Page 54 of Starfall

“Here it is! This one was practically screaming for the woman with silver hair. A beauty with eyes the stars would envy.” He darted back into place, giving it a twirl before handing it out to me like it was a harmless flower.

Black spots floated around my periphery as I beheld his offering, and thoughts of Elias sifted into the background.

I didn’t feel myself move as I reached out and clasped the feather.

When it was safely in my hold, I curled my fist around its stem, my body swaying like a bolt of energy had shot down my back.

I should have dropped it and run to Elias, but…I was entranced, the same as every single person in this tent. If there was a message for me— any message—I had to know. Desperation did that to a person on the verge of losing everything.

My palm tickled as the gold-flecked feather transformed, becoming ash that slipped from my fingers and rose into the unnatural wind swirling about the tent.

The mask perched on my head hummed to life, and shivers raced all across my body.

The crowd and their chatter drifted away as I homed in on the coiling cloud, the area around it glowing with sunshine.

A face took shape; wide eyes I’d known my whole life, full lips that were forever pulled up on one side. Curls bloomed around her, the luscious locks gleaming even in their current state.

Lily .

Her mouth smiled at me, the realness of it like a physical blow.

No. It couldn’t be real. My initial instinct had been correct, that the performer was skilled at deception.

But Lily’s joy didn’t feel right; The last time I’d seen her, she’d been a shell of the woman I knew.

See the truth.

Heart racing, I lowered my mask from where it sat atop my head.

I gasped and clutched my mouth to keep from screaming. The cloud of ash still danced before me, but instead of the smiling Lily I’d seen, it showed the woman from the pond. Broken and gray.

“Lily?” My voice was a trembling mess. “A-are you really here?” I asked, too awed to feel embarrassed in front of so many onlookers .

The Lily trapped in the ash cloud frowned, her wide eyes turned into slits, but she wasn’t glaring at me.

Her lips were shaping words I couldn’t hear, and an unfamiliar rage burned in her gray-shrouded eyes.

My pulse roared in my ears. I tried to decipher her words, but her mouth moved faster, and soon, her rage shifted into noticeable fear.

I made out three words. And they would forever haunt me?—

You will die .

She flinched, jerking backward as if physically struck by some unseen foe. I released a sound of pain deep in my chest as she loosed a silent scream I couldn’t hear but felt deeply.

A slash of silver light crashed into the side of her face, the glow intensifying as it swelled in size, encircling her face. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, and her full lips twisted in agony, but still, the eerie light attacked, stealing her energy, her life force.

The Lily I loved with all my soul shut her eyes before the violent light engulfed her whole…

There was nothing left but the echoes of her fear. Of her threat.

You will die .

I trembled so violently I could hardly stand, could hardly take in air. My hand shot to my mask, and I lifted it, recoiling at the sight of the enchantment swirling feet away; of Lily, completely unaffected, staring at me with empty eyes.

A lie.

In my panic, I tossed the mask to the ground, itching to run as far from this nightmare as I could.

I had to get out of this cursed tent, away from the depiction of Lily and those words she murmured.

Seeing her sliced at my insides, and my airways tightened as if someone’s hand wrapped around my neck.

There was clapping and more coins being tossed on stage, my moment in the spotlight forgotten, but I was hyperventilating, dying?—

A hand grasped mine, yanking me forward. I didn’t resist the pull, not when I wanted to be as far from this place of despair as possible. At that point, I didn’t care who had captured me.

A blast of glacial wind struck my cheeks as the tent flaps opened, and fresh air rushed into my aching lungs. I was moving, the fairy lights strung above my head a blur. But I didn’t worry about where I headed or who held me.

My entire soul wept. And it hurt .

Everything stopped, and the sounds of the revelry grew muffled. The spots in front of my eyes made it difficult to see much, but a recognizable face shoved in front of me, eclipsing all else.

“Ari!” Elias’s hands glided down my arms until he cradled both of my cheeks. His warmth burned me, but I craved the slight sting. It grounded me in a sea of pain.

I blinked slowly, the haze refusing to leave. I could see enough to distinguish the pair of tents Elias had pushed us between, the thick fabric shielding us from prying eyes.

“Breathe with me, lass,” he said, his thumbs rubbing the sides of my cheeks.

“We’ll do it together. In through your nose.

Come on, Ari, in through your nose.” I snapped out of my trance at his commanding tone, hastening to follow his directions.

“Yes, that’s it. Now hold it for four seconds.

Good, yes, just like that. Now we’re going to exhale together. ”

His spring eyes were a lifeline I clung to, the green in them reminding me of the sprawling woods and open air. He embodied freedom and sunshine and I reached out for him, grabbing his shirt and fisting the linen, holding on to him with all my strength.

“You’re doing so good,” he praised, his tone lowering.

His body pressed against mine, his solidness keeping me rooted.

In and out we breathed, and the world gradually righted itself.

The black spots coating my vision drifted away, and my full inhale filled me with much-needed oxygen.

And even as the seconds passed, and I settled enough to have released him, I held on, wanting to touch him. Wanting his hands on me.

Safe .

Elias was safety.

He might have been upset earlier, but he hadn’t abandoned me. He’d come for me. Found me in that crowded room and protected me in my moment of need.

Without giving him a warning, I jumped into his arms and wrapped myself around him, my legs on either side of his wide torso.

An oomph left his throat, but he hugged me back, his hesitance vanishing when I nuzzled into his neck, inhaling his woodsy scent.

He felt like the safest place I’d ever known. I wasn’t ready to let go of that.

“T-thank you,” I whispered, my lips brushing the column of his throat. He shivered beneath me. “You didn’t leave.”

“I couldn’t leave you. Soul bond, remember?

” he replied, and my heart sank. As if sensing my disappointment, he added, “Not that I would have left you. I just needed to think. To clear my head. Everything was getting…” He freed a nervous laugh.

“Since I met you, you’ve had the tendency to bring out this annoying emotional side of me. ”

“Same,” I said, nodding against him, too afraid to tilt my head and look into his eyes.

Elias’s hands held me firm, and he lowered his head, resting his chin on the top of my hair. “I’m right here, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I won’t let go.”

I gripped him with equal ferocity, remembering that he, too, had been visited by a specter that haunted him.

“I won’t either,” I replied, and I swore he let out a hiss.

Elias didn’t shove me away as I expected.

He clutched me to him as if the world was ending and this was his final embrace…

His last seconds alive, and all he desired was to feel this moment with me, where we’d both been exposed and didn’t hide.

Where we showed one another our broken pieces and trusted the other to not shy away from the threat of our broken edges.

A warm droplet slid down the side of my temple. Elias froze as another tear left him, then another. He freed them all—all the tears he had refused to cry, all the pain he had held on to for over a decade. He cried silently with me in his arms, and I did the only thing I could.

I didn’t let go.