Page 16

Chapter

Fourteen

Liv

T he inn was cozy. We were put up in a spacious round wooden room on the ground floor with double doors that led to a romantically lit pathway.

Four large beds lined the room, and I was dying to dive into mine.

Instead, I sat on its edge, watching the twins move around the room, inspecting the Veydian decor.

I wasn’t ready to sleep, so I brought up something I wished to know about Day-legs. “So the ice and wind clans were separated from the suns. Why?”

Ollo sat on his own bed, pulling off his boots and setting them neatly beside him. “I assume the reason is that the children of Sun resemble our god, Rem, the most. They were favoured. The Council likely has something to do with why only they remain in Veydes.”

“Do you think they got rid of your bloodlines like they are trying to do with the Sea-legs?” Did Ollo have different views than Nuo on Sea-legs? My old friend told me they were not a desirable legacy.

Ollo’s mouth set in a hard line. The low amber lighting glowed off the top of his white hair. “Sea-legs are not always treated well in Rydavas either.”

“Why is that? What’s so different about them?” I asked.

Maev opened the double doors and leaned on the frame, watching people pass outside, a slight smile on her face.

Ollo ignored his sister and continued. “Many legacies refuse to take the time required to understand each other—when they do, they can’t accept their differences.

I think it stems from jealousy. Sea-legs are made for two worlds.

Above the ocean and below. Over time, those with power have turned jealousy into distaste and distaste into abasement. ”

I waited a moment, hoping he would explain more. My cheeks heated when I asked, “What’s abasement?” Ollo’s language was hard to understand at times, and I was not well read to begin with.

“Abasement is akin to dishonouring and shaming someone to lower their rank.”

Another thing he and Maev had in common was that when they spoke, I understood half of what they said. “I see. Do you think of them like that?”

He failed to hide his irritation when he blinked twice. “I do not look down upon other legacies.”

Ollo didn’t bat an eye at my lack of knowledge. When he answered my questions, they weren’t delivered with arrogance. That fact was not helping my goal to stay distant from these two. “I don’t like that word. People should learn to like each other.”

Ollo straightened himself, massaging his lower back. The chords in his neck stretched, giving me a view of his profile. It was a pleasant view. “It’s not necessary to like others. You only need to accept they aren’t like you and leave it be. In that space, hatred cannot exist.”

I added to my mental list that he was smart—emotionally, as much as intellectually. I didn’t like how I was starting to admire him, starting to notice more than his beauty.

“I wish everyone thought like you,” I admitted, and he gave me a coy smile. Perhaps there was an ego in there.

“If everyone were like me, Olivia, the world would not have the wonders it does now. The world needs ambitious mechanists to make great inventions, like Maev.”

She glanced over from the door, a smile plastered on her heart-shaped face.

“It needs artists to make music and beautiful things. It needs scholars to keep records. Pilots to fly airships.” His hand landed on his chest. “We need strong bodies to protect the ones we love. The world cannot exist without the clashing of spirits. We must learn to fight for our differences and not against them. Something the Guardians could do to learn.”

“I think that’s the smartest thing I have ever heard.

” Damn him. If I were less stubborn, I might have admitted I was starting to look up to Ollo.

He was unexpected, as much as his sister was.

So much more than what the Guardians accused him of.

Perhaps … perhaps the Guards were wrong about the Aethar lands.

I heard a snicker come from the door. “You’ll learn, Olivia, that Ollo is usually the second smartest person in the room.”

“And I am guessing you see yourself as the first?” Ollo tsked. If her joke insulted him, he didn’t show it.

“Find me someone smarter, and I’ll change my mind.”

There was a pang in my chest—the phrase reminded me of something Nuo would say.

“Maev isn’t wrong. She’s usually the smartest.” Ollo smiled for the first time. His teeth were straight, and the corners of his eyes crinkled, lighting up his whole face. “That is until we share the same space.”

A pleasant breeze came in through the doors as if the rain may have stopped.

The lights twinkled above in the trees, and it made me want to walk the pathways.

For the first time in days, I felt lighter.

Instead, I lay down while the twins argued about the plan for tomorrow.

As I watched the two bicker, I knew in my heart that neither would have sold the other out to the Keepers if they had come from the Endless Forest.

Later, I stood under the twinkling lights after the rain had stopped.

