Page 102 of Cursed Dreams
Thalia reeled as the words sank in. He was there. At the end of the war. The war that had wiped the High Fae from the earth. That had ended the age of dragons and shattered the world’s balance.
She shook her head, voice cracking with disbelief. “That’s not possible. No one’s that old. That was—ages ago. That’s .. No I don’t believe you .”
Vaelith’s eyes burned brighter. “You still don’t get it.”
She took a step back, as if putting distance between them could slow the unravelling truth bleeding into the air.
“I don’t want to get it,” she snapped. “Because what you’re saying makes no sense.”
She turned away from him, tried to gather her spiralling thoughts. “Caelum has done nothing but help me. He’s guided me. Protected me. He was there when I had no one. When I was breaking. He—he saved Aric.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Vaelith moved. He lunged forward like something had snapped inside him, shadows flaring at his feet like snarling beasts.
“Don’t you dare,” he roared, “give him credit for that!”
His voice cracked the silence like thunder. The braziers shivered, the flames shrinking under the weight of his fury. Thalia froze.
“Only one thing could have saved Aric,” Vaelith hissed, fists clenched so tightly the tendons in his arms stood out like cords. “Only one force in this world has that kind of power.”
She blinked at him, heart racing. “Then what was it?”
He stared her down, voice like a knife. “A Dragon.”
The words struck her like a slap.
She blinked. “That’s not possible. Caelum is no dragon.”
Vaelith didn’t answer. His jaw clenched. His shoulders rose with the strain of keeping something unsaid.
Thalia’s voice rose. “Dragons are gone. Extinct. Good riddance. They were monsters, everyone knows that. Greedy, power-hungry creatures that nearly destroyed the world trying to steal the gods’ magic for themselves!”
Something snapped behind Vaelith’s eyes. His lip curled in a sneer, the molten gold of his irises glowing with something raw and dangerous. “You sound just like the stories they wrote after they slaughtered us.”
Thalia’s heart stopped. Us. The word echoed, strange and misplaced, like it had slipped out without permission. She stared at him. He stared right back. The firelight trembled between them. The silence was sharp. Vaelith slowly took a step toward her.
“And what if everything you were taught was a lie?” he said, voice quieter now but no less vicious. “What if your beloved prince wasn’t a hero in starlight, but the reason the world broke in the first place?”
She flinched at the venom in his voice.
“You don’t know him,” she said hoarsely.
“And you do?” he challenged. “After a few stolen nights and pretty words? Do you even know what he is? What he’s done?”
“Stop it,” she snapped. “He’s not, he’s not evil.” her voice cracked on the last word.
Vaelith looked at her, something devastating in the shadows of his face.
“I’ve watched people fall for his lies before,” he said, quieter now. “Every single one of them ended in ruin.”
There were others? Why had Caelum never mentioned others? No Vaelith was lying. Thalia’s hands curled into fists at her sides.
“No,” she said, her voice hard and steady. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t know him, not like I do.”
Vaelith’s head snapped toward her.
“I know him better than you ever will,” he growled, prowling closer. But she didn’t back down.
“He’s kind,” she went on, breath shaking with fury. “He listens. He sees me. He tells me I matter. Do you have any idea what that means to someone who’s spent their whole life trying to prove they’re good enough?”
