Page 8

Daimon

Daimon was silent as Zephyr flew them closer and closer to Nox Grove, the night sky shining with the moon and stars above them. With each flap of Zephyr’s wings, Daimon felt the growing sense of unease weighing against his chest.

“Will it be strange for you to be back after this long?” Ren broke the silence.

Daimon wanted to say, Yes, because your sister most definitely hates me for not returning in twenty years, and she may try to stab me in my sleep, even if she is a healer.

Instead, he said, “It’ll be an adjustment.”

Ren snorted.

“The rebels have gotten smarter with every passing year, even if the others don’t want to accept it. I think they’re trying to run us dry,” Daimon mused before Ren could ask him any more questions. “Like tiny cuts all over the body to make us lose just a little bit of blood each time, and by the end, we won’t even have realized we’ve been fully drained.”

Clouds filled the sky, giving them coverage from anything that might lurk on the ground.

“They have to be just as tired as us,” Ren said. “Even if there are three times as many of them as there are us, we have wyverns and stronger magic.”

Daimon tightened his hand into a fist and held it until his nails bit into his skin. “And still we haven’t been able to rid our land of them.” He placed his palm against Zephyr, her scales rough and warm.

“You don’t think they can keep up the curses forever, do you?” Ren asked, his brows bunched together. “It has to be running the rebel humans into madness by now. They can’t sustain themselves using dark magic.”

Daimon didn’t have an answer for that. He thought back to the battle at Drogheda. They didn’t seem diminished; if anything, they seemed more empowered the darker their magic grew. Like they were monsters instead of people.

He shook off the thought. Humans couldn’t contain that much dark magic. They’d collapse if they went any further.

“Maybe we’ll find something out at the grove.”

“Terrifying to think about them getting their hands on the orbs,” Ren said with a shudder.

Zephyr took a sharp turn and Ren yelped. He made a noise of distress with every turn she took. But Daimon had a feeling Zephyr was doing it on purpose. Each time Ren would make a noise, a burst of amusement would shoot through their bond.

“You know she’s pleased when you show fear,” Daimon said with a faint smile.

Ren huffed, crossing his arms. Zephyr flapped her wings, jolting them forward a little faster. Ren’s hands flew to hold onto her spikes.

“How do you deal with this thing all mixed up into your emotions?” Ren muttered.

Zephyr banked again, straightening back out once she was satisfied she’d scared Ren again.

Daimon often tried to think about what his life was like before he was bonded to his wyvern. As hard as he tried to remember, there wasn’t a day he could imagine not having her emotions entwined with his.

“I’d be careful what you say around her,” Daimon said. “She’s far smarter than people realize.” She purred, the sound more of a growl, but one Daimon could easily distinguish.

Communicating mind-to-mind wasn’t all that rare, as it happened among stronger Aegis or soulbonded. But the connection made with a wyvern wasn’t talking ; it was feeling everything they felt, hearing as they heard, seeing as they saw. Only the other Riders could understand the connection that was made with the beast, and there were never enough words to try and explain what it felt like. It simply existed.

“Maybe they’ll go back to wherever they go soon,” Ren mumbled.

The thought of Zephyr leaving made Daimon’s stomach clench. All he knew was the Riders who lost their wyverns—or the wyverns that lost their Riders—were never the same after the loss. To have such a deep connection abruptly severed was something he prayed to the moon goddess he’d never have to experience.

Wyverns were only paired with a Rider in a time of war, and from what little texts there were on their history, they would return to where they came from until called on again. The stories rumored that their retreat into slumber was peaceful, a gentle parting that left the bond to fade over time rather than the way death cut it off.

Still. He didn’t want to accept either of those as a possibility.

Zephyr lifted her right wing into the air and caused them to hit a hard left, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Does she have to keep doing that?” Ren groaned.

Daimon’s mouth twitched, the closest he got to a smile most days. “You know she’s only doing it because she knows you don’t like it.”

The twisted trees of Nox Grove came into view. Even in the darkness, the sight of it wiped any traces of the small grin off Daimon’s face. This had been home for so long, and it looked the same, but also…different. He no longer recognized the trees or the faces of the Nox present.

Zephyr tilted her nose down and dove out of the sky, landing between two large, crooked trees, the trunks warped from growing at odd angles. She shifted between her legs and tucked her wings in tightly to her sides, a sign Daimon knew well from years of being with her. She was on edge.

He slid off her back, and by the time he landed, Ren had already scrambled off and stopped a few paces away.

“Watch from above while we look through the grove,” Daimon said to Zephyr. Her golden eyes flicked to the grove behind him. She studied the area and searched for any possible threats, a flash of defiance radiating from her. “You’ll have the best vantage point to warn us if something is coming,” he assured her. She let out a huff of frustration and bolted into the sky, a shot of annoyance piercing his chest as she settled above them.

Their journey had only taken a few hours. People were still helping clean the grove, counting orbs and gathering snapped branches.

Daimon turned to Ren, his skin clammy. “You’d think as a Woodland you’d be the most comfortable with creatures,” he said with amusement. All of the Manors had a deeply rooted connection to the land and the creatures that roamed it. The crowned ruler especially.

Ren huffed and turned away to walk toward the swarm of fae gathered in the grove. He called over his shoulder, “But my affinity is for nature, not creatures. Especially not airborne ones.”

