Page 126 of This Shattered Star

“Theystoleyou from us. Wiped your memories. Bespelled your magic to make it inaccessible and warped your entire being to begin anew. Call that a curse if you want. Butthatis what happened to you.” His words were raw, as if he’d been screaming.

His cheek rested on the crown of my head. “A group obsessed with overthrowing the king, on stealing his power, captured you,” he growled, and his arms tightened around me until I could barely breathe. “It happened during your last flight around the edges of the Veil. It was all my fault. If I would’ve been with you that day… IknewI shouldn’t have let you go alone. But I did, and we all suffered greatly for it.” His harsh sigh stirred my hair. “They wanted to turn you into their own personal puppet. To aid them in killing the king when the time was right and then use you as they saw fit.”

“Twenty-three years, four months, and eight days. That is how long it’s been since I’ve been able to take a full breath. How long it’s felt like half of my soul has been ripped from me.Everythingwe’ve done has been for this moment.”

My eyes squeezed shut against the rising torrent that threatened to spill down my cheeks once again. “Prove it. Prove that this isn’t some scheme to lure me somewhere so you can torture or kill me after all. That after everything that’s happened, at least some of it was real.”

Gently, he turned me around. Wiped a traitorous tear from my cheek. “It wasall real.Every second of it.” He searched my face for a few moments before craning his neck to the sky. Then nodded.

The two dragons soared towards us.

I trembled when it appeared as though they would crash right into the trees instead of land among them. But they veered at thelast second, splaying their wings wide and flapping with enough force to blow nearby leaves into a frenzy.

They landed with a ground-vibrating thud. Close enough for me to feel their huffing breaths across my face, but not close enough to touch.

A feminine voice rang directly between my temples.

“Hello, Eloise.”

Unmistakably Theia’s.

A second, masculine voice accompanied the first.“I don’t know if I should be proud or insulted by the look you’re giving me.”

Brannon.

“It was you sitting up there,” I gasped softly. The eyes. I could see them properly now. Amber irises, with the smallest golden flecks. “You were too far up for me to see your eyes properly. But I knew they looked familiar.”

His massive head dipped, scales reflecting the faint light of the stars from above.“You make very intimidating death threats. I’m surprised you didn’t throw your dagger at me with that impeccable aim of yours.”

“You are a dragon,” I deadpanned.

“And so are you.”My eyes swung to the second dragon—to Theia. It—she—made to take a step forward, then seemed to decide against it, planting a claw-tipped talon back onto the ground.“Words cannot express how awful I feel for what I did to you. I am so sorry.”

“You did what you had to,” Kodhan cut in.

“You can hear them?” I asked without looking at him. Then shook my head. “Of course you can.” It was just like when they held silent conversations during the trials. Except this time I was a part of it. Lapis, forever that stunning shade, starred back at me.

“She feels bad for pushing you,”Brannon said, without missing a beat.“I told her you’d be fine. I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t have enough time to stop the entirety of your fall.”He scraped a single claw through the grass, creating a line of dirt. A blaringlyhumangesture.“Sorry.”

Kodhan didn’t protest as I untangled myself from him, something bitter and heavy swirling in my gut. Though he stiffened, ready to grab me again if I decided to run. “If what I’m hearing… what I’mseeing,is true, then you’re apologizing for the wrong reasons. You claim to galivant on some quest to save me. But I deserved to know the truth from the beginning. Not just during the Starlight Trials. During theweeksyou were in Aedreath.” I stared accusingly at Kodhan. “Instead, you pretended not to know me at all. Kept me in the dark.”

Theia spoke first.“Of course you deserved to know. Wewantedyou to know, badly.”

“Which is why Theia almost unraveled our secret several times.”It was a different kind of strange to see a dragon roll their eyes. Unbefitting to such a nightmarish creature.

“I am no liar. And even less one to keep secrets,”she hissed.

“Well aware,” Kodhan drawled.

Theia’s head swiveled towards him, teeth barred in a snarl.

I took a slow step back. Tried not to let my devastation show as my gaze met Kodhan’s again. “It wasn’t real at all, was it? You tricked me.”

The words didn’t sound as angry as I’d hoped.

“Tricked you?” he laughed harshly. Like I’d insulted him. “I should have told you the truth, that much I take accountability for. But I did nottrickyou, Eloise. Do you remember what I told you?” He advanced slowly, seemingly unable to keep even the smallest of distances between us. Then brushed a tentative knuckle across my cheek. “I told you that I was selfish.”

“That changes nothing,” I breathed.