The dusty pathway muffled the sounds of my footsteps as the river beside me trickled past, rippling in the lantern’s glow.

I travelled over wide bridges and had stopped to watch strange-coloured fish as they came to the surface to eat.

The quiet soothed me, and I took a long, deep breath. I had wandered so long that I was completely alone. After years of hating my quiet solitude, I savoured the small moment.

I left the bridge and made my way back.

Behind me, the lamplight snuffed out. The shadows inched closer, then, one by one, the lights went dark.

Was there magic to the Danuli lanterns? Some trick I didn’t understand?

“Hello?” My voice echoed over the river.

The remaining lantern light pulsed brighter, and my heart gave a thunderous beat. Something was here.

I turned to run but stopped, screaming.

The path before me was no longer Danuli.

I was in a long hallway made of black stone, white and gold banners hanging from the ceiling. The hallway wasn’t lit, making it difficult to see, and I blinked several times, catching my breath, jarred by the sudden change in my surroundings.

I turned in circles, finding no traces of Danuli anywhere. Emerald green doors lined the moonlit hall. Each set of doors displayed a unique carving of the Aspis. Down the hall, banners flowed, catching moonlight that filtered in from large windows leading to a balcony.

I know this place. Its familiarity sent shivers down my spine. The last time I had walked these halls was a different time, a different life.

I kept still, listening for sounds coming from the rooms, but everything was quiet. I could feel that they were empty.

A loud roar shook the ground beneath me, coming up the stairs from a level below.

I reached for the wall to keep my balance, and the cold stone wall burned my fingertips. I bolted for the first set of doors, tripping over my own feet. If I remembered correctly, it was Kazhi’s room. I was in the hallway belonging to the Guards’ suites.

Locked.

I searched the dark stairs behind me, fearing the silence that followed the roar from below. Something was coming for me.

I ran down the hallway, sliding to a halt in front of Bastane’s room, clinging to the carvings on the doors to stop myself.

Locked.

I shook the doors, throwing my shoulder against them, trying to use force. I pounded a fist against them. Nothing.

Next was Nuo’s room. I darted toward it.

My head pounded, muscles seizing. The hallway was so cold it was getting harder to run.

I passed a wall of glass, and into the soft moonlight, its brightness blinding me. The plush carpet was a cushion on my bare feet, and I slipped before I skidded to a stop in front of Nuo’s room.

Locked.

“Help!” Nothing. No one was inside.

It was coming. It was close.

The hall from where I had come was now bathed in darkness. Pulsing, living darkness.

Violent shivers shook me. I needed to find safety and fast.

There!

I turned for the last set of doors, the room I was most familiar with. The darkness closed in, but there was a sliver of hope ahead.

His doors were open.

I sensed the monster close behind, the darkness, wanting to devour me.

I pumped my arms, running into the last set of doors. They swung open on impact, and I went sprawling into the dimly lit room, landing on my hands and knees. The doors closed behind me on a phantom wind, shutting the danger out with an eerie, soft click.

I was alone in here. Warmth emanated from the fireplace to my left, cozy chairs situated around it. Past the living space, behind a divider, was the bedroom. Everything was the same. Bare, no visible signs of it being lived in—exactly how he had kept his room.

I got up from the floor, wiping my knees.

The hallway behind me remained quiet. Why was I here?

How was I here? My pounding heart, my burning lungs—it was real.

My hands—they hurt. I rubbed a hand along my arms, watching the tiny hairs rise.

The heat from the fireplace grew more intense as I approached it.

“What is this place?” I wasn’t actually in the Guard’s suite, and the ceiling confirmed it as I tilted my head back. “Woah.”

The ceiling was gone, and high above stretched a dark sky made of black shimmering crystal, but the rest of the room was the same as I remembered. Shelves lined the wall, and among them was a small figurine made of sticks—the Aspis. I had made it for?—

God, it hurt to see. It had been such a stupid thing, a small gift for someone I wanted to grow closer with.

I closed my eyes, shutting out the room, unable to handle it. A breeze came in from the patio past the dark bedroom, and my eyes flew back open.

Out on the patio was, “Bre—” I swallowed his name. Last time it had not been him. Not really.

I tiptoed to the divider separating the bedroom and hid behind it. I peered around, looking past the large bed and through the glass patio door.