Chapter 13 -Avianna-
\-Avianna-
I wake slowly this time. Not with that suffocating, disorienting pull of something wrong, but with the lingering echo of it. It clings to the edges of my mind like fog that hasn’t fully lifted, all wrong in a way I still can’t quite explain.
You’re alright, I’m here.
Caylix’s voice from earlier lingers. The way he had looked at me, the way he had held me like nothing else existed. My heart beats faster from the memory, and I sit up before I can think too much about it. Because thinking too much about him is becoming… dangerous.
A soft sound shifts near the wall. Caylix steps fully into the room from the hidden passage, the stone panel sealing softly behind him. He looks exactly as he always does, controlled, composed, unreadable to anyone who doesn’t know him.
But I do. And something in him is tighter than usual. Not outwardly, but I feel it through the tether. I shift slightly on the bed, watching him more closely now. “You came back.”
“I didn’t go far.”
He moves closer, stopping just within reach, his gaze flicking briefly over me as if confirming I’m safe. The silence stretches for a moment.
“I want to fill you in with what I’ve been…holding back.”
I smile. “I knew it!”
He rolls his eyes at me and continues. “I just hadn’t figured it out yet. But there’s something wrong in the castle.”
The words are quiet, but they don’t feel quiet. My posture straightens slightly. “The nightmare?”
“In part.”
That does not make me feel better. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, forcing myself fully upright. “What is it?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never felt anything like it,” he continues, his voice more deliberate now. “It isn’t strong enough to track. It doesn’t anchor anywhere. It simply… exists.”
A chill moves down my spine.
“And it’s affecting me?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation, no softening, just truth. I swallow slightly, my fingers curling against the edge of the bed. “That’s not reassuring.”
“Sorry Avi, It’s not meant to be. Being honest with you is the only way I see to keep you safe.”
My gaze snaps back to his, and there’s something almost sharp in my expression now. “Well, I’m glad we’re aligned.”
Something flickers in his eyes at that. Then he exhales slowly, shifting his weight slightly like he’s as restless as me.
“I spoke to your father.”
“And?”
“He agrees.”
I push to my feet, pacing once across the room before turning back to him. “About what, exactly?”
“That something is wrong.”
I gesture vaguely. “Yes, thank you, we’ve established that part.”
His gaze sharpens slightly.
“And that we need to understand it before it reveals itself.”
I study him more carefully now. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he says evenly, “I step back.”
I blink.
“No, that’s not happening.” It comes out faster than I intend. His expression doesn’t change.
“It is.”
“No,” I repeat, stepping closer to him now. “It isn’t.”
“Avi…”
“No.” My voice lowers, but it doesn’t weaken. “You don’t get to just decide that you’re going to disappear when something is clearly wrong.”
“I’m not disappearing.”
“Stepping back is the same thing.”
“It’s not.”
“It is to me, Caylix.”
The words hang there for a second and something in his expression shifts.
“Rhydon will think he pushed me back.”
I stare at him for a moment, the frustration still there, but now threaded with understanding. I fold my arms. “And you’re going to let him think that worked.”
“Yes.”
I exhale sharply, turning slightly away from him before I can say something less controlled. I know it’s logical, I just don’t like it.
“And while he thinks that,” Caylix continues, stepping closer again, “he’ll relax. He’ll assume he has control.”
“And he doesn’t.”
“No.”
The certainty in that answer settles me.
“So what,” I say, facing him now, “you just… linger in the background while I walk around with him pretending everything is fine?”
“Yes.”
I stare at him. Despite everything, something in my chest loosens slightly.
“But the tether stays fully open, no shielding." He adds.
I freeze. “No.”
This time, it’s quieter. His gaze holds mine.
“Avi…”
I shake my head, taking a small step back. “That’s not…no.”
“I need everything.”
“You already get everything.”
“I don’t. You filter,” he says evenly. “You choose what I hear.”
I don’t respond because he’s not wrong.
“And right now,” he continues, “we can’t afford that.”
My throat tightens slightly.
“Everything he says to you,” Caylix says. “Everything he implies. I need it whether it feels off or not.”
“And what, I just narrate my life to you like some kind of…”
“Yes.”
I blink.
“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
I stare at him for a long moment.
“I’m not sure you’ve thought that through.”
“I have.”
“No, I don’t think you have.”
“Avi…”
“I don’t…” I stop, then press my lips together briefly before trying again. “There are things I don’t… intentionally send.”
His gaze doesn’t waver. “I’m aware.”
Something almost resembling amusement flickers across his expression.
“Avi.”
“No, you don’t understand, Caylix.”
“I do.”
I make a frustrated sound under my breath, turning away before continuing. “I only shield when I’m thinking about you.”
Silence. And I immediately regret saying it. My face warms, and I start pacing. “I mean…not…”
Smooth. Very smooth.
“I mean, not like that, well, not, not only like that, I just…” I close my eyes briefly. “This is exactly what I mean.”
Absolutely flawless composure Avi. Good one. I turn, fully intending to walk away from this conversation and pretend it never happened. I make it one step then, his hand closes gently around my chin. He’s not forceful, just firm enough to stop me. He tilts my head back slightly until I’m looking at him again. And for a moment, everything else disappears.
“Avi,” he says quietly, his voice lower than before, steadier, something deeper threaded through it.
“If you only knew,” he continues, “how much of my day is spent with thoughts of you.”
My breath stutters. Because…that… was not what I was expecting. And I do not know what to do with it, so naturally, I deflect.
“I hope so,” I say quickly, the words coming out far too fast. “It’s your job.”
His mouth curves into a full smile. My embarrassment fades just enough for me to breathe again.
A knock sounds at the chamber door. The moment fractures instantly. Caylix’s expression shifts back into something distant enough that no one would question it.
“I’ll be close,” he says quietly. Then he’s gone, slipping through the passage like he was never there. I exhale slowly and move toward the door. I open it to find Rhydon standing in front of me.
“Avianna,” he says smoothly. “I thought you might want to walk the gardens with me.”
My gaze flicks briefly past him, his eyes follow the movement.
“Would you like to wait for your guard?” he asks lightly.
I force myself to smile. “No, that won’t be necessary.”
Something shifts in Rhydon’s expression. Satisfaction.
“I’m perfectly safe with you.”