Page 89 of When the Moon Met the Sun

He pulled himself to his feet, but before he could charge, Rayven materialized in front of me and let out an animalistic snarl.

“The veltik khan is over,” Rayven said by way of warning.

Dimitri gave pause at the sight of another shadow wielder in his midst, then slowly began to back up towards the tent entrance, Tarrious in his hand once again.

His eyes met mine, a cruel smile on his face. And for the first time in our lives, I couldn’t help but think of how much he looked like Father.

The thought sent my heart shattering into more pieces than the crystals I had wielded.

I never wanted my brother to become my enemy.

“This is far from over, Viva.”

“I know,” I responded, my voice empty of any emotions, and moved to stand beside Rayven.

Dimi looked between the two of us, obviously seeing he was outnumbered, and continued to back up towards the exit.

Before he departed, he met my eyes once again, his smile somehow even more vicious as he said, “By the way, Mother wanted me to tell youhello. Too bad she’ll never get to tell you, ortheother one, herself.”

With that, he tilted his head back and laughed wickedly. It was as though some sort of switch inside him had been hit—one that turned off any emotion that Father wouldn’t have approved of.

My jaw went slack as I tried to process what he just said, but he simply smirked at my reaction, then flexed his wings and left the tent, taking to the skies.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Logically, I knew we needed to flee, but my body felt so far away, like I was rooted to the spot.

I stared at the tent entrance where I’d last seen Dimitri, as though in a trance.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the thought floated around that if I didn’t move, if I didn’t carry on, then this wouldn’t be my reality. That maybe this was just a nightmare, a bad dream, and I’d wake up if I just stayed still.

“Majesty,” Rayven said, stepping in front of my line of sight so I could no longer see where Dimitri had departed from.

My gaze drifted to the side where my father’s body lay, his form much too still. The pool of blood around him was so dark it was almost black, though it had stopped spreading before it could touch my boots.

From what sounded like far away, I could hear the guards outside yelling after Dimitri, then arguing about entering the tent.

“Aviva,” Rayven said softly, crouching down to peer right into my eyes, “we have to gonow.”

Ever so slowly, I peeled my gaze away from Father’s form, meeting Rayven’s eyes.

My entire body felt numb, as though it wasn’t really mine anymore. I’ve done so many horrible things with my body, with these hands…

From far away, I felt my limbs begin to shake.

“We’re going to sneak out of here using the shadows, and we won’t stop until we reach the others, alright? I’ll lead the way, but I need you to hold onto me when we shift—can you do that?” he asked, still searching my eyes for any sign of emotion.

I blinked, the wordsthe othersstanding out, clinging to the air around me. After a heartbeat of processing, I nodded.

“I can do that,” I confirmed, my voice sounding so small compared to usual.

Rayven nodded, then used a shadow at the edge of the tent to wield, until he no longer stood in front of me. Not physically, anyways.

I took a deep, shaky breath. I could feel the incoming panic flooding my veins, but I did my best to block it out. With the panic, I could feel my zirilium surging, trying to overpower my control.

After quickly collecting Elaera and my mother’s dagger, I turned back towards my father’s form and slipped the ring off of my finger. I gently tossed it, the ring landing perfectly on his torso, near the crystal protruding from his chest.

Turned out the backup plan hadn’t been necessary, after all.

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