Page 10

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ADELLUM

I stand at the edge of my balcony, wings tightly folded against my back, watching the sun sink into New Solas like it's drowning. Three weeks. Three weeks since I've heard her laugh, felt her skin against mine, watched her eyes crinkle when she teases me.

Three fucking weeks since Harmony vanished.

I curl my fingers around the pale blue geode in my pocket, its rough edges biting into my palm. The pain feels right. Necessary. The small stone was meant to be her birthday gift, set in silver to match her eyes when they catch the light. Now it's just another reminder of everything I've lost.

Below, torches flicker to life across the city as dusk settles. Somewhere down there, she has to be. Has to.

"You missed another appointment." Sior's voice cuts through my thoughts, sharp as obsidian. He stands in the doorway to my chambers, his dark wings held precisely at the formal angle that's always irritated me—too controlled, too perfect.

I don't bother turning. "Cancel it."

"I already did. Along with the six others you've ignored this week." His footsteps approach, measured and even. "I've spent years building your reputation, and you're dismantling it stone by stone over some human servant."

The geode cuts deeper as I clench my fist. "Don't."

"This has gone beyond foolishness, Adellum. Lord Merifel is threatening to withdraw his patronage if you don't complete his family portrait by?—"

I whirl around, wings snapping open with enough force to knock over a small table. "I don't give a fuck about Lord Merifel's patronage!"

Sior doesn't flinch. Never flinches. His olive-skinned face remains impassive, those dark eyes calculating as always. "You might not care now, but you will when you're penniless and forgotten."

I laugh, and the sound is hollow even to my own ears. "Forgotten? Everyone's talking about me, aren't they? 'Poor mad Adellum,' 'Fallen so far,' 'Lost his mind like most artists do.' Tell me—which version are you spreading?"

"I'm trying to salvage what's left of your career while you're determined to burn it all down." Sior glances around my chambers, taking in the chaos—canvases slashed, pigments spilled across the floor, sketches of Harmony's face covering every surface. His lip curls. "Your talent is wasted like this."

"My talent." I move past him into my studio, where half-finished commissions gather dust. I pick up a brush, crusted with dried paint. "My fucking talent is the only thing you've ever cared about."

Sior follows me, his wings tucking tight against his back as he navigates the mess. "That's not fair. I raised you up from nothing?—"

"You raised my price tag." I toss the ruined brush aside. "Have you even asked yourself why she left? Why she'd just disappear without a word?"

"Because humans are fickle creatures who?—"

"Not her." My voice breaks. "Not Harmony."

Sior's expression softens fractionally—the closest thing to sympathy I've seen from him. "I have contacts searching the northern trade routes. If she's left the city, we'll hear something."

For a moment, I almost believe he cares. Then I remember the night before she vanished, how he'd pushed me toward Lilleth, arranged our meeting in the gardens. "Did you say something to her? Is that why she left?"

His face shutters. "I've never even spoken to your little human."

"She has a name."

"A name that's destroying you." He gestures at the chaos surrounding us. "Look at yourself, Adellum. When was the last time you bathed? Ate? Created anything but these obsessive sketches?"

I turn away, back to the balcony and the city below. In the market district, lanterns bloom like fireflies. Tomorrow I'll search there again. And the docks. The western villages. Everywhere.

"I'm going to find her," I say, more to myself than to Sior.

Behind me, he sighs. "And if she doesn't want to be found?"

The question cuts deeper than he knows. I squeeze the geode again, remembering how Harmony's fingers felt twined with mine. "Then I'll hear it from her lips. Not yours. Not anyone else's. Hers."

When I turn back, Sior is already heading for the door, his wings rigid with frustration. "The Merchant's Guild gala is in three days. You're expected to attend."

"Cancel it."

He pauses, shoulders tense. "Adellum?—"

"Cancel everything."

After he's gone, I unfurl my wings to their full span, feeling the muscles strain after days of keeping them tightly bound. The silver feathers catch the fading light, reminding me of how Harmony used to trace their edges with gentle fingers.

"Where are you, little bird?" I whisper to the empty air. "Why did you fly away from me?"

The city offers no answer, just the endless buzz of streets I'll search again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next—until I find her or there's nothing left of me to search.

I don't remember walking to the river. Don't remember the paths I took or who might have seen me stumbling through the streets of New Solas with a half-empty wine bottle dangling from my fingers. My wings drag behind me like broken things, silver feathers gathering dirt and leaves.

The water glistens beneath the triple moons, reflecting their light in fractured, dancing patterns. This bend in the river—tucked behind a copse of ancient trees with low-hanging branches that brush the water—it's ours. Was ours.

"Harmony," I whisper, testing her name on my tongue. The wine has dulled everything but the ache.

I sink down onto the flat rock where I first brought her, where nervous laughter turned to sighs turned to her body arching beneath mine. The stone still carries the marks of my magic—scorched handprints from when pleasure overwhelmed my control and power sparked from my fingertips as I held myself above her.

"Is this what you wanted?" I say louder, eyes fixed on the water. "To reduce me to this fucking hollow shell?"

The river doesn't answer. Nothing answers these days.

I drink deeply from the bottle, grimacing at the sour taste. Not the fine amerinth I'm accustomed to—just cheap wine I bought from a street vendor who looked at my disheveled appearance and wild eyes with thinly veiled concern.

Magic crackles along my forearms, sparking between my fingers without conscious thought. The loss of control would frighten me if I could feel anything beyond this void inside my chest.

"I touched you here," I say to the empty air, tracing my fingers along the rock. "You laughed when I said I'd been thinking about you for weeks. Remember? You called me a liar." I smile despite myself. "Said no xaphan would waste thoughts on a human girl."

My wings twitch, sending a cascade of loose feathers into the river.

"You were wrong, you know. I'd wasted months of thoughts on you before I ever worked up the courage to bring you here."

The bottle slips from my fingers, rolls toward the water's edge. I don't bother retrieving it.

"HARMONY!" Her name tears from my throat, echoing across the water. My magic flares in response, blue-white energy crackling visibly across my skin, scorching the rock beneath me. "Where are you?"

Golden plumes of power lick up my arms, dancing along my wings. I don't try to control it. Let it burn. Let the entire fucking riverbank burn if it wants to.

"You could have told me to my face." My voice breaks. "If you didn't want me anymore. If I... if I disgusted you somehow. You didn't have to run."

The magic intensifies with my emotion, and I close my eyes, letting it flow. It feels like the only part of me that's still alive—this raw, dangerous power coursing through my veins.

"I would have let you go," I lie, because we both know I would have fought for her. Would have done anything to keep her.

Like I'm doing now.

I shed my shirt, letting it fall to the ground. The cool night air hits my bare chest, but I barely feel it. The wine has me numb everywhere except where this hollow ache lives.

I spread my wings to their full span—fourteen feet of silver-gray feathers that once made Harmony gasp in wonder. Now they're unkempt, some feathers hanging loose, others broken. I haven't groomed them since she left. Haven't cared.

"Look what you've done to me, little bird." I reach for the geode in my pocket, hold it up to catch the moonlight. "I'm nothing without you."

The magic surges again, stronger this time. Blue-white energy races across my skin, down my torso, along my wings. The air around me crackles, and small stones near my feet rise and hover, caught in the magical current.

I want to scream. Want to tear the city apart stone by stone until I find her.

Instead, I fall to my knees at the river's edge, wings dragged behind me in the dirt. I dip my hands into the cool water, watching my magic dance across its surface like liquid lightning before it sputters out.

"I will find you," I promise, voice raw. I press the geode to my lips. "Even if I have to burn down the world to do it."