Vela Heartwhisper's Arc

Chapter 14 of 25

The moth-wing charm sat in Vela's palm as she walked to her rocket. Its face smiled at her through the dark. But the charm was only an object. Her handlers had asked for proof of love, and objects could be forged. She had one night to make silver-skinned strangers believe a king's heart was real, not a spy's clever trick. She had no words for that. She had only the wing. Her rocket hummed low as she climbed inside. It knew her. It had always known her. "They want a story," she told it. "Not a thing. A thing means nothing to them." She turned the charm over and found she could not explain why it mattered. If she stumbled, they would call it staged. A knock struck the hull. Vela opened the hatch. Scarlett Nightbloom stood below, her butterfly wings folded tight, her red eyes catching the rocket's light. The vampire fairy had hunted Severin's spies through the forest for her. Now she looked tired, and something in her face made Vela pause. "You keep rehearsing," Scarlett said. "I heard you through the metal. You sound like a report." She climbed up and sat on the hatch rim. "I know how it goes. You want love, and no one believes you have it. They see the danger in you first." Vela lowered the charm. "You've felt this." "Every day." Scarlett touched the wing with one finger. "Stop trying to prove it with words. Show them how you got this. You didn't buy it. You didn't steal it. He hid it where only someone who loved him would look. That's the story. Tell that." Vela's chest loosened. She had been building an argument. Scarlett handed her a memory instead. The king's tower. The hurt moth in his hands. The wing he kept and strung and left in the one room a spy would never search. A branch cracked below. Both turned. Dr. Severin stepped from the trees, his glowing sword low, his glasses flashing. "Give it to me," he said. "That charm. Then your handlers get nothing, and they erase you." Scarlett dropped from the hatch before Vela could speak. Her wings snapped wide. She struck Severin's sword arm and drove him back through the ferns. "Go," she called. "Meet them. I have him." Vela ran. She reached the clearing where two silver-skinned figures waited beside a cold light. She did not recite. She held up the wing and told them how a lonely king had healed a moth, kept its wing, and hidden it for her to find. Her voice shook, and she let it shake. The taller figure took the wing. Studied it. Then closed the file panel at their belt. "Accepted," they said. "The bond is logged as true." Vela's knees nearly gave. Her name was safe. But behind her, Severin still had a sword, and Scarlett fought alone.