Daimon shook his head as Ren stalked off, his gait already stiff from the ride. It made Daimon huff out a laugh devoid of joy. He remembered how his legs would ache when he first learned how to ride. The legion would have to fly for hours, sometimes entire days from sunup to sundown. They had to figure out how to fly not only with their wyvern, but as a unit.

“Check the dream orbs again,” a raspy female voice hissed ahead of him, jolting him back to the present. “We need to ensure nothing was missed.”

His eyes roamed over the smoldering branches of the grove. The orbs that stored fae dreams were glowing brightly through the haze. Each one of them held a fae’s subconscious as they slept, watched over by the Nox in the grove to ensure no beasts or darkness would corrupt the dream.

He hadn’t seen them in years. It took his breath away. He stepped closer, seeing familiar faces leaning in close, whispering furiously to one another.

“Maliena,” Daimon said. He cleared his throat.

Maliena turned to him, her slender arms folded firmly across her chest. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight knot at the nape of her neck, showing her sharp features. She froze when she saw him, her blue-gray eyes widening. A look of relief passed over her face and his chest warmed.

“You’re back,” she whispered.

He hadn’t seen her in twenty years, the woman who nearly raised him when he had no parents to take care of him as a boy. She knew his mother before she died and, in a way, Maliena was pieces of his mother that he deeply wished he was able to know. He had never met his mother before her soul moved on to Caelum.

In the blink of an eye, Maliena wrapped her arms around him.

“Any updates on what happened?” Daimon asked as she released him. He noted the way the fae beside her shifted on his feet. Neve, her soulbonded. His hair was just as dark as the twisted trees around them, his eyes as brown.

“Nothing was left behind and nothing seems to be out of place,” Neve said. “It’s good to see you back.”

The warmth in Daimon’s chest dulled with the icy guilt that nipped at it. They looked just as they had twenty years ago. He wondered how different he looked to them, having gone from the quiet little moppy-haired Nox boy to a commander clad in wyvern-scale leathers and covered in scars.

If he ever got the chance to rise high enough in the ranks to be considered a council member—the highest regard among the fae—then he would be like them. Kind and fair, calm and wise.

Neve motioned Daimon closer. “They never should’ve gotten a chance to be this close to the orbs.”

“Did we lose anyone?” Daimon’s gut twisted as he asked it. Neve was right—the rebels never should’ve gotten past the border. And there should’ve been soldiers patrolling here too.

“Saige and Gracelyn were in this part of the grove when they hit,” Maliena said with a shake in her voice. “We found their bodies near the entrance.”

Daimon waited for more. When the silence stretched, his shoulders sagged in relief. “Only two?”

Maliena cast a wary look at him. It took him a moment too long to realize why. Only two —it was insensitive. But only two was a relief when it came to how many lives could have been lost. Daimon swallowed the guilt that stabbed his heart at the thought.

“Where were the patrol when they attacked?” he asked.

“We had to send the group south toward the western coast after the attack near the mountains,” Neve said, regret thick in his voice. “No one knew how far the rebels would make it. They were spread thin.”

Daimon gritted his teeth together as frustration ate at him. Patrols were spread thin for this exact reason, not to be sent away at every distraction. He couldn’t lead the Riders and tell the ground troops how to do their jobs. How could they have gotten sloppy enough to leave an area unguarded, a weak spot the rebels were able to find?

Especially Nox Grove. There could have been endless reasons for them to attack here. The forest of dreams was precious. Infiltrating a direct link to any number of fae’s minds could be disastrous.

“I should’ve been here,” he said through gritted teeth.

Neve placed a large hand on Daimon’s shoulder. He was massive, even by fae standards, a lean and muscular male who also happened to be a head taller than the majority of the Aegis.

“You can’t be everywhere all at once, Daimon,” Neve said gently. His eyes shone with understanding.

A muscle ticked in Daimon’s jaw. He broke Neve’s gaze, unable to stand the pity in his eyes.

“What about Annora? Is she safe?” Ren asked, returning from a discussion with another Nox.

Daimon knew that their daughter was their entire world. They’d trade their seat on the council in a heartbeat if only to spend more time with her.

“She refused to stay behind when we were told about the attack,” Maliena said with a sigh. Her voice was frustrated but resigned. “She wanted to help any way she could.”

Daimon remembered Annora as one of the shy council children who always had a quiet strength. He remembered catching her dragging Evelina around the palace, the pair sneaking around together and getting into trouble.

He wondered how much of that remained the same. She was likely as stubborn of an adult as she had been as a youngling. If she wanted to do something, no one could stop her. That’s probably why she and Evelina were attached at the hip.

At least, they used to be. He had no way of knowing what they were like anymore.

“Keep an eye on her for us?” Neve asked, pulling Daimon from his thoughts. “We’ve been pulled in a thousand directions since we got here. She’d be glad to see you again.”

Daimon gave a firm nod. “Keir called me back to look into this attack, so my second and I will be here for the time being. I’ll have Brielle patrol this area with a beta fleet to make sure the rebels don’t decide to come back for another try at the grove. ”

He glanced up at the sky, barely able to make out Zephyr above them with thick, lingering smoke.

“Thank you, Daimon.” Maliena sighed with relief. “I know the legion is stretched thin with patrols, but I’m glad you’re back.”

He lowered his gaze back to them, his eyes determined as he said, “We do what needs to be done for our people.”