Page 25

I ’m flying, soaring through the sky feeling so light I barely register that my wings are beating behind me. The sky is littered with clouds, and I float in and out of them like a feather falling to the ground.

I tilt my head upwards, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. There’s a small moment of confusion—usually it’s colder up in the sky, with all the wind pockets and breezes and mist from the clouds. But instead, I just feel warm. It’s oddly comforting, I realize with a start.

Besides the unusual warmth, something feels wrong. It’s too quiet, too still. Even the clouds appear to have ceased their trek across the sky.

“Aviva,” I hear a voice call out. It’s male, and familiar.

When the voice calls my name out again, this time with more urgency, I realize who it is I’m hearing.

Dimitri.

I call out his name, trying to find the source of his voice. I fly in circles, through the clouds, attempting over and over again to find my brother, to find my twin, but he’s nowhere to be found.

“I’m sorry, Viva. I never meant for it to happen like this,” he says, his voice sounding like it’s coming from multiple directions. But I notice he also sounds cold, detached.

“Aviva!” A second voice comes cascading through the clouds, hitting me from every angle.

“Aurora?” I cry out, panic beginning to set in.

Where are they?

What’s happening?

“Viva, I’m so sorry. I just wanted to help,” she says, but her voice sounds so tired, so sad, compared to the usual brightness she carries within her.

“It’s alright, I promise I’m alright!” I say to her, spinning in a circle mid-air, still searching for my best friends.

Their voices grow louder now, so loud I have to slam my hands over my ears to try to block out some of the sound. They’re apologizing, over and over again. Aurora is louder than Dimi now—he seems to be fading away. Realizing this scares me, I don’t know what it means other than that I’m losing him.

“Please!” I cry out to them. “Stop this!”

My hands are still over my head, wings holding me in the air as I double over, folding in on myself, my breathing heavy and rapid.

I can feel my heart slamming against my chest as I listen to the two people I thought I loved most in the world apologize to me repeatedly, and I don’t even know what for.

Out of seemingly nowhere, I hear a series of chirps—chirps that sound like Eden, and then everything slowly disappears.

I gasped lightly as the sunlight through the curtains hit my eyes, squinting against it. The first thing I noticed this morning was the sound of birdsong outside the inn window, which I assumed inspired the chirping of Eden I had heard in my dream, and was what I believed woke me up.

The second thing I noticed was the warmth. Intense, constant warmth radiating into my skin through my back and wings.

Confused and only half awake, I tried to sit up in bed, only to be pulled back down so swiftly I almost squealed in surprise. It was in that moment that I realized what situation I’d woken up to.

Now that I was more awake, I felt it. His warm, firm chest was pressed against my back, skin to skin, as the cut open slits of the shirt I fell asleep in were hanging wide open.

His breath tickled my ear, and I was attuned to the gentle rise and fall of his chest. His arm was draped over my waist, holding me in place.

At first, I was frozen, heart still racing from my dream. I didn’t exactly know what I was supposed to do. Should I wake him? Should I try to slip away? Should I stay as still as possible and hope this, too, is just a dream?

In the end, I did none of those things. I thought back on our conversation last night, how we wanted to be able to trust each other.

I reminded myself that I did want to learn to trust this male, and I couldn’t keep denying the way he made me feel.

I wanted to feel safe with him. The warmth I was feeling wasn’t just from his body heat, but some kind of emotion, hidden deep in my chest.

One I wasn’t ready to face yet.

Moving as little as possible, I turned over so I was facing him, letting my wings drape across the rest of the small space behind me. But when I caught sight of him, I almost couldn’t catch my breath.

He looked so at peace. I took this opportunity to calm my racing heart by studying his handsome features.

I’d never seen him look so tranquil before.

His sun-kissed skin was glowing in the early morning light, his freckles making a bold appearance.

He had smile lines next to his eyes, and a few gold hoops and chains adorn the tips of his ears.

His eyelashes were so long they grazed his high cheekbones, and he had a strong, lean nose.

