Page 11

Evelina

Evelina didn’t try to sleep that night, but she hardly ever did. Especially now that she knew Daimon was back. And not only that, but now she would be stationed with him.

She went straight to the infirmary after the meeting, eager to avoid running into him. She wasn’t ready to face him yet—didn’t even know what she would say. The last time she had seen him, they had still been so full of innocence, two bright souls still clinging to hope. Even though she had just lost her father, she thought his sacrifice would be the first and last of this war. But then the losses kept coming, and Daimon—her only friend—left.

A warm arm draped across Evelina’s shoulders. She was trembling so violently that the arm had to tighten to hold on.

“I’m so sorry, Evie,” Daimon whispered.

The sun was setting over the quiet lunaria garden, the sky glowing a soft orange. Evelina hated how the land was bright and flourishing on a day like this. There should be clouds in the sky, perhaps even a thunderstorm. The land should be grieving just as Evelina was. Didn’t it know it had just lost its king ?

Even though her father wasn’t bound to the land as her mother was, it seemed wrong for the skies to be so peaceful.

“Why are the rebels doing this?” she sobbed. “There’s been more and more attacks, Daimon.” She buried her face in her knees, her body curled in on itself.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “It isn’t fair.”

His arm stayed wrapped around her shoulders as she cried. Her tears didn’t dry until the sun was nearly set and it was time for her to go back to the palace. He walked her back, glancing her way every few minutes.

When they reached the entrance, she turned abruptly toward him. “Can we meet back in our garden tomorrow?”

That’s what it had become—theirs. He was her closest friend, the one she could count on to always be there.

He nodded quickly. “As long as you need.”

She met him in the garden every sunrise after that day. From sunup to sundown, they hid away in the flowers. All of her siblings were a wreck. Carwyn hid away at the temple to pray, Lyria stayed by Mother’s side without fail, and Ren left to train with Aegis soldiers. Her mother was even worse off. She might have donned the mask of queen to lead her realm in this difficult time, but Evelina could see it wearing on her day by day.

They all were seeking their own safe place to heal from the grief.

All Evelina wanted was Daimon.

Evelina slammed a jar down harder than she meant to, the shelves rattling. She cursed and straightened it, checking it over for any cracks. She tried to ignore the pain in her chest, the deep wound that had been sliced wide open. No matter how she willed her thoughts elsewhere, the memory still came .

He was late this morning.

They had fallen into a routine for the past several months, meeting at the garden, sharing dreams for hours on end.

She paced the garden, her stomach twisting and heart racing the more time that passed. He was never late, and on the days they didn’t meet, they always talked about it the day before. He had told her yesterday he would see her tomorrow, but tomorrow had come and he wasn’t here.

Before the rebels, she wouldn’t have thought much of it. But since then, villages had been attacked, people had gotten hurt, and wyverns had descended from the sky to choose fae as their Riders. Any one of those options wasn’t something she wanted to consider happening to him.

When she finally heard the crunch of his boots behind her, she whirled around and flung her arms around his neck.

“I thought something had happened to you!” she admitted with an embarrassed laugh as she let go. “Don’t scare me like that.”

When her eyes met his, she didn’t see the gaze of her friend staring back at her. There was a glint in his eye, a mixture of determination and guilt.

“What’s wrong?” Her mind raced with thoughts of what could’ve happened, who she might’ve lost this time.

He hesitated, his midnight eyes shining with an apology she didn’t understand.

“I was chosen, Eve.” His grin was lopsided, and the unmistakable lilt of excitement seeped into his words.

“What do you mean?” she breathed.

He looked up at the sky, a sense of longing swirling in his gaze. “A wyvern chose me. She’s incredible, you should see her ? —”

“But—” Her voice broke. “You’re not old enough to be a soldier!”

His smile dropped.

Evelina’s hands began to shake. He couldn’t leave to go be a Rider. She knew fae of all kinds were being recruited to go learn how to fight, but he couldn’t be one of them. They were still children.

“Well, I won’t be a soldier yet,” he said slowly. “I’ll get to learn how to bond with Zephyr with the other young Riders. We won’t get to be soldiers until we pass our trials.”

He reached out and laid his hands over hers, soothing the tremble in them. His thumb glided over her fingers until the shaking lessened.

She shook her head and took a step back. “Don’t go.”

He scratched the back of his head. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and looked down at the ground. “I have to. This is my chance to actually do something worthwhile—to be someone others respect.”

Evelina turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. “But you don’t have to prove anything to me. You’re already doing something worthwhile. You’re my friend.”

“And I’ll still be your friend while I’m gone,” he whispered. “But the rest of the empire isn’t you. Eurydice picked me, Evie. I’m gonna help them end this war, and when I come back, I’ll be someone you can be proud of.”

“Please,” she begged.

He pulled her into a hug and whispered, “I’ll be back to visit often.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Her chest squeezed at the memory. She needed a distraction from her own mind. So, she did what she did best and worked. Her thoughts wandered to what it would be like on the border, of all the ways war could harm yet another soul as she restocked herbs and mixed pain-relieving tonics. Did Eurydice even let those who killed and destroyed into Caelum ?

