When Ice Breaks, When Gold Cracks

6 ~ The Thread

"Who?" Unda asked. He narrowed his eyes at the alley until the dark lifted slightly and the man's face took shape. It was the same silver dragonborn he had seen at the temple with the other generals. The one who stayed long to cast meaningful glances at Foliis. "Is that the friend you mentioned before? He gave her the necklace you broke? I thought she left him behind."

"Now you see the truth about your ahkias." Stellae sniffed, the tiniest hint of a triumphant smile creeping onto his corpse-like face. "What she says does not align with what she does. Aurum, please allow me to separate them. We can't have Foliis's old life distracting her."

"Leave them alone. There's no harm in their meeting. Besides, it's difficult to let go of those who are important to us." Aurum steered Unda away from the alley, and his arm crept around his thin shoulders again. This time, his grip was tight like he was afraid Unda would disappear if he released him. "If the goddess didn't believe in the bonds we create, she wouldn't have given us our family."

"Move on, Stellae," Ignis called over her shoulder, her voice tripping up into a sing-song-like mockery. The grin that split her lips was predatory. "Just like Foliis, you're still clinging to that past while preaching that you chase a greater purpose in wholeheartedly serving the goddess. Grow up." Snickering, she skipped farther ahead, flaming red hair swinging wild behind her.

Stellae's jaw twitched. He stalked ahead, boots clipping the stone path with a heavy crunch as he walked. The sun glanced off his black scales and horns, and they appeared even darker beneath the light.

Unda shivered. He had only gathered bits and pieces about his siblings' pasts, the life they lived before they came to the temple. It wasn't something any of them wanted to remember. He certainly didn't, and yet the emblem of the House of the Bear on Vivian's back kept unearthing something forbidden, quickening his heartbeat as the images flashed across his mind's eye. It was best to forget, but it seemed as if someone wanted him not to.

"The spell is pulling me in that direction." Aurum pointed down the road, past the market streets with colorful banners and wide-eyed crowds and toward the outskirts where the dragons flocked together. "We should get moving. Foliis will catch up soon."

"I hope your magic is right, ahkirel! I want to go back to the temple already," Ignis called back to him before she took off down the road, leaving the rest in the dust.

The dragonborn parted for her the way one might dive out of the path of a raging, wild beast. Whispers drifted up in her absence, and Unda's skin crawled as they twined around him. He broke away from Aurum to walk with his chin high and shoulders back. They could not afford to defile Selini's image again, not when she needed her Head Dragonborn to appear strong and stable, able to overcome anything the elves tried to start.

"Unda." Aurum caught up to his side again, concern swirling in his golden eyes. In the daytime, he glowed with an otherworldly appearance, and it made sense why everyone lowered their heads when he passed. He was the sun to the dragonborn, the bringer of light and warmth and protection. He was the pillar of the city, just like he was the head of Selini's servants. Yet he smiled the same as anyone else, all soft edges. "If this mission is too much, you can go back."

Beside him, Unda was nothing, and the ice crawling up his arms nipped him with bitter disgrace. He had no control, no power, and no authority. Compared to Aurum, he was nothing.

Still, Unda forced a smile, though it wavered under the weight on his mind. "I'm okay."

Aurum's gaze drifted up to the traitorous blue tips of Unda's hair, always shifting when the storm inside him grew too much to bear. "You can't lie to me."

His breath hitched, and Unda covered his curls with a frost-coated hand. "I–I wasn't trying to lie. I don't want you to waste your time worrying about me. This was what I wanted, ahkirel. I need this chance to see the world for myself, to prove that I don't need to be chained up in the temple forever."