Page 80 of Haunted

“Whose dragon? Why’s this news enough to bring on such distress?”

I risk a look at her. “It’s one of her scouts.” When Niawen blinks, her pale lashes touch her cheek.

“The empress’s?”

My word comes out in a quiet moan. “Yes.”

“So, what of it?”

“Her spies are increasing. She’s harassing me, permitting her scouts to be seen. She wants me to know that when the time is right, she’ll finish me off.”

“That won’t happen,” Niawen says. “She doesn’t care for this realm. You told me she has a massive country that’s four times the size of this one. Why would she concern herself with yours on the other side of the desert?”

“She’ll annihilate my people. I’ve labored to make a life for those who followed me here. She’d attack to seek revenge on those loyal to me.”

“No, no.” Niawen strokes my cheek, cooing.

She passes comfort to me through our light. The sensation is divine. A touch of heaven I haven’t experienced, ever.

“She wouldn’t dare. She wouldn’t,” Niawen says.

I lock my eyes on her. She must see it. She must see my darkness. The empress is no person to trifle with. Niawen must know of my fear.

I open it up for her to sense.

Niawen gasps.

There. She’s seen it. An ache spreads through me. She is too naïve to know what it means.

“She would,” I say.

Niawen pushes my haphazard locks out of my eyes. I should get a haircut. This is the most I’ve ever let her touch me.

“She’ll have to come through me first,” she says. “You forget. I’m a warrior. I’m not a scholar like you. I don’t fight with cunning; I fight with fire.”

“Brave words. You haven’t seen the darkness in action. You haven’t seen her army of dark dragons.”

My words sink her to her knees. “I’ll call Seren back right now. I’ll cross the desert and stop her.”

I grab her wrists, wishing I could pull her into my arms. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what she can do. You’d be dead before you even crossed her borders.”

“You’re afraid of her.”

“I fear her. I told you I have nightmares.”

My words stir something in her. This is what I was waiting for, for her to know the truth and the danger. Her worry is apparent in her expression, and like a slap to my face, she casts a mental wall up, blocking my perception.

I curse inwardly but groan audibly. I didn’t want that dramatic of a response from her. I didn’t want her to shield herself to protect me. “I know what you’re doing. You’re frightened. You just cast a wall around your emotions… I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

“Like what?”

I bristle away from her touch, turning my face. “Dark. Black. Vile.”

“You’re not dark. What are you talking about?”

Know the real truth. “I’ve been hiding my darkness. I didn’t tell you. A half-emrys is half-darkness.”

“I don’t understand.” Her forehead creases.

---