In an effort not to stare at his full lips, I noticed, not for the first time, the small scar along the side of his jaw.

Gently, I reached up to touch it. I lightly ran my finger along the smooth, pale slice of skin, and realized my breathing had gone erratic, along with my heartbeat, which had only just been tamed.

Not only was my heart hammering in my chest, but I could feel my zirilium thrumming in my veins, begging to be let out.

I ignored it.

Still sleeping, he leaned into my touch, as if I contained the last bit of warmth this cold world had to offer.

I gasped, surprised at his affection, even if he was still sleeping.

At the sound, his eyes cracked open, then they widened, seeing how close together our faces were.

Our noses were nearly touching, and I was practically breathing in the air he exhaled.

His brow creased, and I could feel his confusion and confliction in my chest. His forest green eyes bore into mine, searching for something, though I wasn’t sure what.

I stared back, feeling myself getting lost in his gaze.

As if nothing else mattered outside of this simple moment.

A heartbeat later, a shuffle out in the hallway broke our connection, and I awkwardly cleared my throat, shifting my gaze to look down at his arm pinning me in place.

“Right. I’m-I’m so sorry. My apologies,” he said, retracting his arm from around my waist and slipping out of bed. The warmth fled from my body the second he left, and I surprised myself when I realized I missed it.

I watched his bare back as he ran a hand through his silky hair and focused on his breathing.

But most of all, I tuned into the emotions I felt in my chest that I knew were radiating from him.

Disappointment seemed to be the heaviest one at the moment, but there were other things there, too.

Desire, longing, embarrassment, and that warm feeling I decided I was going to continue to ignore.

Power was pounding in my veins nonstop now, a constant, dull pain, but I schooled my features and decided to keep ignoring that, too.

I sighed.

It was going to be a long, long day. I flexed my wings, realizing I’d never been more grateful to have my own means of travel.

***

Traveling to Echen Bay took the entirety of the day. We rode—or in my case, flew—at a consistent pace until almost sunset, slower than the day before, when we finally reached our destination.

The whole way there, I played around with my air wielding, but it barely scratched the surface of power I felt thrumming through my entire body. I didn’t know exactly what changed, but ever since I stopped taking my elixirs, my zirilium was more potent, more powerful.

I was starting to worry how much longer I could keep it hidden.

Once we reached Echen Bay, I realized the cabin was more of a glorified miniature castle.

Built from the surrounding trees, the entire thing was made from varying shades of dark, chocolate wood with rich stone and golden accents.

It had multiple different sectors and wings, but on a smaller scale compared to The Haven.

Somehow despite its grand architecture, it appeared to be more of a home than anything else.

Not to mention the surrounding area was jaw dropping.

The lush trees were so tall they seemed to scrape the sky, which reminded me of Hollis, and sent a small pang of homesickness through me.

There were multiple small meadows hidden within the forest around us, full of those colorful, Southern wild flowers.

The bay might be my favorite part, though.

Cynth Bay back home was so blue it looked black—you couldn’t see through the choppy, rough waters at all due to how dark it was.

But here, the water was a soft, calm teal green.

The sun punctured the water just-so, and you could see little creatures in it, swimming around peacefully.

I had been so in awe of the beauty around me, I might have flown off when we arrived to go take a sneak peek before the sun set for the day. And I might have made Robyn panic just a little bit.

Oops.

After we arrived yesterday, Robyn took it upon himself to show me around.

Because the layout of this building was smaller than The Haven, I was able to actually remember how to get around.

He showed me the kitchen, formal dining room, library, training rooms, and more.

The last place he took me was a small wing towards the back of the cabin, which he told me was where he usually stayed, and where I could stay, too.

He offered me my own room next door to his, which I all too eagerly accepted.

In reality, I realized now, too late, that I would have rather stayed in a room with him.

I realized after waking up in his arms that I was beginning to feel safe with him.

But I fear I let embarrassment overtake me, resulting in cold feet.

Letting people in was proving harder than I thought it would be.

Not to mention how his disappointment had been palpable when I accepted my own quarters with such enthusiasm.