Page 111 of Draekora

“Aeylia,” Niyx whispered again, his horrified tone piercing through the haze of her mind this time. “Please tell me Aven didn’t see your face.”

Before she could lose her thin grasp on her panic and break her promise by ordering him to forget about her face, he pulled his hand away, holding his thumb up so she could see the reason for his stricken expression.

Blood.

Deep red blood.

She slapped her hand to her cheek, feeling the thin welt just beneath her eye and the trickle of blood on her skin.

“No,” she gasped, remembering the agonised look on Aven’s face, the fiery torment in his gaze. That hadn’t been his reaction to her rejection—it was his reaction to seeing her blood. It was his reaction to realising that he’d been lied to by a mortal, betrayed by a mortal… That he’dfallenfor a mortal.

If there was anything that could send Aven over the edge of reason and turn him into a cold-blooded murderer, Alex knew that could do it.

Another memory came to her then, one that had eluded her when she’d tried to recall it weeks ago upon realising it was a valid warning from the Niyx of the future:‘With the lashing of the branch, the time will be at hand. All will change…Or rather, nothing will.’

Eyes welling with terror, Alex didn’t wait a moment longer. She took a running leap off the cliff and ignored Niyx’s startled yell as she summoned theValispatharound her, heading straight for the palace.

Thirty-Four

It was the screaming Alex heard first,her Meyarin ears picking up the sound long before her eyes caught sight of the reason for it. Her mind blanked at the frenzied cries, causing her to relinquish control on theValispath, which dumped her unceremoniously a few streets away from the palace.

Feeling as if she was moving through a fuzzy haze, Alex hurried her way through the masses of Meyarins until a space opened up at the base of the palace where a group of armedZeltorawere trying to calm those who couldn’t get away fast enough. It seemed surreal to think that just minutes before they had all been laughing and dancing. And now they were screaming.

Unlike the stricken Meyarins trying to escape, Alex pushed her way forwards, her eyes trained on the grizzly sight in front of her.

They were all there. All six of them. Bensie Hayes and her fellow humans. Alex couldn’t remember the names of the others, but she recognised their faces. Aven had found them and invited them to the festival—as a present for Alex.

A present he and hisGarsethhad slaughtered in an act of blind rage.

Walking on deadened legs, Alex moved close enough to squat down and pick up Bensie’s beret, ignoring the splatter of blood on it as she pressed the cap tight to her chest, heedless of the stain it was leaving on her dress.

She heard a whimpering sound and looked around only to realise the noise was coming from her. She pressed her quivering lips together, but the sound continued inside her head, like a high-pitched ringing in her ears.

“Aeylia, what—what happened here?” Niyx whispered, having apparently followed her from the cliffs.

She turned to see his whitened face, his gaping, horror-struck expression as he took in the mindless, violent carnage in front of them.

It was then that she knew.

He’d had nothing to do with it.

She stared as the realisation washed over her. Niyx may have been Aven’s best friend, he may have supported Aven, gone to theGarsethmeetings, been a constant by Aven’s side… But he’d had nothing to do with the deaths of the humans. He didn’t even believe in the anti-mortal cause, if his earlier words were true.

Niyx was… He wasinnocent.

And yet, in her future, he’d been imprisoned for thousands of years.

“I’m sorry, Niyx,” Alex said to him in a whisper. “But I have to break my promise.”

He was too stunned by the gruesome scene before them to take notice of her words, to even turn away from the sight of crimson spilling into themyraes-lit city street.

All around them the masked Meyarins were still screaming and running, crying and shouting, but Alex ignored them all to focus on what needed to be done.

Given his closeness to Aven, Niyx would eventually end up imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, but she would do everything in her power to give him a head start before theZeltorabegan to track down Aven’s known accomplices. It was the least she could do after everything he’d done to help her. He was not her enemy—not now, not in the future. She knew that now.

“I’m sorry, Niyx,” she whispered again.Sorry for so, so much.

“Whathappenedhere?” he asked again, finally dragging his eyes to hers.

---