I am tired. Exhausted.
The mending had requested all that I've got. But she will be fine now. She will live. And that's all I want. I would have given my life for her.
She will now need time to sleep and gain her strength again.
I look down at her beautiful hair spread on the pillow, those incredible light brown cascades changing into a flow of silver at the end. She didn't cut them as all the other riders.
She had grown up into a beautiful woman. Violet was not the child I remembered anymore. Lightning wielder... two dragons... I still cannot believe it.
I check her faint breathing; regular and stable.
Xaden is still here, at her side, with her hand in his, as it had been for the full day I treated her. He never left her side, not even when they buried Liam, his brother at heart.
Once again I wonder what's between them.
I see Xaden's gaze on her. Tired, beaten, worried. And that makes me even more angry with him.
"I need to talk to you," I say to him in my coldest voice.
"After," he answers without moving his gaze from her.
"NO, NOW!" I hiss.
He looks at me then, his face troubled. I never saw him like this. Not even that first day, with his back covered in blood. He seems lost and wounded.
"No, I need to be sure she is fine," he answers.
"She will be fine. She just has to sleep to recover. You may come back after our talk. There are conversations to be made and decisions to be taken, not only with the Assembly."
"Garrick can manage those," he cuts me off.
"No, Xaden, you will talk to me about my sister. You owe me."
"When she wakes up, not now," he says with an imposing tone.
Three days pass with me visiting Violet and checking on her, making sure she is recovering well. Xaden is always there, at her side.
I don't even think he slept at all. He is pale and still in the same clothes as when they came.
We exchange only a few words, mainly about how Violet is doing.
I know what happened now. The squad referred to the Assembly about it.
They fought and won against four Venins, and the Gods know how many wyverns. My little sister and Xaden saved them all.
I'm so proud of her for fighting on the right side. Not that I ever thought she would stay with them once she knew. I was sure, but knowing what she did feels... different.
There's something they are not saying, I know. I see it in Xaden's eyes, when he looks at her.
There's something between them, and it's not just a thing of mated dragons.
On the third day since their arrival, Violet finally wakes up. And I finally can talk to her and see her beautiful eyes open.
When I enter Xaden's room, there's a strange buzz in it. I find them near the window, looking out.
"I'm still hoping that missive at Athebyne was really about the War Games. Do you think there's any chance we just happened to end up in the middle of a wyvern attack at that outpost?" she is saying to him.
"That definitely wasn't an accident, little sister," I say from the doorway.
Violet's eyes widen as she sees me standing in the doorway.
"Told you I knew better poison masters," Xaden tells her softly. "You weren't healed. You were mended."
"Brennan?" she stares at me in open-mouthed shock. I grin and open my arms. "Welcome to the revolution, Violet."
She launches into my arms, crying.
Xaden respectfully leaves us alone; we need to talk out six years.
Later in the day, I finally find Xaden alone in Bodhi's room.
"You promised" I remind him.
"I know" he answer with gravity.
We leave the room, and he goes downstairs to the sparring room. I follow him. Why is he leading me there? He seems too tired for anything. I don't get it.
As we enter the room, Xaden asks everyone to leave us alone. And I shudder.
This is important. Fuck.
"You are right, I owe you an explanation," he starts removing his fresh tunic.
Damn, he is purple and green in more than one place. I tend to forget how well he manages pain.
"I should check you too. You don't seem in condition to spar," I offer.
"I bet you will change your mind," he smirks at me, placing himself in the middle of the mat.
What does he mean?
I follow him.
"She loves me, and I failed her," he said offhand with the saddest expression I have ever seen on him.
"SHE WHAT?! You…? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?" I shout in his face.
"Gods… did you fuck her? You fucked my sister? Really, Riorson?" I cannot believe him.
His eyes narrow, and he lowers his face. That's a fucking admission!
I load my right and strike him on the left jaw. He staggers a little, spitting a small amount of blood, his lip splitting.
"I didn't tell her about the Venin, nor the Revolution, nor you. I kept my secrets," he offers, without responding to my punch.
"And you took her outside the wards anyway, without warning her of what she would find? Gods, Riorson! She could have been killed!... Like Liam!" I shout in his face, wanting to make him suffer for his thoughtlessness.
A fierce pain crosses his face for an instant.
"I know."
"Why?" I ask, completely drained by his expression.
"I couldn't find the right moment to tell her. She is so…"
"In ONE fucking year? You couldn't find a moment in one. Fucking. Year?" I shout.
"I fucked up," he admits.
The admission makes me foolishly angry again, and I punch him on the other cheek.
Again, he stumbles but doesn't react.
I'm dumbfounded.
"She loves you…." I start thinking. This is not the Xaden I know. He is completely out of character…
"What do you feel for her?" I ask, and he looks at me, shocked.
He looks me in the eye.
"I'm in love with her."
I'm lost for words. Xaden is in love with my little sister.
I'm shocked.
I look at him straight in the eye.
"And I failed her." He pauses. "Gods! I could have lost her. It won't happen again. I swear. Because fuck, Brennan, I need her. And I never needed anyone."
A smile crosses my lips. Xaden Riorson smitten over my little sister. I still cannot believe it.
Damn, this guy is tempered in real fucking dragon fire, for fuck's sake. And he is so head over heels for her that…
"She is choosing the right side," I offer.
"I know. She already did. She saved us all there." Pride lights his face.
"Don't you want to kill me?" A smile on his broken lip.
"No, I don't think so," I offer back, giving him my hand.
He takes it and knocks me friendly on my shoulder.
"I'll keep her," he says with a smile. And in an instant, he seems like a little boy to me, the small brother I never had.
"Let's see if she keeps you for now."
I throw him his tunic, and together we go toward the Assembly.