Page 108 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
That is not true! I came to her because she was in danger.
But more than that, becauseIwanted to. No matter the danger to myself, I needed to see her again. To be with her if only for a small time.
I try to pry my mouth apart to speak these things Aurelia needs to hear before she succumbs to Malice’s twisted truths. But he has stolen the very voice from my throat. The very air from my lungs.
Malice continues, “I will make this plain for you so that you do not misunderstand me: theonlyreason my older brother and his wife rejoiced at the news that their precious son, the great Benevolence of House Radiata”—he sneers my name as if it is a swear word—“would take a Jewel for his queen instead of a dragoness is because of your gift. Because they knew what that would mean: thatBenevolencewould enjoy a longer life and a longer reign."
He barks out a laugh, his gaze still all for Aurelia. "I see in your thoughts that you still try to deny my words, my dear. Because my nephew told you that you wereimportant. But I fear your importance lies in one thing and one thing alone—the potential for life you carry within you. That isit. That is all."
That's not true. I shake my head again, trying to capture Aurelia's attention, to show her that I don't believe such lies and she shouldn't either. She's more important than that to me.
I do not care about her gift. Only my Shade does.
Smiling, my uncle turns toward me next. "But let us ask the great and honorable Benevolence directly, shall we? Do you deny the fact that you only came to find Aurelia because yousensed—by some means—that she was with Friedemar and you knew Friedemar would try to claim her gift for his own?"
I narrow my eyes and imagine punching him in the face again.
As if sensing my thoughts, his smile brightens. Like a man who knows something I do not. "Do you deny that if Friedemar had not captured Aurelia that night that your intention was to use the power of the Corona Ignis to destroy the Door, ensuring you never saw Aurelia again? Ensuring that she never learned of the prophecy nor her true purpose in life: to give her gift toyou?"
He might as well have punched me in the stomach with these latest questions. I cannot possibly deny such a thing. Of course that was exactly my intention. He must have gleaned it either from my thoughts of those of my godmothers.
But, as ever, he leaves out the most important details. Mywhy.
Because I hoped to protect her from my Shade. Because I wanted to protect her fromhiscurse.
"Bene?" Aurelia prompts, looking up at me with now glistening eyes. Her lips tremble. Her breath catches. Almost too softly for me to catch, she asks, "Is that true?"
A sigh rattles from my chest. Of course Malice would return to me the ability to speak for this.
“Yes,” I rasp, the word sticking in my throat. “But—”
Before I can utter a single word further, my voice morphs into a strangled gasp as Malice clearly steals my ability for speech again.Naei!Again, I thrash against the invisible bonds restraining me.
But all in vain.
Always in vain.
Malice’s mocking laughter rings out, filling the nightmare garden. “How sad, is it not? That the Great Weaver’s plan for you was always to be a mere accessory to… that?” He gestures to me with a dismissive wave of his hand. “A man who can only bring himself to want you when he stands to lose you to another?A man who does not think you worthy of knowing who you are until he is forced into a position to reveal the truth?”
It’s not true!That was never the Great Weaver’s plan. Aurelia is far more than an accessory. She is one half of a larger whole—
She is one half of a larger whole.
A shudder ripples through me as I realize my greatest mistake far, far too late. All my years of struggling to break my curse alone. All my years of carrying that burden on my own shoulders, thinking I kept failing because I wasn’t strong enough. Because I wasn’t good enough.
But now I see.
I never succeeded because I was only one half of the whole.
I never succeeded because Aurelia was never there to help me.
My uncle cursed usboth.
I needed her with me all along to discover how to break it.
Slumping within the hold of the bonds holding me aloft, I turn my gaze Aurelia’s way, trying to catch her eye, to convey to her all that I feel—that I am sorry, that I need her, that I was wrong, that Iwanther. Not because she is a Jewel. Not even because of the prophecy.
But because she is my friend. Mybestfriend.
