Outside, they boarded the flying ship with Tivnir and Rhysandor steering it onward in the west, towards Vessharn.

Nytherael prepared purple tea. He knew it was the tea his sister-in-law, Princess Aenyra Zhen, loved to drink.

The tea was made from the petals of a flower called the Flaming Rine, a purple blossom that naturally radiated heat. Even after being brewed, the tea retained its warmth, and that heat was especially beneficial for dragons.

Once the tea was ready, he poured it into a cup while it was still steaming hot and headed toward Aenyra’s room aboard the flying ship.

Knock! Knock!

He knocked and waited. It did not take long before Aenyra opened the door.

"Sister-in-law, I made tea for you." He lifted the cup slightly to show her.

Aenyra looked at him with an unreadable expression. It was difficult for Nytherael to tell whether she was happy or upset to see him.

"Can I come in so we can talk for a little while, sister-in-law?"

Aenyra hesitated for a moment. Then she stepped aside and silently allowed him inside.

Nytherael quickly took the opportunity before she could change her mind. "How have you been, sister-in-law?"

Princess Aenyra did not answer. She sat down, accepted the tea, and took a sip.

The flavor was perfect. Even the purple flames dancing atop the tea burned steadily and beautifully.

The taste pulled her back to two years ago, when she had visited Nytherael, Sseraphis, and her older brother Aeltharion at their home.

That day, her brother had made tea just like this. She, along with her siblings-in-law, Nytherael and Sseraphis, had sat like honored guests while Aeltharion personally took care of them.

Her brother had never complained. He loved caring for the people he loved.

Tears slipped down Aenyra’s face as she remembered that day. She had almost forgotten how warm and joyful her brother’s family once was.

Nytherael stopped breathing for a moment. He feared that even breathing too loudly might anger Aenyra enough to throw him out.

"You made the tea exactly the way Aeltharion used to," she said quietly while wiping away her tears.

"It has to taste the same," Nytherael replied softly. "He’s the one who taught me how to make it."

Hearing those words shattered Aenyra’s heart all over again. It was proof of how deeply her brother had loved Nytherael.

Questions flooded her mind. She wanted to ask what exactly Aeltharion had failed to give him in their marriage that drove him to commit such betrayal. But she bit down on her tongue and stayed silent.

No question she asked could change the past.

No answer Nytherael gave could turn back time and allow him to fix his mistakes before hurting Aeltharion and Sseraphis the way he had.

"What did you want to talk about?" she finally asked.

Nytherael took a seat. He spent several moments thinking carefully about where to begin with the words weighing heavily on his soul.

Princess Aenyra did not interrupt the silence. She simply drank her tea patiently and waited for him to speak.

"It’s no secret that I hurt many people with my decisions in the past," he began.

Aenyra listened quietly. She neither added to his statement nor comforted him.

"I know one of the people I hurt most was your brother, Aeltharion. I have no excuse for what I did, but I want you to understand that from this point onward, I will never hurt him again."

Nytherael tried to put his intentions into words so Aenyra would understand him.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked calmly. "I’m not Aeltharion."

"Please don’t say that, sister-in-law. I know you resent me too for hurting your brother."

Princess Aenyra set her teacup down on the table.

"I won’t lie to you, Nytherael. Your actions hurt me deeply because besides being my brother’s mate, I thought we were friends..."

"We are friends," Nytherael said immediately, speaking over her.

Aenyra massaged the bridge of her nose. She felt that Nytherael would live a much better life if he learned how to truly listen to others instead of listening only to the voice in his own head. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"As I was saying," she continued, "I believed we were friends. Then you shattered my trust in you."

"I understand your anger."

"No," Aenyra said heavily. "I don’t think you do."

The pain she carried from everything that happened was nothing compared to the pain her brother endured.

No one felt Nytherael’s betrayal as deeply as Aeltharion did. The world believed Sseraphis suffered the most, and that Sseraphis loved Nytherael more than anyone else.

But only she and Sseraphis knew the truth. A piece of Aeltharion’s soul had died the day Nytherael asked to break their bond.

The dragon who remained behind was merely a shadow of the sovereign they once knew. Yet because Nytherael was the cause of it all, Aenyra could never bring herself to tell him that truth.

"My entire family trusted you," she said quietly. "And you repaid that trust by destroying your love with Aeltharion."

She looked directly into his eyes. "You did it without considering that all of us would be hurt too, because you only thought about yourself."

The truth in Aenyra’s words added even more weight to Nytherael’s guilt. It hurt deeply because she was speaking with the voice of the entire Zhen family.

He had disappointed his in-laws, and there was no way to fix everything overnight. It would take time. And even then, there was no guarantee they would ever forgive him.

"I’ll do everything I can until all of you forgive me."

Princess Aenyra shook her head.

"Even now, you’re still only thinking about yourself, Nytherael."

Nytherael stared at her in shock. He thought he was trying to fix things for everyone’s sake. How could she still see him as selfish?

"How?" he asked quietly.

"Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself whether the people you hurt even want your apology?"

Nytherael thought of Sseraphis, his mate whose rage stretched beyond heaven and earth. Then Aeltharion, the dragon who could not even bear to look at him anymore let alone speak to him.

His mind drifted to his younger sister Nerezza, who had admitted she once felt relieved believing he was dead. Even Yiwa, despite faithfully caring for him, carried deep resentment in his heart.

An apology was nowhere near enough to fix what he had done. And when he truly reflected on it, he realized every apology he gave had never really been for the people he hurt.

It was for himself. To ease his own guilt.

"Try to understand the beastfolk around you," Princess Aenyra said while finishing her tea. "Understand their thoughts and feelings first."

She looked at him steadily.

"Before anything else, place yourself in the shoes of the people you hurt. Understand what they need from you, then do that. That is how you begin fixing your mistakes."

Nytherael finally understood the truth behind her advice. Thinking only of his own pain while ignoring the feelings and needs of his mates only made him appear more selfish.

"I understand now."

"Don’t just understand," Aenyra replied. "Put it into action."

Nytherael lowered his head slightly. "I knew speaking to you would help me understand the path I need to follow. And it did. Thank you."

Princess Aenyra nodded. She did not hate Nytherael. Yes, she no longer loved him the way she once had, but her anger had never grown into hatred. She could not bring herself to hate the mate of her brother.

The trio soul-bond still connected Aeltharion’s life to Nytherael’s and because of that, she still gave him the respect he deserved.

"Talking to me is easy," she warned quietly. "I won’t speak for the rest of my family, but the others will not be as understanding. They may not even give you the chance to speak or explain yourself."

"I can’t blame them," Nytherael admitted softly. "I brought all of this upon myself."