Work Text:
Unbreakable
The storm raged over the valley in front of Riorson House, dark clouds pressing low against the horizon as lightning carved jagged veins through the sky. The wind carried the scent of rain, sharp and electric, but Violet barely noticed.
She stood at the edge of the balcony, knuckles white against the stone railing, eyes locked on the vast stretch of land below. The valley—once a place of quiet respite, of stolen moments between battles—felt hollow without him.
Xaden was gone.
Not dead—she refused to believe that—but missing. Taken. And for three months, their bond had been silent.
The first week had been unbearable. Every hour, every heartbeat, she had reached for him, only to find an empty void where he should have been. The absence was worse than pain, worse than any battle wound. It was like a part of her had been ripped away, leaving only jagged edges behind.
Tairn had been just as lost.
For the first few weeks, he had barely moved, sleeping endlessly as if trying to compensate for Sgaeyl’s absence. Violet could feel his grief like a heavy stone in her chest, his silence more suffocating than his usual blunt commentary. He had been strong for her in the beginning, but even a dragon as mighty as Tairn wasn’t immune to loss.
Andarna had tried to fill the silence, but even she had grown quieter as the days stretched on.
By the first month, Violet had stopped sleeping. Stopped eating. Stopped anything that wasn’t finding him. Tairn had eventually stirred, his instincts overpowering his grief, and together they had searched, flying until exhaustion claimed them. Andarna had circled above, her usually bright energy dimmed by the ache of missing part of their family.
By the second month, Violet had started to lose hope.
Now, at the start of the third, she still refused to break.
Because if Xaden was out there—if he was still breathing—then she would find him.
Lightning split the sky, illuminating the ridge on the far side of the valley. And there—just for a heartbeat—stood Xaden Riorson.
Her breath stilled.
Rain lashed against the earth as he took a step forward, unsteady but defiant. His leathers were torn, his skin bruised and bloodied, but he was there. Alive.
The bond snapped back into place with an almost physical force, slamming into her chest like a second heartbeat. A flood of emotion crashed into her—pain, exhaustion, relief, something raw and unyielding.
She didn’t think. She ran.
Down the stairs, out the doors of Riorson House, through the rain-soaked valley. Her feet barely touched the ground as she closed the distance between them.
And then he was there.
Xaden caught her as she crashed into him, his arms locking around her so tightly she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. She buried her face against his shoulder, breathing him in—leather, smoke, storm.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. They just held on.
Finally, she whispered, “Three months.”
His grip tightened. “I know.”
Her fingers dug into his back, feeling the rigid lines of muscle beneath his soaked shirt. “I couldn’t—”
“I know,” he said again, voice rough, pained. “They tried to break me, Vi.”
A shudder ran through his frame, the ghosts of whatever they’d done to him still lingering.
“But they didn’t,” she murmured, fierce and certain.
His exhale was sharp, almost a laugh, though there was no humour in it. “No. Because of you.”
Her hand trembled as she cupped his jaw, tracing the bruises, the faint scruff along his cheek. He leaned into her touch, like a man starved for something only she could give.
Her emerald wedding ring glinted as rain dripped down her fingers, the deep green stone catching in the lightning’s glow. His gaze flickered to it, and something in his expression cracked—relief, love, disbelief.
Then, without hesitation, he lifted her hand to his lips.
His mouth brushed against her palm, the cool metal of her ring pressing against his skin, and the vow between them settled like an unshakable force.
“Always,” she breathed.
His dark eyes locked onto hers, fierce and unwavering. “Always.”
And as the storm raged around them, the valley bearing witness to their unrelenting bond, Violet knew the truth.
They were unbreakable.