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For those who feel small and quiet. Spread those wings and roar.
The world began with five.
Caelis, God of Aether, invisible to the naked eye.
Bulder, God of Ground, sculpted the sphere with one belted bellow, building a sturdy globe that did not spin.
The Goddess of Water came next. Rayne fell upon the ground in a billion yearning teardrops of unrequited love, puddling in Bulder’s dips, filling his gorges with her gushing affections.
Clode—Goddess of Air—who hinged on the precipice of immeasurable madness. Her voice was a ribbon of silk, soft to touch, unless it turned to the side and slit you with its edge.
Ignos was a glutton for Clode. The God of Fire feasted on her. Consumed her. Loved her so much he could not breathe without her.
But as castles grew taller than mountains, and as kings and queens decorated their crowns with bigger, sparklier jewels, so, too, did folk learn how to shed dragon blood.
Until one aurora rise, for the first time in more than five million phases . . . Another moon fell.
So close I’m struck with a smoky musk pinched with the smell of freshly split stone, softened with notes of something buttery.
Pain. The ghost of something I can scarcely grasp, its corpse anchored in my icy nether. The place inside me that’s vast like the Ergor Plains I once walked alone, blotches of somebody else’s blood frosted to the rags that clung to my skeletal body.
I came here to lure one monster and ended up snagging two.
The harder you care, the more fragile everything seems. Easier to just . . . Not.
who hurt you
Survival’s funny. Some wear it like a whisper, others like a scream. Mine’s a scorched skeleton of flame-forged rage that keeps me upright. Keeps me moving forward.
Sadness is like stones that stack inside you, making it harder to move. Ignorance is my self-preservation tonic, and I’ll swear by it until I die.
“It’s you,” he rumbles, and my heart drops, the hairs on the back of my neck lifting. “Come forth into the light.”
Beauty and the beast vibes
“I’m still intent on killing you, if given the chance,” I warn past clenched teeth. “Don’t forget to cut off my head,” he murmurs. “Or I’ll haunt you for eternity.”
At least it seemed to finally quench the King’s strange, almost compulsive desire to take my pain away.
broooo
“Kaan, no. I did not agree to this!” His body stiffens, steps slowing, a low, grating sound coming from him. “Say it again . . .” “What?” “My name, Moonbeam. Say it again.”
“Because I was mourning someone I loved very much. I discovered my pah had done something unforgivable, and I took her revenge because I thought she no longer could. Now I have regrets.”
mourning who now
“What do you need, Moonbeam?” To scratch this primal itch in the hopes it’ll assuage the emotional blade now lodged in my chest.
Don’t think about it. This is right. This is right. All that good stuff is not for you.
aww babes
“He is saying that he respects you above himself and, most importantly, above his honor.”
OK ATE
He’s much, much too easy to care about.
girl
“No wonder you laughed,” she says, then reaches behind me, flicking a blanket over my back and easing it around my shoulders. “The unbreakable always do.”
I don’t correct her. Don’t tell her I’ve broken too many times to count. That I laughed because the pain I’ve felt in my heart eclipses any damage that could ever be inflicted upon my flesh and bones.
I think another sharp sound wrestles up my throat. I think it might be his name. I think I might’ve ordered him to live.
ok getting places
“Moonbeam.” “Hmm . . .” “Please don’t scare me like that again.” Scare? What a nice thing to say.
she thinks no one has ever been scared in her behalf before :(
My salvation.
why does she look like Elluin Neván? She’s dead,”
HUH
“Her veins flow with Neván blood, Kaan. And she wears no song-silencing Aether Stone.
WHAT
“Nobody can suffer what she’s been through and not be pitted with a well of dragonflame—whether she remembers her past or not. Tread carefully, Kaan, or she’ll incinerate herself and turn to ash
A scalding word burns hot on my tongue, sputters against my lips, hopelessness stomping me like a world lumped on my chest. There’s an ache in my heart that’s leaking . . . Leaking . . . I think I’m leaking with it, reaching for something I can’t grasp. Fingers outstretched. Desperate to tangle with— Something important. Something . . . Mine. But I drain . . . Drain . . . Gently drain away . . . Yanked away too fast. Too slow. Cold Empty—
Plummeting. I grip the burnished mirror, easing it to the side, revealing a hollow cavity in the stone behind. I thread my arm into the hole, pulling out a leather-bound book I tug close to my chest—
“That means something, you know. You don’t just accept one, then toss it in your jewelry box to wear with your favorite outfit.” Joke’s on her because I have no outfits.
STOP LOL
She keeps walking, just turning the corner at the end of the hall when a word bludgeons up my throat unchecked—my mouth shaping the sound as if from muscle memory alone. “Veya!”
U KNOW HER GIRL? WHAT
“Thank you.” I look between them both. “You don’t need me to kill anyone in exchange for it, do you?” Silence prevails for so long I almost repeat the question. “Ahh, no. We’ll pass,” the red-haired male says. “Nice.” And strange. That’s usually how it works.
oh queen 🧍♀️
A big pair of ivory eyes stare blankly in my direction, a blow of icy breath battering my face as a cold, luminous, leathery nose nudges my chest. My chest that’s so full of love. So full of . . . Hurt. So much hurt—
The words have barely left my lips when Kaan presses his against my ear, a dense hum rumbling from his chest and cutting through the din as he tucks me impossibly close. A song I’m achingly familiar with.
HE KNOWS HER SONG???
This place isn’t the relic of somebody else’s love . . . It’s ours.
FINALLY BRUH
This is it. The pin that’s finally going to burst the bubble of imagination I’ve lost myself in. Found myself in, if I’m honest with myself. Not that it changes anything. But what a spectacular way to go out? A goodbye fit for everything we used to be. The quiet acknowledgment I now see that I owe . . . us. Him. Before I erase it all.
no no no no no
He’s fire and brimstone. I’m shattered ice. Our collision is steam and destruction, destined to dissipate, but I’ll gladly burn beneath him until the world comes crumbling down.
You don’t simply scratch an itch with Kaan Vaegor, then throw him away and move on to another. You peel back your skin and open your ribs to the male. You tuck him somewhere deep and safe, fight others off with weapons forged from secrets sharp enough to slice, then perish with those secrets clutched close to your chest.
She spins toward me, tripping on a tendril. I dip low and catch her just before she hits the ground, my arm bracing her bare back, our noses almost touching. Her wide eyes lock with mine as she puffs a breath upon my face . . . The celebration falls away. The crowd. The song. There’s nothing but a pair of big azure eyes, our tangling exhales, and the welcome weight of her in my arms.
You want to love me, too. But you’re in the way of yourself.
FACTS. SHE ALREADY LOVES YOU
I should’ve let her walk away rather than pretending I’m okay with this. But I’m weak. Soft hearted.
noooo
“No, you don’t, Moonbeam. You love me. You’re just too busy feasting on my heart to notice.”
YES THIS IS TRAGIC BUT TRUE
With his beast at my back and this massive, impenetrable male at my front, I should feel small. I don’t. He’s only ever made me feel vast. Mighty, even. And perhaps he’s right. There’s something big brewing within me.
#collin
I can understand why Elluin loved this male with her entire heart . . .
girl you do
He threads his hand around the small of my back, tucking me into his chest, warm lips brushing against my temple. “Come back to me, Raeve. To us.” Then he’s gone.
brb crying
