Who The Fire Favours (ONC2023) gxg

Chapter 25: Ixis

Ixis awoke with her Oathed curled up beside her.

Hydra was snoring softly, Dra with her mouth open while Hyde was growling in his sleep. She wanted to cry. Everything that had happened the last few days made her want to curl up in a ball and never wake up. All of the Undercity had seen Aria's light. Not a single person in her home recognised who she was. Except for Rider and her Oathed.

Ixis had begged and pleaded with her parents to remember who she was until the door slammed in her face. She had thought being yelled at by her mother was the worst day of her life but seeing her father that terrified of her made her long for just a spark of a memory. Everything felt hollow now.

"Ixy? Are you awake?"

It took her a moment to recognise the harsh rasp of a Shadow Traited. Rider's head was bound in a crudely made set of bandages while leaning on what looked like a plank that had been ripped out of the floor. But the weirdest thing wasn't her injuries or her carefree nature but the fact she wasn't wearing black. Her hat was hung up on a stray nail, the signature jacket slumped beneath it while the ramshackle house with the crooked floor swayed slightly.

"Yeah."

"Well, I made some food if you want it?"

Ixis didn't know what to say. Rider's sudden homemaker mode seemed to mask her own pain but she wobbly made her way towards the teeny kitchen and waited for what concoction she had come up with. The half broken cupboards were barely hung onto the wall, the doors haphazardly screwed on by a drunkard.

"You'll be happy to know the demons have moved on a few days ago. Found this place still intact yesterday and Night helped fix it up. Skyla and I used to use it as a base before...well, before Scholar's Keep."

Ixis barely replied with anything more than grunts and groans, distracting herself with the greevy burgers. The potato-like crop was really cheap and really tasty but all Ixis could think about was how alone she was all because she got mixed up in Rider's mess.

"I know it's not the same as Peddler's Inn or even your room in Opalis but, it's something. I know it's rough right now with-"

"How would you even begin to know how I feel! You don't even have family-"

Hydra growled loudly, Ixis clamping her hand over her mouth before she even finished her sentence. Her Oathed glared at her accusingly, bounding onto the wobbly table the size of a cup while they greeted the other dragon with a flick of their tail. Night let out a husky laugh, sliding over his own plate of food before jumping onto Rider's shoulder and curled around her neck.

But all Rider did was smile. She set her own chipped plate onto the table, splitting half with her dragon for the first time in years and took a bite. She didn't say a word. Ixis tried to read her expression but with Night by her side she was nothing except content. Until the obvious answer was the only one left.

"You've done this before?"

Rider nodded, mouth full.

"How many times..."

"That's not an answer you want to know right now."

Ixis was taken aback by the blunt reply and tried to reword it better.

"How many times have we..?"

Rider shook her head, her dragon snapping his slice in two in an instant. Ixis' patience was at her limit, scorching the bottom of the already stained table.

"You betrayed me! You used me to get to Aria! I deserve an answer at least!"

"And you betrayed me. You really thought I didn't know your game? I wasn't just a player in your plan, I invented it."