The rebels were a puzzle that no one had been able to piece together. There had to come a day in this darkness that light was able to shine through the pain and death. But despite the grief that swirled in each day since the war started, tonight would be a reprieve from that.

Evelina checked the moon’s position out the window, seeing that it had already begun to cast a soft glow on the dark forest below. The autumn equinox moon was bright and round, not a single cloud in the sky.

Annora had told her of their plan to wait until the very last moment, until all of the other bonded couples had completed their ceremonies and no one would see them as they caught the last stream of moonlight.

But Evelina was late. As usual. She was supposed to wait on Senna to escort her, but he wasn’t here yet—and she didn’t have any more time to spare. The window of time they had to complete the ceremony was ticking away.

“Are you nervous to be on the border?” Gloriana asked. She was the only other healer still in the infirmary—she hardly seemed to leave.

Evelina paused and swallowed. She was. But not entirely for the reasons Gloriana would have guessed.

“A little,” she admitted. “Less so with you there too.”

Gloriana smiled. Evelina’s eyes darted over to the window nervously. She needed to go before it was too late. She waved goodbye, slipping out before she missed the ceremony entirely.

With soundless footsteps, she padded barefoot through the dark palace. The stone floor was warmed by the palace itself—the Essence from all the sleeping fae keeping it alive. An orb of light formed in her palm, the glow guiding her path. It was second nature to call on her light.

Why she possessed the light affinity was beyond her. Didn’t the moon goddess know she preferred to be in the background? Instead of being one of the rare fae able to wield light, she would rather have a normal nature or animal affinity like her siblings. Plus, it wasn’t usable in a way that was interesting like more powerful fae would have wanted.

Evelina slipped out of the palace and into Lilium Glade. The glade had been here long before her and was sure to stay long after—a forest brimming with warmth. The moon was shining brightly, proud almost, feeling more like a taunt than a comfort.

Evelina wasn’t happy with the Goddess of the Moon right now. Eurydice had seemingly left her people behind, their land stuck in war with no end in sight. She has been silent without a single sign of comfort in the midst of the empire crumbling to pieces.

The sound of hushed laughter caught Evelina’s attention. It echoed through the forest, disrupting the quiet of the night. But she knew that laughter.

She couldn’t help but smile a little at the sound of her friend’s happiness.

“She’ll be here soon.” Annora’s light voice filtered over to Evelina from somewhere deep within the forest. Evelina’s fae hearing caught every word.

“She’s late,” came Aldric’s warm tone.

A soft sigh followed. “She’s always late.”

Evelina crept through the forest. The night was the darkest it’d been in a long time, offering her friends a chance to let their love escape the bounds that society was attempting to tie them in. She neared the couple and found them standing beneath a narrow willow tree. Its branches were long and wispy, so light that they swayed against the smallest breeze.

Their hands were clasped together, their eyes wide. Annora’s lithe body was draped with thin lavender fabric, while Aldric wore a deep amethyst tunic—the color worn during a bonding ceremony. A sign of one’s devotion to their bonded. Aldric was like most Nox, tall and spindly. His deep olive skin shone in the night.

They were so immersed in each other that they didn’t even notice Evelina watching them.

“So, you’re finally ready to do it?” Evelina said.

They spun around, their eyes wide with surprise.

Annora’s face split into a wide smile. “Took you long enough.” She ran over to her friend and threw her arms around her neck, embracing her tightly.

“Me? I’ve been here for hours,” Evelina teased, hugging her back.

“Aldric might’ve tried to get Lyria to help if you had taken any longer,” Annora said with a final squeeze.

Evelina grinned, knowing good and well they wouldn’t have placed their bonding ceremony in the hands of Evelina’s sister.

“So, how long have you two known you were soulbonded?” Evelina asked, looking between the two of them. Finding a mate wasn’t considered a rarity, but the bonding ceremony was. Oftentimes, a fae would find their mate, but they wouldn’t choose one another. Even worse, one might choose the other, who wouldn’t want to go through with it.

When a soul was discovered to be connected to another, it didn’t make someone belong to the other. It had to be chosen and accepted by both parties, a mutual agreement to bind one’s soul.

“I think we were the last to know,” Aldric said with a laugh. “It seemed those around us caught on far sooner than we did.”

He wasn’t wrong. They were different when they were around each other, brighter.

“Well then, we better not waste any more time.” Evelina gestured to the path to the Celestial Temple.

Annora grabbed Aldric’s hand, and the pair clung to each other as they made their way to Eurydice’s temple.

Against her own will, Evelina’s mind wandered back to Daimon. To where he was sleeping and what he was doing. If he had never left, he would’ve been right alongside them, joining to watch the ceremony. There was a chance, even, that they could’ve been bonded.

She shook her head, shaking the useless what-ifs from her mind. He did leave. If they had been meant to be, he would’ve stayed.

It didn’t matter anymore what they could have been. All that mattered, tonight, was that at least someone in her life could find their happy ending.