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His expression changed to an unfeeling mask, accentuating his long face. “The sentence is given. You’re forever exiled from the dragon realm. You will relinquish your stone to pass to another rider. You’re not worthy.”
I threw my light at him, trying to read his emotions, but he blocked me. “Your own daughter can’t return! Do you even love me? You’ve been so cold and stern. Why can’t I see into your soul? What are you hiding? My heart may be blackened, but I don’t hide. You’ve always read me!”
Caledu stared, unmoving.
“Corruption comes from within!” I screamed. “You don’t have to associate with mortals to brand darkness on your own heart. What ugly, malformed emotions do you conceal? What perverted justice allows you to consider my exile?”
Panic vibrated through me. Failure sucked into my heart-center, creating a vortex. “Let me in, Father! I’m your daughter!”
Even the guards felt awful. Ieuan showed a flicker of compassion. My suffering was abominable.
“I am repentant! I am remorseful!” I jumped into the air and twirled as I flipped so the guards’ hold on me broke. They staggered in the snow from the force of my move. I held my arms out, holding them off with a shield. “I ask for forgiveness. Let me petition the High Emrys. Take me to Meinwen. I am pure!”
“Pure? Pure!” Caledu stormed closer, pushing me with his energy. “What do your emotions reveal now? Shame. What have you done that brings this distress? What rakes your conscience? What misdeeds have tarnished your heart-center?”
My knees buckled, but I pushed against my father’s bullying might.
“Oh, that’s right. Murder. How many men did you slaughter?”
I wailed and dropped to my knees. “I don’t know! Dozens! I was surrounded. I thought they killed Kelyn. They were destroying the village and killing people. I had to choose their lives or the lives of the innocent. I chose those with evil in their hearts.”
“Which is what you have now.”
“I’m an Emrys of Light. A dragon guardian.”
“You’re stripped of that honor,” he said. “Take her stone!”
“No, Caledu. I forbid it.” A new voice joined us on the ledge.
Aneirin had stepped from the portal and pushed his way past my father, whose eyes were filled with outrage. Aneirin crouched in front of me and tilted my chin up. His pupils grew as he took me in. I saw deep sorrow. Breaking sorrow. He blamed himself.
“Aneirin, don’t,” I whispered.
“Niawen. Forgive me.” He pulled me to my feet.
I gripped his arm, hoping to portray my feelings, sending him peace. Sending him understanding—I knew and accepted my mistakes. “None of this was your doing.”
“How dare you interfere?” Caledu snarled. “Aneirin, you have no jurisdiction here. I don’t care what you’ve cried to your parents about. I’m enforcer. Only a council can overrule the law. Niawen cannot enter. And no council would admit her with darkness in her heart.”
“Her dragon is my dragon’s mate. They must be permitted to enter,” Aneirin said.
“Seren may return, but Niawen is banished.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Aneirin said.
“It shouldn’t have been this way.” Caledu raged at Aneirin, with his hands clenched into claws. “Had you loved her, had you told her yes, none of this would have happened!”
“It’s not Aneirin’s fault,” I said. “He couldn’t pretend to love me. That’s not how love works.” If I had learned anything from my time with the mortals, it was certainly this.
“Look at her,” Caledu said to Aneirin. “I know you aren’t blind. See the damage to her heart-center. You hammered the first spike, and the damage escalated from there. Her light has dimmed. It has blackened.”
I covered my chest, knowing full well that my action wouldn’t keep Aneirin from discerning my shrouded light.
Aneirin really looked at me, and his concern morphed into despair. “Niawen, we’ll fix this.” He turned to my father. “The ruling can’t be absolute, Caledu. She can heal.” Even as Aneirin said it, he felt hopeless.
“There’s nothing she can do to erase the stain on her heart-center,” Caledu said.
“Please don’t blame yourself,” I whispered to Aneirin. “Don’t listen to my father. You had nothing to do with my blemished heart-center.”
