A Fable of Fate: Darkest Dynasty Book Three by Mellie T. Tollem

Author:Mellie T. Tollem [Tollem, Mellie T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Dahlia

Iremembered everything Malachi forced me to forget: my bond with Ryken, my love for my friends, and an entire life without him. I remembered each moment of our time together in the Otherworld: the intense training sessions, the balls, the shadow puppet shows, my failure of a revolt.

I should hate him for all he’d done—and I did—but I still felt for him. There was a brokenness within him, one that could never be healed, and I couldn’t help but love him, regardless of the pain between us. Despite the tumultuous nature of our relationship, I still felt for his plight and sympathized with his yearning to love and be loved in return. He had love with me, just not the type he wished for.

My love for him was the love one has for their friends, siblings, and even the enemies who challenge them.

However, I’d never been in love with him. Not once.

The nervous rattling of Ryken’s chest pried me from those thoughts, and I opened my eyes, sensing every thought flitting through his mind. There was fear, self-loathing, envy. This male—he was the one I loved.

“I remember everything,” I said, a simple statement that should not have filled Ryken with the dread it did.

I glimpsed closer at him, seeing worry shine in his eyes, then tilted my head. It was not my memories that filled him with fear: it was his own.

I needed to know what concerned him. I wanted to know everything.

Unbidden, my fingertips pressed to his temples, as if my body somehow understood the nature of the mating bond and all it entailed. There was no doubt that, with this act, I would see him in his entirety.

Then, I sank into the depths of his soul and mind and drudged up the echoing impressions left behind. His body braced against mine, fingertips digging into my skin as fear of rejection echoed from his thoughts.

I pried into his memories, sifting from the most recent and delving deeper. The sacrifice of the pixies ate at his consciousness but, judging by his panic, it was nothing compared to what I might see. So, I moved past it and glimpsed the memories of the visit to the oracle and the attack by the spring court.

Lyra needed to go.

Ryken’s hum of approval resonated from his mind to mine, the most he could do to acknowledge my thought in his currently distressed state.

I needed to know what it was he wished to hide, and I knew exactly where to find the details.

The night he rejected me took formation in my mind, slowly creating an image that contained the most minute details: the paintings on the walls of the bedroom, the wrecked table, the crumpled linens…and me.

As I knelt on the ground, my body crumpled with the burning pain of rejection, he stood, his mind and body both a blistering wreck.

Upon issuing the rejection, Ryken immediately knew he’d made a mistake. Though he wished to take it back, it was far too late. The damage was done, the bond severed.

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