Chapter Six
Galsthenn
One hour.
One hour ago I was told the most terrifying news of my life. A panic broke out after the rebels had tried to bomb a shuttle. Rosalyn was lost in the shuffle, and Rilark saved her.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully as the red shifter passed my Rosalyn over to me, exchanging her like goods at a market as he placed her shaking body into my arms without a second thought. Save for some bruising, he told me, she checked out alright.
He’d told me just one hour earlier that he would be bringing her to me; told me what had happened at the embassy. Every moment I was without her was a sick pain that ran through my stomach relentlessly. My body trembled with anticipation to see her alive and well, and now here she was.
Now I could worry about what the hell had happened at the embassy. If it was really the rebels, then I had a lot to think about.
The red and black shifter looked me over before nodding, considering her job done for the night. I glanced at his wings and the intimidating horns that protruded in spires from the back of his head and couldn’t help but wonder why some dragons chose to remain shifted.
I retracted my wings whenever I had the opportunity and tried to look like a gentleman. I supposed it was just in his nature to try and look daunting; he was a soldier, after all. But there was a time and place for such things, and spreading your wings like a maniac after Rosalyn had been through a trauma wasn’t the time.
Catching my visual reprimand, he set his wings back, clipping them together like butterfly wings to hide them from my sight.
As I looked him over, I noticed how different he looked, yet how much the same his features were as when we were children. Knowing him all these years had slowed my recognition of how much change had actually taken place.
His face was long; his body tall and built, yet slender. His hair was a wild mess of vibrant color, where I was completely white. Silver shades in my hair being the only deviation from my icy appearance. We looked nothing alike, I thought. The only thing we had in common was our height and our mother.
My brother’s mouth set in a hard line and he awkwardly shifted in the doorway. “She’s fine,” he said with a shrug.
“I lost my ring,” Rosalyn said with some shock as her weeps and sobs consumed her ability to speak. She raised her shaking hand to me as proof, and I cradled her in my arms, looking to Rilark helplessly. He shifted his lips to the left side of his face and gave a slight roll of the eye.
I laughed, despite myself, and hushed the brunette. “It’s okay, we’ll find it,” I cooed and looked up at Rilark who shook his head; it would be too dangerous to go back for it.
“Let’s not worry about that now, okay?” I asked and Rosalyn shook within my arms.
“I need to find it,” she wept.
“It’s just a ring,” the red dragon snapped, and I looked at him with wide eyes.
“It’s her sister’s ring,” I corrected.
“Then she shouldn’t be wearing it,” he scoffed; genuinely annoyed.
‘Her sister is dead’ I mouthed to him, and he immediately snapped his mouth shut. I shook my head and walked Rosalyn to the bedroom, narrowly missing the Peruvian console table full of books that was set out in the hallway. Rilark followed unsurely behind me, and I was suddenly very aware that my brother way in my home.
I set the girl on the bed, and she cried into the blankets like a young child would. I felt terrible for her. Not only to have gone through this ordeal, but to lose a piece of her family in the interim would be the cherry on top of a rotten day. I looked to Rilark and wondered if he was judging her. I wondered if her tears seemed misplaced or senseless to him. They weren’t to me.
“I want you to take her to Vennolyn’s Tomb,” I said quietly, shutting the door so only a crack was left open.
My brother wrinkled his already damaged nose and raised a suspicious brow. “That’s on the other side of the planet.”
“It’s an order,” I said with a smile.
“Ah,” he chuckled. “So that’s how it’s gonna be?”
Rilark was always wild. He did what he liked no matter the consequence. We’d grown up together, and I never thought of him as anything but my brother. Not a bastard child, nor the son of a rebel. Just, Rilark. He never listened to me, and more often than not I found myself chasing after him, running into the mines or flying across the city and getting into trouble.
I always told him when we were children that one day I would tell him what to do and he would have to listen. I was always aware of my station; told that one day I would rule the Koth. He would give a hardy laugh at the sentiment, and we would joke about it.
And while we both laughed now, the moment quickly passed, and his face turned back to the bitterness I’d grown so accustomed to.
“Please,” I admonished him. “Take her with you. I’ll be along in a few weeks. I just need to get her out of the city for now. Besides, we just made an alliance with the Vennolyn. They’ll welcome you both with open arms and keep her hidden.”
“You think the rebels are after her?”
I shrugged. “At this point, anything’s possible. I just want to make sure she’s protected, and obviously, I made the right decision thinking you would put the utmost importance into protecting her.”
“Hm.” He raised a brow with intrigue as he skimmed the contents of my bookshelf with his finger. “How does Bromis feel about that?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to go ask him yourself.”
Rilark leaned his head back and gave an arrogant laugh, smiling at me before turning his attention back to the books.
“Take what you like,” I said eagerly.
“No, thank you.” He turned down the white and gold halls and turned back to me when he reached the end. “Don’t need anything distracting me from my job.
“You leave in three days,” I said lightly and followed him to the door. He hesitated there, and I took it as an invitation to keep our conversation alive. “Why don’t you stay?” I asked, unapologetically eager to spend time with him. “I could use the company. Maybe we could run through the–”
He raised his hands in a wave of polite decline, or as close as Rilark could get to polite. “Can’t. Long night ahead,” he said simply. “Job doesn’t end at rescuing damsels in distress.”
“Right,” I smiled. “Goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.”
I locked the double doors behind him and heard him enter the elevator. I stared down at my whiskey with a sigh and took one last sip before entering my bedroom. I lay down beside Rosalyn, who had calmed her tears long enough to look up at me with her beautiful eyes, rings of green mixed and melded with brown strands in those beautiful hazel eyes.
Grabbing her chin in my hand, I kissed her gently, and she wrapped her small arms around my neck. “I’m sorry about your ring,” I said quietly. “But I’m glad you’re safe. I was so worried. If something ever happened to you, I don’t know what I’d–”
“Do you think we’ll be able to find it?”
She’d asked me so sincerely that it made my stomach sick. I wanted to give her everything, and I knew what the ring meant to her. Not only was it the last memory she had of her sister, but it was her last connection to Earth. I had no idea what it must have felt like to come to a new planet and feel like you have no ties to your own life.
I rubbed the space on her finger where the ring had sat and pursed my lips at her. “I hope so,” I said confidently. “I’ll have it looked into tomorrow.”
Rosalyn looked at me seriously for a moment before her eyes seemed settled once more. She crawled onto my and curled into my arms like a kitten finding a comfortable crevice, still shaking from the day’s events.
I caressed her body and sighed into her beautiful scent. My whole body washed over with relief now that I was able to hold her in my arms once again. “So…” my tone wavered uncomfortably. “I want to send you away for some time.”
“I heard,” she admitted. “Without you?”
I pursed my lips and my brows shot up. “For a time. Weeks, maybe.”
“Weeks?” she repeated with disappointment. “After what just happened?”
“That’s why it must be done now,” I nodded. “For your protection.”
She stared at me, and her eyes seemed to circle my face with an unsure gaze. Finally, she nodded.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “You’ll be in good hands.”