Page 109 of Draekora
Not that truth, Aeylia, Niyx said.The truth of how you feel about him.
But I don’t like him like that, Niyx, Alex said.You know I don’t.
It’s not me you have to tell, Aeylia. Just be gentle—he’s in a vulnerable place right now.
Yeah, no kidding, Alex thought, but she didn’t project that to Niyx. Instead she focused back on Aven who was still waiting for her response, presuming, most likely, that she was taking his advice to ‘think about it’.
Hands shaking, Alex reached out and placed her fingers over his heart. His face brightened at her familiar action, thinking she was agreeing with him, so she quickly forced herself to quietly say, “Aven, I’m so sorry, but I just don’t feel that way about you.”
Immediately his brightness seeped away, and as if the sun itself was attuned to his emotions, the light faded from the forest as twilight descended. Alex would have considered it poetic if she hadn’t felt so awful.
“You’re a wonderful friend,” she said, not believing she was pulling the ‘let’s be friends’ card, but since her Meyarin dating practices weren’t exactly up to speed, she had nothing else to work with. “I would hate to jeopardise that when I know I can’t return what you feel.”
In a flash, his hands moved off her shoulders and he stepped back, breaking free of her touch. He ran a hand through his honey-coloured hair, unable to meet her eyes.
“At the risk of sounding egotistical, I wasn’t expecting that,” he said, his voice rough.
Alex stepped towards him. “Aven—”
“No,” he said, holding up a hand. “Just—Just no.”
And with that, he spun and strode purposefully back through the dense trees, as if his sole mission in life was to get away from her.
Go after him, Alex told herself.Go after him or you won’t get a chance to say goodbye.
If she let Aven out of her sight, if he had a chance to retreat into his rejection and lick his wounds, she knew she wouldn’t see him again that night. He’d soon take off on theValispathand disappear. And tomorrow, she would be gone. She couldn’t stand the idea of their last meeting in the past ending with him storming away from her in humiliating defeat.
“Aven, wait!” she cried, picking up her skirt and running after him, ignoring the branches snagging on her gown as the thick forest resisted her hurried movements.
“Aven, please,” she said, stepping up behind him just as he shouldered his way past a thin overhanging branch.
Because all nature hated Alex, she wasn’t surprised when the branch didn’t snap, but instead it flung back to slap her in the face, causing her to cry out in pain, “Ouch!”
Her startled yelp halted Aven’s retreat and he spun around, his face showing that he hadn’t realised she was so close.
“Stars, Aeylia,” he said, his expression instantly apologetic. “I didn’t know—”
“It’s not your fault,” she was quick to tell him, rapidly blinking her eyes as they teared up from the sting. “I know you didn’t do it deliberately.”
“Still,” he said, bending slightly to get a better look at her face in the shadows of the fading light.
“It’s okay—it doesn’t even hurt anymore,” she lied, taking in his now agonised features and wondering how much of that look was because he thought he’d hurt her, and how much of it was because of howshe’dhurt him. “Truly, I can’t feel it at all.”
Aven’s body was so still. All Alex wanted to do was comfort him; apologise for not returning his feelings; let him know how much she’d enjoyed their time together. But before she could say anything, his eyes caught hers, and she swiftly inhaled at the tormented fire in them.
Then, without another word, he bolted.
One moment he was there, the next he was gone.
Alex blew out a frustrated, sad breath and carefully picked her way back through the remaining forest, realising that the only thingworsethan her last sight of him being his humiliated defeat, was hispanickedhumiliated defeat.
Miserable with her thoughts, once Alex reached the open crossroads she called up theValispath, but she wasn’t ready to return to the palace just yet, so she guided it to take her to her familiar spot on the edge of the Golden Cliffs.
Standing there overlooking the celebrations in full swing, Alex took a moment to steady herself and then called out to Niyx,You might want to check in on Aven. I’m not sure if my ‘gentle’ was gentle enough.
A mental sigh came as his response.What happened?
Alex showed him, hating that she had to watch it all again, andespeciallyhating the look on his face at the end. Something about it just ripped her to shreds.
