Page 48 of A Trial of Two Worlds
He gave me a soft smile and nodded. “We both need some sleep.”
“It’s almost daylight,” I answered. “We should be waking up, not going to sleep.”
“Then put a pillow over your eyes and pretend,” Shaw said, rolling over. “Sky,” he spoke my name,followed by a long silence. “You know that we’re going to stand by you in this, right?”
I smiled. “Never a doubt.”
“If he can’t see the reason behind your request and he challenges you, I can fight in your place if—”
“Stop,” I told him. “You don’t need to do anything besides being my friend.” Even though his back was turned toward me, I knew he was grinning. “No matter what, I’ll complete the final trial.”
“Never a doubt,” Shaw answered. “Night.”
“Almost morning,” I replied, knowing sleep would likely not come for me.
“Please be quiet,” Rhea grumbled across the room as she moved to curl against Talon’s side. “If you two don’t go to sleep, I’ll put you to sleep with that gods-damned poppy tea.”
“She’ll do it,” Talon grumbled, looping his arm over her middle.
“Fine,” I answered, snuggling closer to Neera. I reluctantly closed my eyes, giving my body a chance to prepare for what the following day would bring.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daxton Aegaeon
My chest ached like a blade through the center of my heart.
Throughout the long-shadowed hours locked away in my cell, I couldn’t shake this feeling, this grief. I turned on my side in the darkened stone prison buried under Aelius’s keep, unaware if it was the Mother or Father hovering in the sky.
“You’ve seen better days; I’ll give you that.”
I knew that voice.
“Are you still in there, Daxton?”
Zola.
I groaned against the aches and pains of my broken body.
“Ahh, there he is,” Zola said with as much kindness as she could manage.“The stench indicated differently. Glad to see you’re still alive. I was worried Castor would have to reign in your place.”
“Going soft on me?” I whispered. My throat splintered as I forced the words from my cracked lips.
“Just checking in to see if we are atthatplace again.”
Cloaked in shadows, I couldn’t see her.
“I’m not,” I said in a thundering voice, leaving nothing to question. “I won’t allow myself to disappear like that again.”
“Good,” Zola said. “I won’t break the vow I made to your mother to watch over you and Castor. Besides, I’m not the one who would be able to bring you back.”
“Skylar—” As soon as I spoke her name aloud, I felt the fissure in my chest crack open.
Twenty years ago, I’d reached a breaking point. The constant pressure of Minaeve’s hovering presence, the wilt, the death… everything. I was in a dark place. The thought of ending it all was an all-too-welcoming release.
Existing, that’s all it was. I was living a life that wasn’t truly worth living.
My people had become accustomed to living in a cage of fear for so long that it felt normal, even though it was far from it.I remembered what it was like before the wilt. I remembered peace and happiness and, most of all, hope.
