Page 25 of Chains of Nightshade

"Was any of it real?" My voice cracks. "Or was I just your key to freedom?"

"You should rest," he says, still not meeting my eyes. "We move at first light."

I turn away from him, facing the fire as tears burn behind my eyes. The warmth of the flames does nothing to thaw the cold realization in my heart. I was a fool to think someone like him could see me as anything more than a tool.

I trace my fingers over the bandage on my side, remembering how his hands had felt against my skin. During our escape, he'd held me like I was something precious, something worth protecting. His arms had been strong yet gentle, cradling me against his chest as we fled through the darkness.

"Does it still hurt?" He doesn't turn to look at me.

"Not as much." I wrap my arms around myself, missing his warmth. "You were gentle when you bandaged it."

He shifts, his scales scraping against the cave floor. "It needed to be done."

"Like freeing you needed to be done?" The words slip out before I can stop them.

His shoulders tense. "Vera?—"

"In the forest, when that arrow hit me, you could have left me behind." I lean forward, trying to catch his eye. "Why didn't you?"

"It was tactical." His jaw clenches. "The dark elves would have tortured information from you."

"Is that all?"

He finally turns to look at me, and for a moment, I see something flicker in his eyes – the same warmth I'd felt when he carried me. But then it's gone, replaced by that cold wall again.

"Get some sleep," he says, turning back to watch the cave entrance. "We have a long journey ahead."

I curl up closer to the fire, but its warmth can't compete with the memory of being held in his arms, of feeling safe and protected. Now, with this distance between us, I feel colder than ever.

The silence wraps around us like a suffocating blanket. I watch the flames dance, their light casting strange shadows across the cave walls. My fingers trace idle patterns in the dirt beside me, anything to keep from staring at his broad back, his serpentine form coiled tight with tension.

The memory of his arms around me burns brighter than the fire. During our escape, he'd held me like I was precious, something worth protecting. His touch had been so gentle as he tended my wound, those deadly hands moving with surprising tenderness across my skin. The contrast between then and now makes my chest ache.

I shift, and pain lances through my side. A small gasp escapes before I can stop it. Aurel's head turns slightly, just enough that I catch the glint of his eye in the firelight, but he says nothing. The wall between us feels higher than ever.

My hand drifts to the bandage at my side. His fingers had lingered there, just for a moment, after securing it. I'd felt something then - a connection, a spark of the intimacy we'd shared in our dreams. But now he won't even look at me.

The fire crackles, sending sparks into the air. They fade to nothing before they reach the cave ceiling, like all my attempts to reach him now.

Days blend together as we travel through dense forests, each one marked by Aurel's growing distance. His massive formslithers ahead of me, never looking back unless it's to check if I'm keeping up. The silence between us stretches like a physical thing, heavy and suffocating.

"We should rest here," he says, gesturing to a clearing. His eyes slide past me like I'm nothing more than a shadow.

I sink to the ground, my legs trembling from exhaustion. The wound in my side has mostly healed, but a different kind of pain has taken root in my chest. Every time he turns away, every moment he refuses to meet my gaze, it grows deeper.

"Do you need water?" His voice is flat, emotionless.

"No." My own voice cracks. "I need you to look at me."

He stiffens, his serpentine tail coiling tighter. "We should focus on?—"

"You won't even look at me anymore." Tears blur my vision. "Was I just your ticket to freedom? Everything in the dreams, all those moments... were they just lies?"

His shoulders tense, but he doesn't turn around. The silence stretches between us, confirming what I've feared all along.

A bitter laugh escapes my throat. "I actually believed you cared. That I meant something." My fingers dig into the dirt beneath me. "I'm such a fool."

Still nothing. Just his back, rigid and unyielding as stone.

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