Page 118 of Vardaesia
She made a gagging noise, covering her mouth quickly to block the sound of vomit rising in her throat as she struggled to swallow it back down. Hunter’s grip on her arm had moved from bruising and was now just short of snapping bone. AndNiida—Niida was looking at her son like she’d never seen him before, her eyes tormented beyond description.
“I wonder how long it will take,” Aven mused as Kaiden’s screams continued, as his body buckled and his arms strained against the Moxyreel. “How long until your organs start melting inside of you.”
Alex’s parents watched on with horror-struck features, but despite their lack of bindings, Marcus remained directly in front of them, keeping them from intervening.
“I wonder how long it will take,” Aven went on, “before Alexandra can handle no more.”
He didn’t have to wonder for long. Because she was already past her limit.
Prying Hunter’s fingers from their pincer grip, she pointed at one of the weapons he’d withdrawn earlier. She ignored the shake of his head and pointed again, firmly enough that, while hesitant, he responded with a terse nod of agreement. And then, with one quick, meaningful look at Niida, Alex was gone, using theValispathso as to not give away their hiding position and the fact that she wasn’t alone.
“Enough, Aven,” Alex said in the strongest voice she could manage as she came to a stop behind him in the centre of the library. “I’m here now. Let him go.”
Alex’s parents looked at her with unconcealed shock— perhaps due to her physical appearance, dressed as she was in her Tia Auran armour with Niida’s bloodied claw marks on her face, or perhaps because, to their human eyes, she had just materialised out of thin air. Either way, Jack and Rachel both lurched forward as if to rush to her side. But Marcus remained blocking their path, holding up a hand in warning to them as he watched her carefully, a strangely calculating light in his eyes.
All of that Alex took in within the space of a microsecond, her focus then following Aven as he pulled his hand fromKaiden’s cheek and turned to face her, anticipation clear in his burning golden gaze.
For a split moment, Alex’s attention darted to Kaiden as he slumped against his bonds with a groan. His face was so white and his lips nearly blue as his eyes came to a half-close. He was barely hanging on to consciousness… He was barely hanging on tolife. But Alex wouldn’t think about that—shecouldn’tthink about that.
“Aeylia,” Aven said, his voice as smooth as syrup as he drew the word out, moving towards her with lethal grace. “We meet again.”
Alex didn’t respond—not to the name he’d called her, not to his statement, not to the murder in his eyes.
“I’ve thought long and hard about this moment,” he went on, coming to a stop barely a foot from where she stood. “These last weeks since I learned the truth about you, my mind has been consumed with longing, consumed with desire to see the look on your face as I take the lives of everyone you love. As I draw out their suffering, just as you have drawn out mine for thousands of years.”
It took everything within her not to move; not to retreat from him or summon A’enara, but instead remain still, her hands fisted by her sides. This wasn’t the moment. There was too much at stake—too many people she cared about who could get caught in the crossfire. Too many ClaimedZeltoraand gifted humans ready to jump in and cause irreversible damage at a single command.
“It’s almost too perfect that you’re here,” Aven continued. “Almost too perfect that you’re right where I want you. The question is, who shall be first?”
His eyes flicked towards the bookshelf wall of her friends and family lined up, execution style.
“Will it be your parents, who you’ve been so careful to keep hidden from my notice?” Aven said. “Or perhaps Jordan, who you thought you could steal from me?”
Marcus flinched at the mention of his son, the motion so swift in the corner of Alex’s eye that she wondered if she’d imagined it.
“Or maybe Kaiden should be first,” Aven mused, “since Signa learned earlier from your friends how much your beloved boyfriend means to you. My bond with Delucia has only confirmed as much.”
Of all the inappropriate reactions, Alex could have sworn she saw brief smiles flit across her parents’ faces before their features turned grave again. While this wasn’t how she would have preferred them to hear about her new relationship status, she put aside the thought and focused on how grateful she was that Signa hadn’t returned to the library with Aven and Skraegon and all the extraZeltora. Having one mind reader in the room was bad enough, let alone two. As it was, she had no idea why Marcus hadn’t given away that Niida was hiding in the corner—andwhy. The queen’s mind wasn’t protected, something Alex had forgotten to factor into her plan. And yet, Marcus remained silent.
“And then there’s the princess who you so willingly chose to risk your life to protect when all this began,” Aven continued, interrupting her thoughts. “Perhaps there’s poetic beauty in starting with her, just as it should have happened all those months ago.”
Answering a mental summons, D.C. shook off the stupor she’d been in ever since Aven had last left the library and walked stiffly to his side.
Alex watched, her blood pumping wildly, as he handed the dagger over and D.C. once again gripped it tightly between her fingers.
Fearing who Aven might command D.C. to target next, Alex said, “You don’t need to do this, Aven. It’s me you want, no one else.”
“You’re right about that,” Aven said. “But before I kill you,I will see you destroyed, and this is the surest way to make that happen.” With a dark smile on his lips, he turned to D.C. and said, “You were once willing to sacrifice yourself for your worthless race, Delucia. The time has come for you to follow through on that.”
And without blinking, D.C. raised the dagger to her neck, pressing the blade against her vulnerable flesh.
In an instant, the vision Alex had seen flashed across her mind, where Aven ordered the Claimed D.C. to kill herself. The circumstances might now be different, but the facts remained the same. And as Alex watched in slow motion as a small bead of blood grew into a deeper cut, a scream arose from deep within her.
“STOP!” she shrieked at Aven. “Stop her, or your mother will share her fate!”
D.C.’s hand stilled, the dagger pressed deep into her neck but not deep enough—not yet.
“What reason can you possibly have for such an absurd declaration?” Aven asked, clearly amused. It was obvious that he was just humouring her, but Alex didn’t care as long as the blade didn’t continue deeper into D.C.’s skin.
