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Geryon’s claws dug into the bark of the tree.They are so complicated!Her own mother was supposed to kill her? He couldn’t believe his ears!

“She has chosen banishment.”

“You do not have to go, Valerie.” Carwyn reached for her. “If the Witch’s curse works, then you may not grow dark at all.”

“I will not risk you all. I chose to go after Kaeylyn alone because I did not wish to possibly infect you all. This is the sacrifice I made.” She paused, looking to the ground in thought before she said, “Just make sure Kaeylyn does not blame herself. It is not her fault people took her. She is a child who was playing. She is not at fault for that. Make sure she understands this, make sure she understands I did this because I felt like I had to, that I would have done it if any of you had been stolen.”

Carwyn shook her head. “You could have taken us with you, Valerie.”

“I did not want to risk anyone being killed or turned. Someone had to do it, and it had to be me.” She brought her sister in for one last hug. “Tell Aldora I am sorry I became the one thing she resents the most.”

Valerie turned away from her sister, from the cottage that had been her home since she was a girl, from the clearing in which she’d played and used magic all her life. She walked away from the place that had brought her joy, a place where she’d been surrounded by love, despite her coldness.

Valerie walked away, knowing her heart was bleeding as she did.

Yet, she did so with an expressionless face, like she didn’t care. It wanted to fall; she could feel it trying to slip away so she could cry. Had she been alone, she may have, but she wasn’t. She knew Geryon was watching, so she refused, keeping her composure as she left her home.

Once she was outside of the forest wards, Valerie moved until she stood in a space large enough for a Dragon to stand in it at any size.

She wondered if she’d lost him when he didn’t approach straight away.Did he get confused in the warding spells?

He came out a few long moments later. He appeared in front of her, towering at his full height. The sun was setting, but she could still see him clearly in the light. It was the first time she’d seen him in so much brightness.

His scales glitter like his eyes.

He was staring at her in an assessment, an intense gaze of observation and thought. She knew why.

“What you heard–”

“Is it true?”

She didn’t know why she looked away. Perhaps it was because she was ashamed. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want to be honest with him. Usually, she averted her gaze because she didn’t care about the conversation much.

This time, she knew it was because she couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“It does not matter.”

He curled his tail around her body and pulled, forcing her to face him. “Is. It. True?” He sounded each word out, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes, everything Carwyn said is real.” She tried to slap his tail away to break eye contact, and she gave him her side. “She has the power of empathy. It allows her to feel for others, and she has become perceptive enough that she has taught herself how to read me when she is not touching me. When she is, she feels exactly what I feel.”

This power was strong, rare. It meant she didn’t require any spells, items, or chants to use it. Power like this always came with a sacrifice. Powers of telepathy, foresight, the ability to speak to animals – all of these were rare and amazing gifts only a handful could ever master.

Carwyn liked to tell her what she was feeling because she thought it would help her process it, like she needed assistance. In some small way, Valerie thought she may be right.

Valerie wasn’t as cold and unfeeling as people thought.

“But like I said, it does not matter, and I know that.” She turned to Geryon, knowing he would never reciprocate the tenderness she felt for him. “I am ready to die now.” She turned her chin up and folded her arms. “I believe I have already revealed how I wish to go.”

Valerie wanted her body cleansed by dragonfire, hoping it would help her to go where she wanted in the afterlife. She still wanted to be with Faerydae, wanted to be in that plane with him. That’s what they believed, that all Witches returned to their Dragon ancestor if they were pure or purified in death.

She watched his puffy Dragon lips thin, just as his eyes narrowed.

“No,” he growled.

With the bottom of her fist, Valerie bashed on the boulder that had been rolled in front of her prison cell. “This is not what was promised to me, Dragon!”

She could hardly call it a prison cell, though.