine. Couldn’t sleep more.
He lands with grace, making almost no noise. His scales shimmer with collected moisture from the clouds.
—This spot will give us privacy from the others.
