Page 118 of Draekora

Hands shaking so hard she struggled to summon A’enara again, Alex had to swallow one of the flowers in great chewing hunks before she was able to still her fingers enough to slice another one open and guzzle the liquid inside. It took three entire buds before Alex was able to stumble up to her pins-and-needles feet, shaking her head against her double vision and wondering in some kind of shock-induced haze how she’d managed to keep her dainty Meyarin heels on her feet in spite of everything she’d been through in the past few hours.

Moving step by step into an increasingly powerful run that sent blood circulating around her near frozen limbs, Alex made her way through the snowy streets of the city, sprinting past shocked-looking Meyarins as they took in her state of disarray. She knew she must look a fright, dripping wet in a stunning dress with a gaping tear in the middle that was stained by mortal blood. And then there was the golden shine of hervaelianaskin. Given all that, she wasn’t much surprised when they cried out in alarm and gave her a wide berth.

Panting from the exertion of running with only the help of thelaendrafuelling her, Alex powered onwards, ignoring the pain, ignoring the cold, ignoring the growing deterioration of her energy levels. Stride after stride she flew through the city until she reached a building she had visited only once before in the dead of the night. Bursting into the dark foyer entrance, Alex skidded to a halt, searching for signs of anyone who might stop her. But there was no one. No guards, nothing; just like when she’d last been there with Roka. ApparentlyTaevargwas impenetrable enough with itstraesosfoundation to not need security on hand. A fact for which Alex was grateful.

Heart thudding in her chest, she took off down the staircase and along the labyrinthine corridors until she stopped in front of the impossibly thick cell door she remembered as belonging to Niyx. Standing before it, Alex didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She had no idea what she was about to find inside, no idea which Meyarin would be behind the door—the cocky but caring Niyx she’d left in the past, or the Niyx who’d had millennia to bitterly rot in prison. He’d scared her, the Niyx of the future… but that was back when she hadn’t known him.

Shaking her head, Alex deliberately shoved away her fears. For all his flaws, Niyx was one of the strongest Meyarins she knew. And even if hewasmad from his time spent isolated inTaevarg, the fact remained that he’d been imprisoned for a crime he’d never committed. It was high time he was liberated.

Knowing she was doing the right thing, Alex stepped forward, hoping beyond hope that part of the Niyx she knew remained in him.

Squinting at the lock where Roka had inserted his engraved-Myrox key to open the cell, Alex recalled that the only thing powerful enough to destroytraesoswas pure light energy from beyond the stars. A’enara, Alex knew, could pierce even the purest of darkness, and it was also wrought by the Tia Aurans—the race beyond the stars.

With a self-satisfied smile—and the knowledge of what she’d already seen the blade do to the bonds that secured her to Xiraxus through the Void—Alex summoned her weapon, certain for once that something was about to go right for her. Plunging the flaming point of the blade into the lock, she wasn’t at all surprised when blue fire engulfed the entire door, dissolving it until only melted shards of black crystal remained bordering the edges.

Sending A’enara away, Alex hesitantly stepped through the still-smouldering ruins of the door until she came to a stop inside the cell.

There he was, standing by the far wall, looking the same but also so, so different. Gone was his healthy tan, his proud bearing, his confident, easy grin. He looked older, too. Not much, but enough to be noticeable. But it was his amethyst eyes that caused her to inhale sharply with unease, staring as he was at her with no discernable emotion. His face, his expression, everything about him was perfectly, scarily blank.

“You look different,” she managed to choke out.

The silence between them seemed to last a lifetime as he stared at her bloodstained, tattered self.

“Funny,” he finally said, trailing his gaze along her exposed skin and clearly noting the shimmer of her bond with Xiraxus that she certainly hadn’t sported the last time she’d visited his cell. “I was about to say you look exactly like I remember. Time has been good to you,Aeylia.”

Alex felt something in her relax at Niyx’s words, even more so when a hint of a smile touched his lips. When it did, she hitched out a shuddering breath and flew forward, launching herself into his arms.

He made a pained grunting sound as he caught her on the fly, saying, “Easy, kitten. I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the stomach all over again, thanks to you. It wasn’t fun the first time around; I could have done without the repeat.”

A laugh bubbled out of Alex as she pulled away from him, swiping under her watery eyes as she eased her grip and stepped back. “I’m sorry. It’s just so good to see you being so… you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who else would I be?”

She sent him a ‘seriously?’ look and said, “How about the jerk who implied I was one of Aven’sGarseththe first time I visited Meya?”

He waved a hand. “I was lonely. I figured if I had a cellmate, things would have been much more interesting around here. Especially if I could torture you with all the things I knew about you before you’d met me.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “And how about the super creep from a few weeks ago who I thought was going to crush my windpipe?”

He appeared puzzled for a moment before his expression cleared. “That was only a few days ago for me, Aeylia. And that ‘super creep’ as you call him was a product of impatiently having to wait for any news of your appearance, disappearance, or reappearance in either time stream. For thousands of years, all I’ve done is wait. When you came with Roka that night, it may have stretched the limits of my patience.” Strangely, his mouth curled up at the edges. “But you know now that I never would have hurt you—not unless I wanted to hurt me, too.”

“So it’s still in place?” Alex asked, knowing what he was referring to but needing confirmation even though he’d already mentioned his sore stomach. “The bond?”

Since I feel like I have frostbite creeping up my extremities, I’m going to say yes, Niyx said dryly into her mind.

Alex couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe any of it. Suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of emotion, she looked up at him and whispered, “Niyx, it’s all my fault.”

His response was instant. “I know.”

“Everything that happened—Aven murdering those humans—he did that because he was mad at me. He was banished because of me. He hates mortalsbecause of me. Who he is today—it’sall my fault.” She ran her fingers through her hair, tugging hard. “No one will remember, Niyx. They’ll think it was just some—just some random, faceless, nameless mortal. None of them have any idea I’m to blame for the single greatest threat to this city. To thisworld.”

“And you can’t tell them.”

Alex looked up sharply.

“What do you think will happen to you if they find out, Aeylia?” he asked, reading her look. “What do you think will happen ifAvenfinds out? What will happen if he realises the mortal he blames for him losing everything is alive, thousands of years after she was dealt a killing blow at his hands?”

“It wouldn’t be good,” Alex mumbled, looking at the ground.

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