Page 16 of Eclipse of Fate
The flight has been silent as we make our way to one of the peaks looking out over the wastelands in the Soule Mountains. Trent’s gaze burns at my awareness, more than a few times, but I ignore it. Push it away, like I always do. I know we need to discuss things, but I can’t bring myself to talk calmly to him right now and until I can… I’m choosing not to talk to him unless it’s required.
“You have to forgive him,” Raelle says, as though sensing where my thoughts are. She looks up at me through her lashes as we land on the cliffside. We land further down on the other side of the mountain to keep our arrival unknown. We will hike the rest of the way to the top.
“I already have.”
“You have to tell him that.”
“I know, and I will. Just not while I’m still angry. No good will come from a conversation right now.” Raelle wraps her arms around my waist, and I hold her there for a moment before she drops her arms and gives me a sad smile. I brush my thumb over her lips and then place a kiss on her delicate skin. “I don’t deserve you,” A long pause is held between us while I look into her emerald eyes before breaking the spell she holds on me and looking over my shoulder to Maki.
“Should we rest for a moment here?” He asks, his gaze sweeping over the view of the mountains all around us.
“It’s as good a place as any.” I nod as I move to sit, swinging my legs over the cliff’s edge. I look down at the sharp incline and the rocks and trees that jut from the space below me. Raelle sits too, causing me to stiffen. I can easily catch myself if I fall. Wings will help with that. She will fall to her death if she isn’t caught. My nerves growing borderline frantic, so I pull her into my lap. She groans, but allows it. “I don’t want you to fall.” I smile when she rolls her eyes at me, pinning me with a look of annoyance. “Plus we can keep each other warm.” I kiss just below her ear, and she squirms in my arms, sneaking a glance over my shoulder at the group behind us..
“Look, I know you guys are like King and Queen, technically… but…”
“Trent, whatever you are about to say, please don’t.” Raelle’s harsh tone takes me by surprise, and looking over my shoulder at my brother and the others, they are too. Trent wraps his hand around the back of his neck as he looks to the horizon standing behind us, but his silence is short-lived. I groan when he begins speaking again, but stop when Raelle swats at my chest.
“I just want to say—I’m sorry. I’d never be able to live with myself without telling you that before we walk into a snake’s nest on the other side of this mountain.”
I know he’s right, and as angry as I still am at him, he is my brother, and I can accept that he is worried about what is about to happen. I wait for him to continue talking because I know he will… Idly, I trace small circles on Raelle’s upper arm where I hold her. Then it’s Trent’s turn to surprise me when he doesn’t say anything else and walks away.
“You need to go talk to him.” Raelle brushes her fingers across the stubble on my cheek. “He’s your brother, Dax. He’s just hurting in a different way than you are.” She climbs out of my arms and places her hand on my shoulder, squeezing before walking in the opposite direction Trent walked off to.
Taking a deep breath, I stand and make my way to find my brother. To have a hard conversation that I’m not sure either of us are ready for. But he is right; I would be beside myself if something were to happen and we did not clear this bullshit between us—even if I’m not sorry for anything I’ve said.
I find him propped against a large boulder that’s jutted out of the mountainside, almost blocking the path we mean to take to the top. “Let’s fucking talk, Trent. You want to waste your breath on apologies. Well, I don’t care either. I’m not sorry for anything I said. You don’t know how to keep your mouth shut. And the truthis that if you don’t learn how to control that, one day it’s going to get you into trouble. I love you, brother. But I am not sorry.” I walk up to him, our chests brushing as we look at each other eye to eye. When did my little brother grow to be at eye level with me?
“I know.” Trent turns away. A glimmer of magic ripples at his back before his wings shift away, and he bends down, picking up a rock and tossing it into the ravine. He once again says nothing.
“Say something!” I bellow.
“I have nothing else to say. I’m just sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry Ma and Pa aren’t around anymore. I’m sorry you didn’t step up to lead Ravendene. I’m sorry I wasn’t old enough to do it. I’m sorry Cano became the power-hungry leader he did. I’m fuckingsorryElla got tied up in all of this bullshit, Dax! I’m sorry that our amazing, cheerful, and full of lifelittle fucking sister isdead!” Moisture overflows from his eyes, and I purse my lips as I watch my kid brother break in front of me.
“I—Trent,”
“Don’t. I’m not doing this again, Dax. I can’t lose you.” His jaw clenches as he tries to reel in his emotions. “I can’t lose you.” He repeats, and his voice breaks.
“You aren't going to lose me, Trent.”
“You can't say that! It's not something you can promise me, Dax, and you know it as well as me. You can’t say that you will walk away from this duel. You've fought Cano many times, but all the times in the past, you were fighting a friend. Someone who you grew up with. A Fae that was almost family. This duel? It's different, and if you can’t admit that—I think that we should all be more worried for you than we already are.”
I can’t handle the emotion and scrutiny in his words. I grab him by the back of the neck and pull him into a tight embrace.
“I’m sorry,” I say through gritted teeth and emotion clogs my throat. I hold onto my kid brother—the only sibling—the only blood—I have left, tighter as though my arms are the only thing keeping him together. The only thing keeping us together.
Kait and Miles arrived late in the night, while we rested. The tension seems to be rising with whatever is going on between Kait and Ambriel. The two of them are too much alike to be in close quarters for too long before snapping at one another. Everyone was able to get some rest, though, and with the way things are inevitably going to go, I know we all need it.
Even though I know I need it, sleep evaded me once again. Thoughts of the coming battle, the retribution I seek, and what I'm risking. Small amounts of self-doubt trickle in no matter how hard I try to convince myself or Raelle, that this battle will go just as I want it to. Knowing what Raelle and I saw of the battle in the vision, I understand her hesitancy. It doesn’t change anything, though. I have to do this.
From what we can see in the wastelands, Cano’s regime came just north of the Colosseum. Our own warriors are not set to arriveuntil mid-day, but by then, my hope is that the battle will be well underway and Cano will be breathing his last breath.
Dust stirs through the air around us as we make our way through the wastelands. Raelle has been uncharacteristically quiet since we arrived. I’m sure many things are warring through her being here. Walking through the remnants of what could have been her life. Her hand is gripping mine fiercely as we approach the crumbling remains of what appear to be the gates of the fallen palace.
The bronze ornate metal twists and turns beautifully, even in its lackluster state. Once upon a time, it was an amazing sight to see. Now, it’s just a reminder of the ruin that came from the fall of the kingdom. The evil that has grown in the territories. The chaos that erupted when the king was assassinated here.
I’ve only read about or heard the stories told by the elders in Ravendene. Some say that the queen was who assassinated the king in a jealous fit, but others say that it was someone else that the king trusted. I can’t say that I believe that the queen would have done such a thing. The other stories I’ve heard tell of her compassion and fierce need to help her people. Much like what I see in Raelle.
The thought makes me wonder what stories Raelle has been told of the king and queen, if any. Not only that, but it doesn’t make sense to me for the queen to kill him, then disappear. It doesn’t seem right, especially knowing Raelle is here. Having not been raised by her.
