Page 49 of The Reaping Rose

“There’s nothing more important to me than you, Elorie.”

Her lips press tight; a glassy sheen covers her eyes, but she blinks it back. “I’ll be fine.”

She doesn’t realize how bitter her lies taste when they whisper through the thread. Even when she might want to believe them.

“We’ll talk later.” Elorie shifts away, and it might as well be a dagger to my heart.

Our bond is sure, but her trust is not, and I’m the one who broke it. I sense that’s why she held back today. She managed to hold it together for the group as she spoke of what she learned in the prison, but through the thread was a thrum of uncertainty. More she isn’t ready to say, either about her mother or Malachi.

Or both.

Elorie walks away without so much as a kiss, carrying a piece of my being with her. Her silver eyes only glance back once, warming my blood before she looks away and takes the heat in the room with her. Glancing out the window, I catch a glimpse of the bird she was watching. It pecks at the branch then flutters away.

When I finally leave the meeting room myself, Rior is waiting for me in the hallway.

“Trouble with your mate already?” His eyebrow ticks as he lifts off the wall, meeting my stride.

“She needs to rest. I shouldn’t have encouraged her to attend the meeting so soon after the prison.”

Rior eyes me. “Seems she held her own. I doubt I’ve ever seen Aurora this flustered. Not that I blame her when it’s our enemy we’re talking about.”

“Lyrichia is Elorie’s home. They’re her people, Rior.”

“Forgive me if I lack compassion after what Malachi unleashed on Zealeh.” His hands ball into fists, and the mountain around us mumbles with his frustration.

As a witness to the bloodbath, I don’t blame his reaction, even if his core wielding threatens to collapse the mountain upon us. Malachi’s army swept Zealeh at the start of our war. They descended with the same ruthlessness they showed Tempest. Although in Tempest, they made everyone believe we were the ones behind the pillaging.

“We will deal with Malachi and any who stand for his cause,” I assure Rior. “But there is no need to make more innocents suffer.”

He chuckles, dropping his chin.

“What?”

“My oldest friend, tangled from his mating bond.”

“Do you have something to say about that?” I freeze, and he pauses beside me, looking me over.

After a long moment, he shakes his head once. “No.”

“Good.”

I don’t rule like Malachi, with an iron fist threatening to crush them for questioning me. My court knows they can speak their minds, especially if it’s for the good of our people. I trust their judgment. But I will not stand for doubt when it comes to Elorie, even if I understand Rior’s reasons for being skeptical about how the bond might sway this battle.

While he’s yet to meet his mate, he’s been burned by a mating bond, and for a decade after, he descended into bloodshed and rage while he worked his way through it. Even now, the ease that once existed within my friend is gone.

“Aurora was right about one thing,” Rior says as we continue walking. “Idunn can’t be trusted. Even if she’s right about the void, she’s been in the prison since before the Collision, and we don’t know what put her there.”

“Let Atlas worry about the void for now. I need your assistance with the humans.”

“You haven’t told Elorie about the aeraliss?” Rior’s attention perks at the edge in my tone.

“There’s nothing to tell when we’ve yet to witness it ourselves. As of now, the aeraliss is holding.”

“And when it doesn’t?” he challenges. “You saw the state of Alyssium; there’s no sending them back. If the old text is true, the aeraliss will burn out over time and become useless.”

“Then we find more.”

Rior breathes out a laugh. “Do you know of any veins outside the Mortal Realm?”