Page 104 of Cursed Dreams
“I fought in that war. I burned for it. I bled for it.”
Thalia stared at him, the truth blooming in her chest like wildfire.
“You…” Her voice caught. “That’s not possible. That would make you—”
His smile was broken glass.
“I told you I helped build the lock.”
The shadows at his feet curled tighter. A low rumble echoed in the space between them. Not magic. Not magic at all. It was something older something primal. Thalia took a half step back.
“What are you?” she asked, the words dry and barely audible.
He met her eyes, and for the first time, there was no mask. No pretence. He looked broken and resigned.
“Dragon fae,” he said, with a voice that carried the weight of centuries.
Thalia staggered back like the word had knocked the wind from her lungs.
Her mind reeled, spinning, struggling to match the image of the man before her, Vaelith, sharp-tongued, moody, infuriating Vaelith, with the impossible truth unravelling in her chest. A dragon. One of them. Not extinct. Not gone. Standing in front of her. Watching her with the eyes of something ancient and furious—and achingly vulnerable.
Thalia stared at him; her breath caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat. Her mind screamed denial, but her body already knew. Had always known, deep down, that there was something ancient curled beneath his skin. She had felt it the first time they met, the shadows, the heat, the way he moved. The way he’d known what would save Aric.
A dragon fae.
A dragon.
“Are you scared?” Vaelith asked, voice cutting like obsidian.
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Is that it? You’ve finally seen the monster, and now you’re going to run?”
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer. Her limbs were ice. Her heart thudded in panic. She took a step back. A flicker of something raw crossed his face before the bitterness returned like a shield.
“I warned you,” he snarled. “From the beginning. But you were too busy chasing dreams in the dark to see what was right in front of you.”
“Stay back,” she said hoarsely, her voice trembling. “Just—don’t come any closer.”
His eyes flickered. For the briefest moment, he looked like she’d struck him.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Thalia,” he said, quieter now. “I would never—”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered.
Silence crashed between them.
Her throat ached. Her chest heaved.
“I don’t know what you want,” she said. “I don’t know who you really are. But I do know what you are, and you’re the enemy. You always were. And I was too stupid to see it.”
Vaelith’s face was utterly still. For a heartbeat. Then two. Then his jaw clenched, and the gold in his eyes flared like a dying sun.
“You want an enemy?” he asked, his voice hollow. “Fine. But don’t forget you chose this !”
He turned his back on her, and in the space of a breath, the shadows rose and swallowed him whole, leaving nothing behind but the echo of heat on the stone floor.
Thalia stood frozen in place, chest rising and falling in ragged breaths, her heart pounding like it was trying to escape.
The enemy. He was her enemy. She closed her eyes. But all she could see was his face.
