Chapter Text
Execution 6 years ago
The sky was bright, and the sun was shining down on us. I stood at the front, staring at my father, looking so mighty like always, with his chin held high. His eyes were on my brother next to me, and I looked up at Xaden to see him nod to Dad. Kids are sobbing all around us, not that I blame them, we are here to watch as our parents are burned to death, for the damned truth.
I clench my jaw hard enough for it to hurt. I look up to see Xaden, his jaw is clenched shut, too. I look back at my father, his eyes meet mine and soften, as they always do, I stare into those eyes, my father’s eyes.
Not the duke.
Not the leader of the apostasy.
Not the Commander.
Just my father. I stare at him, feeling a lump in my throat, my eyes are burning with tears, but I don’t let them fall.
I raise my chin, despite the wobble in my lips, and a smile spreads across Dad’s face, it’s the same smile he flashed after I convinced the cook to give us cake before dinner. “Little fox,” he used to call me, not that he was wrong, I am undoubtedly sly as a fox.
I force a smile for myself, though I came out more watery than I would have liked. I reach with my free hand and grip Xaden’s. he looks at me, and I don’t know what he sees on my face, but he straightens his back and raises his chin. The despair is written in his eyes, in the hard set of his jaw, but no one would see us cry.
We were Riorsons.
I watched as General Melgren appeared with his dragon, and they all started speaking, not that I listened. I turned my gaze to the children next to me.
Garrick stood there, with an arm around a sobbing Imogen, his silent tears on his cheeks. Liam and Sloane were both clinging to one another, and Bodhi stood right next to me, crying. I reached and threw an arm around him, pulling him close and letting him cry into my
shoulder.
There were more children, but I turned my eyes back to my father, Codagh (Melgren’s dragon) had positioned himself in front of the adults.
Dad met my eyes and I mouthed “I love you,” he returned it to both me and Xaden.
Then he stepped forward and spoke, “You’re all cowards.” That was it.
My father’s last words.
The last thing this world got of him, the end for the best man I had ever known.
The last thing he did before he was nothing but ash and the smell of burnt flesh that now hung in the air.
I stared at the ground where he once stood, now just a scorch mark, one amongst many.
Then the pain came, not the one inside me but the one in my left arm, the arm I was clutching the stone Liam’s mom made.
I looked down and saw the incarnate pattern on my arm from my index finger and thumb to just below my jaw. I turned to see the same on Xaden.
Children were screaming and sobbing all around me. Though they sounded far away, I could only hear the blood rushing in my ears, only the pain in my chest where my heart once had been.
My breath came in shallow gasps, my throat closed up, and the burn in my eyes reached a level of pain I had never felt before.
I didn’t cry.
I just stared as I felt an icy feeling take hold. I didn’t scream, I just looked, and looked, till all I could feel was the death grip I had on Xaden
and Bodhi.
I looked up to see Xaden, he wasn’t crying either, he looked like he had aged in just a few minutes, Imogen’s sobs had softened to silent tears, Garrick was wiping the tears from his face with a determined look.
Liam and Sloane were still holding one another. Bodhi pulled back, and I looked at him with his puffy eyes and red face tear tear-stained, but there were no new tears.
I glance back to see all the other children, many were still crying, a few looked lost.
All of them were looking at me and Xaden. I meet his eyes to see the same realization in them that is on mine.
“Our father’s rebellion is now ours.”