Chapter 121 -Avianna-

Chapter 121 -Avianna-
\-Avianna-

His eyes return to hers.

"You brought me all the way out here. You wrote me a letter offering me everything you knew I wanted, so don't look at her now."

"Charlotte..."

"You humiliated me, Rhydon!"

The words crack between them and Rhydon's expression shifts.

"You made me feel like I was some pathetic little girl following you around the palace when you knew damn well that wasn't what happened between us."

My breath catches. There it is, the thing she'd hidden. The thing my magic had caught even when I hadn't understood what it meant.

There was more between them.

Caylix doesn't answer, he doesn't need to. I can feel his rage clearly.

Charlotte takes a step closer to Rhydon.

"You bed me then tell me you were still choosing my sister."

His face tightens.

"You told me I wanted a story that didn't exist."

Another step.

"Then you disappear, steal a crown and have a letter delivered to me?"

"Well... You came, didn’t you?"

Charlotte's expression falters, only for a second, but I see it and so does he.

"Yes," she says.

Rhydon takes a step toward her and Charlotte doesn't retreat.

"You came because you wanted to know if I meant it."

Her chin lifts.

"I came because I wanted you to have the courage to say it while looking at me."

Rhydon stares at her. The anger in Charlotte's face remains, but something far more vulnerable has slipped beneath it.

She wants him.

Gods.

She actually wants him.

"Say what exactly?" Rhydon asks quietly.

Charlotte's eyes flash.

"You know exactly what I'm asking."

He waits. Charlotte's voice lowers.

"Tell me you want me."

Silence. Even Elise looks over now. My heart pounds hard enough that I can feel the echo of it in my physical body.

Charlotte swallows.

"Not because I'm Alexander's daughter. Not because marrying me gives you another claim to Caelthar. Not because you need some pretty woman standing beside you while you pretend that crown belongs to you."

Rhydon's expression darkens at that, but Charlotte doesn't stop.

"Me."

Her voice trembles.

"Tell me you want me."

And suddenly I understand the danger isn't that Charlotte has been fooled into thinking Rhydon is innocent. She knows exactly what he's done and she knows exactly what he is. She's asking anyway.

Caylix...

I know.

Rhydon closes the distance between them.

"I want you."

The truth of it hits me instantly. I suck in a breath. Oh no, he means it. Whatever else is tangled beneath those words… ambition, power, pride… Rhydon isn't lying. Charlotte feels it too. I see the moment something inside her gives. Rhydon reaches for her, but she catches his wrist before his hand reaches her face.

"As what?"

His eyes hold hers.

"My Queen."

Truth…. Again.

My stomach drops.

If he asks her to leave with him, she's going to go.

Don't interfere yet.

Every instinct in me screams to do exactly that.

But she's my sister...

I know. But if you reveal yourself now, you may never learn why Elise needs you there.

I look toward Elise. She hasn't moved. She is still leaning against the ruined wall, but the boredom has disappeared from her face. Her head tilts and my entire body goes still. Her mouth curves when her eyes finally settle on mine.

"There you are."

I remain where I am.

Across the field, Charlotte and Rhydon are still facing each other, neither of them aware that another conversation has begun only yards away.

Caylix feels the change in me immediately.

She sees you.

I know.

Avi, Nevermind what I said. You found Charlotte. You know she's alive and that she came willingly. You don't need anything else.

He's right. But unfortunately, Elise's reaction is keeping me exactly where I am. She doesn't look victorious. After everything she'd done to bring Rhydon and Charlotte here, after appearing around Caelthar often enough to ensure I knew something was wrong, I expected satisfaction when she finally caught me watching.

Instead, Elise studies me. The examination is so clinical that unease crawls beneath my skin.

"I wondered if you would come this way."

Her voice is different than it had been earlier. Gone is the gleeful cruelty she'd used while digging through my fears. I force myself not to react.

"You made Charlotte rather difficult to ignore."

"Rhydon did that." Elise glances toward them. "He has been remarkably preoccupied with your sister since we arrived. I told him it was sentimental and inconvenient. He assured me it was neither."

My magic settles around her words. Truth. Interesting. Elise looks back at me, and I realize a fraction too late that she noticed the shift in my expression.

"You didn't know."

Not a question. I say nothing.

"About them," she clarifies. "You suspected, perhaps, but you didn't know."

Still, I give her nothing as a faint smile touches her mouth.

"Charlotte is better at keeping secrets than you give her credit for. Although perhaps you should be more concerned with why she felt the need to keep this particular one from you."

There it is. A tiny blade slipped neatly between two ribs. The old Avi might have followed it, and asked what she meant. Instead, I let the thought pass. Elise watches me do it and something changes in her eyes.

"You really have learned."

"I've had a busy few days."

She laughs softly, but she doesn't answer immediately. Her attention returns to the palace visible beyond the trees.

I follow her gaze without moving my head. There is something about the way she looks at it… Not longing or frustration, but… Calculation.

She is measuring something. Distance, perhaps, or the wards.

Avi.

Caylix has noticed it too.

I see it.

Elise looks back at me.

"You think I'm trying to get inside."

I say nothing so she gives a quiet laugh.

"That's the trouble with protection. Once people believe they've found something capable of keeping danger out, they stop considering what else it might be doing."

That catches me but I don't ask. I don't even allow myself to look toward the palace. Elise waits. When I give her nothing, genuine amusement touches her face. She knows exactly what she's doing. Every sentence is bait. And every time I refuse to take it, she changes the hook.

"You spent thirteen years hiding behind a man you didn't understand," she continues. "Now you're hiding behind magic you understand even less. Yet somehow you've convinced yourself the second is growth."

Caylix's love pulses through me immediately. Elise's eyes narrow. She felt something. Her gaze moves over my face.

Then she smiles.

"Caylix."

I keep my expression neutral.

"How interesting."

My stomach tightens. She takes a step closer, but unlike the last time we met inside a vision, she makes no attempt to touch me. Elise isn't trying to capture me, she's observing me. She has been doing exactly what I came here to do.

Learning.

I came to discover what she wanted while she is trying to discover what I've become.