Page 45 of A World of Ruins

‘Why?’ I whisper, and anger surges me forward when Darius doesn’t answer. ‘Is it because you’re afraid to remember who we once were?’

His jaw pops, yet he still does not reply.

Frustration swells inside my chest and I can’t contain the burst of energy that leaves me. ‘Say something, for Solaris’s sake!’

‘It’s because he won’t let me!’ He turns to me, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. I balk, and his expression softens with remorse as he adds quietly this time, ‘He won’t let me remember.’

I hate what he means by that, and I hate it even more that I can’t do anything to fix it myself.

I reach out and wrap my hands around his arm to bring us closer. His eyes widen in shock as his head whips around to lookat me. ‘He is not your family,’ I say. ‘He never was. He’s hurting you, Darius, and I know that you are stronger than this.’

Our eyes lock, and a shadow of aching torment passes over his eyes. It is as if he is too exhausted to fight for himself. Whatever Aurum did in those three months makes my stomach turn at the thought.

‘What did he do to make you like this?’ I whisper with muffled rage.

He drags his gaze from mine to the empty and cold prison hallway. He has a vacant look to him suddenly as he says, ‘Nothing. He did nothing.’

Tibith toddles over and grabs my calf. He looks up at me with a heartbreaking gaze, feeling for the one person who has stood by him for so many years.

I want to call Darius out on the lie but can’t. Part of me knows that he doesn’t believe it to be a lie. Inside his mind, he thinks he is telling the truth. ThateverythingAurum has told him is true.

I bite my lower lip; frustrated tears blur my eyesight, and then the worst thought comes to me – the very vision that the Galgr showed me, where Darius was in front of me, just how he is now, his expression pained as he begged me to kill him.

Stop, just stop, I beg my mind. My head turns to the side, my breathing becoming heavier the more I think about it.

I won’t let it happen.

I can’t.

Iwon’t.

Squeezing my eyes tightly shut for a second, I take a deep breath before putting on a front as if the kiss had never happened, as if the vision of Darius asking me to kill him never existed, and I force myself to smile. Even though it feels as if I am dragging a knife across the sides of my lips. ‘Can you still fly?’

He blinks from his stupor and swivels his focus back on me.

His brows push together into a pensive frown. He looks saddened. Disappointed even. ‘Not on command.’

Suppressing the surge of anger that wells up my throat in response to the extent of Aurum’s control over Darius, I opt for another feigned smile. ‘Then we will search for a loophole.’ I pivot away from him, whistling over at Tibith to follow before glancing briefly over my shoulder. ‘I assume you’ll know how to ride a dragon, considering you are one.’

A chuckle escapes his lips, lacking complete sincerity, but he nods and saunters over to me. ‘Lead the way then, Goldie.’

CHAPTERTWENTY

The clouds part as Fernah’s dragon wings lift me into the sky. With a grin stretching from ear to ear, I turn to check whether Darius is around.

His chuckle can be heard as he rides through the fog on top of an Ardenti that is breathing fire. My smile doubles, and I glance behind me, seeing Tibith strapped in his own leather saddle, excitedly warbling.

Fernah swerves left, right and centre in the wind before disappearing below the clouds. I tilt my head back and grin like we’re in a race as Darius and his dragon trail behind. It’s almost as if up here, we don’t need to be scrupulous about the horrors we face on land. I can breathe and not feel as though I am suffocating.

It’s freedom.Myfreedom.

‘This is so much fun, Miss Nara!’ Tibith yells, and I laugh.

In the distance, I can see the grassy cliff where Gus has previously taken me for training. Fernah swoops down towards it as a shadow falls over my head. The sight of Darius racing ahead motivates me to outrun him, and I call out Fernah’s name. She speeds up, creating a rhythmic sound with her wings.

My sight homes in on the cliff, passing training grounds and forests.

We make it within a second of Darius almost beating us. Fernah’s soft landing pushes some grass up off the ground as Iunclip myself from the saddle and jump down, making sure to grab Tibith.

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