“Some way to show that you like me.”
“You’ll understand soon, Rayna. This—the Fae—it all isn’t what you think. You’ve been lied to for too long, and you deserve the truth.”
I gritted my teeth and glared hard at her back. The guard behind me made a small sound, reminding me he was there. I ignored him, too focused on my ex-friend. My brain still couldn’t reconcile this woman with the friend who had helped me out the last few weeks as I tried to survive at Luxose, Fyre’s Training Academy.
She seemed like the same girl. Looked like the same girl.
But would the same girl be working for Neyil? Would she have tricked me this way?
I didn’t know. Not anymore.
Even now, the bubbly girl persona was still there as she walked, clearly happier with the situation than I was with her. Aylia was a small girl—cute, like someone I wanted to put into my pocket. She even had a baby face, round cheeks, bright eyes, and dusting of freckles over her nose to match.
“Why?” I whispered, unable to hide the aching pain. There was so much more I wanted to ask her but was unable to voice. Or maybe I was too scared to know the answer. Was everything she shared with me a lie?
Aylia turned her head, looking at me with sad eyes, clearly hearing my simple, one-word question. Riders were blessed with extremely sensitive hearing, and now that I understood she was a spy, I had to wonder how sensitive hers was. How much dangerous information did she hold onto? How much of what I told her was going to be used against me to keep me in my place?
“You have no clue, Rayna, and I want to make sure you do. This place, what Lord Neyil is doing…it’s for the best. I promise you.”
“You don’t expect me to follow along just because you say ‘I promise’ like that,” I said. “It doesn’t make this right. These are the same Fae who killed our families. Or was that bullshit too?”
I almost asked her if everything she ever told me, including her tragic past, was a lie.
Aylia turned to me with wide eyes and grabbed onto both my hands, practically pulling me into her. “No! It’s all true. I promise. I am from near Tyne. The Fae did attack, and I survived. It was Neyil who took me. It did take me time to adjust, but it was evident that what he was doing was for the good. That it all isn’t as you think.”
She turned around and began walking, but this time, Aylia locked our hands together like we were the best of friends, and everything was okay with the world.
“The best lies are the true ones. You wouldn’t have revealed then,” I said. “You were too young.”
Aylia shrugged. “I don’t know the specifics, but I think he has a way of knowing.” She sighed. “I really didn’t want to deceive you. I wanted to tell you since day one, but it wasn’t time. You weren’t ready. You aren’t now either, but it was too dangerous to keep you there.” She shuddered. “Just thinking about what the king was planning to do to you gives me the chills. He’s so disgusting. But Neyil is far superior to him, and he is a good guy, despite what history has to say. They say it all the time, right? History is only a story crafted by someone and biased by their perceptions. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right. If that were the case, everyone would know the real truth: that the Crotlyn Mountains are dangerous, and both races need to unite. They wouldn’t have romanticized the dragon and rider origin story as they did. But Neyil knows the truth, and he wants to stop it. But before we can do this, the war between Fae and dragons needs to end. We must work together.”
Everything Aylia said sounded like propaganda. Dangerous propaganda, twisting knowledge until what was said could easily be seen as believable.
Aylia stopped before large, double-set doors; she was still smiling and clearly excited. Her emotions were changing so much since the throne room that I had no idea what to do with her. I must have managed to goad her across the spectrum of reactions at this point.
“And you can do that for us. You have been tucked away and forgotten by history, a rarity that can end this pointless war between everyone. You are able to do so much more than be a battery pack for your so-called mates.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I growled out.
“Think about it, Rayna. Just to ride them, you have to be violated and forced to have an orgasm. You’re off to battle, to kill and destroy, and you have to do something so intimate before. You in particular have multiple mates and can change dragons in the middle of flight. Over and over, you have to do something so personal and intimate to fight. That’s wrong. Disgusting.” Aylia’s face curled up in rage, her grip on me tightening. “And afterward, you’re exhausted. You have to give so much for them to breathe their fire and be stronger, but what do they do for you? Nothing. It’s a one-way street, and it’s not how the dragon-rider bond was intended. But the dragons changed it, became greedy, and now they take without giving back. And they hide behind the mate bond to do it.”
Aylia let out a bark of laughter and shook her head, letting me go as she opened the door. Again, it felt like her emotions were all over the place. Had she always felt this unhinged? Could there have been signs I ignored, oblivious to the fact that she was a person I needed to stay away from.
“You have no idea what you’re even capable of, Rayna. I can’t figure out if I should pity you or not. But you’ll learn here. Lord Neyil makes sure we become the best of who we can be, and he pulls our blindfolds down for us.” She glanced back at me. “Even when we are being stubborn about it. You’ll soon realize what the dragon king has done.” Aylia practically pushed me into the room.
I turned to face her, ready to push out of the room, but the guard was at her back and kept me still. He was tall and lean with mean-looking blue eyes, ones that said he wouldn’t mind killing me. Blue eyes meant water right? Fae’s eye colors were related to the type of elemental magic they could use. Blue water, red fire, brown earth, and white air.
“Aylia, please give this place a try. You’ll learn so much if you just open yourself up to what the Fae have to offer you.” Her smile grew sad. “And you’ll quickly realize that the life you thought you had, with the stories and history you were fed, was a lie. I’ll see you soon.”
She closed the door, and as soon as the door clicked closed, there was another that followed. I jumped to the door and tried to open it, but it was already locked.
I banged on the door. “Let me out of here. Please.”
Nothing.
‘Hello?’I tried calling out to the guys.
Unsurprisingly, still nothing. The bond was there; I could practically feel it pulsing, but I couldn’t receive anything from them. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the distance, or if it was because of something else. All I knew was that I was alone, deep in the Fae territory, and had no idea how I got here or even which direction I’d need to go to escape. Neyil wasn’t lying when he said it’d be more dangerous for me to leave, since I didn’t know where I was. With my luck, I’d walk right into a monster’s stomach trying to escape.