Page 55

I can’t stop hearing her voice whispering to me.

I still see her standing in the corner, shimmering and glowing as if she were truly corporeal.

My usual nightmare had woken me up from a fitful sleep, as always, but this time was different.

My hackles raised as I sensed something or someone else here with me, setting me on edge.

That’s when I saw her standing in the corner nearest the door of my room—watching me.

The vision looked so much like my sister, and yet there wasn’t an ounce of warmth coming from her to comfort me:

“Cara? ” I ask.

“Hello sister,” she replies coldly.

The response doesn’t sound like Cara, but it’s her voice. How is this even possible?

“Are you real?” I ask, tears welling in my eyes .

She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes as she flicks an imaginary piece of lint from her dress. “Do you wish for me to be?” she asks.

“M-More than anything,” I cry. “ I’ve missed you so much.”

She cocks her head as her lips press into a thin line, a baleful look replacing the once soft features.

“Then you should’ve thought of that before your ignorance killed me,” she says bitterly.

Then, her body morphs into a bloody corpse… the way I found her in front of our house. Her lifeless eyes stare at me.

“Cara?” I cry.

Then, to my horror, her eyes blink, and I scream.

“That’s impossible, Maeva,” Emyr says, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts.

“She was here… I-I saw her,” I say, pointing to the corner.

Worried glances pass between Emyr and Laisren.

“I know what I saw,” I murmur, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I saw her lifeless body lying on the floor. Sh-She was here. I felt it… I felt it.”

Emyr shuffles his large frame closer to mine, wrapping his arms around me. He shushes me as he rocks me back and forth. “I felt it,” I cry. “I felt it. I felt it. I felt it.”

“Shhh, Rosey,” Emyr whispers. “Everything will be okay.”

I continue on in this state for several minutes.

I feel like I’m a prisoner in my own body in this repetitive, hellish loop of replaying the scene with Cara over and over again.

However, Emyr sways me, offering soft assurances that everything is okay.

Finally, I exhaust myself, slumping against his frame.

“That’s my girl,” Emyr whispers, tightening his grip. “You’re okay.”

I’m too numb to even respond, though I know I should.

I just… can’t . So, I allow him to hold me, despite every reservation that I have that somehow becoming close to the High General will end in heartache.

We stay this way for so long that I barely notice the audible click of my chamber door.

Emyr must’ve given Laisren a signal because the second commander is nowhere in sight.

Emyr’s shadows return to barricading the small gap that he’d opened for Laisren to exit, now sealing us safely within its walls.

“I-I’m sorry,” I say with a sniffle.

“It’s just a bad dream… nothing more, Rosey,” Emyr coos.

Was that all that it was—just an extremely vivid dream brought on from the stress of the ball and the nightmare?

I bury my face into his neck. “She looked so real,” I whisper.

“I know, Rosey, but it couldn’t have been her. Only the worst of Siorai’s creations are tormented by becoming a haunting spirit. From how you described her, she’s kind and compassionate. She has to be in Eternity now—not here,” he replies in a hushed tone.

“How do you know?” I ask.

“I don’t,” he answers honestly. “But that’s the story my mother always told me as a child. She made sure to remind me to be kind, so that way I’d have the chance to join others in Eternity one day. If only she could’ve seen what I’d become.” His voice catches on the last word.

Emyr’s eyes are glassy as he stares across the domed chamber.

Moved by compassion for this warrior, I place a hand on his face and stroke his cheek with my thumb.

I fully expect him to shrink away from me, to return to the stoic man I’ve seen him be countless times, yet he leans into my touch, capturing my hand in his.

“She’d say that it isn’t by your choice or fault,” I say.

Emyr releases a heavy sigh and nods once. “Perhaps one day I’ll know that for sure,” he whispers.

“I know you will,” I reply.

Emyr clears his throat and gently places my hand back in my lap. “I’m sorry for what happened to Aria, Maeva,” he says, changing the subject. “I came here to tell you that. I need you to know that I didn’t want to hurt her. I couldn’t fight the oath I made to him.”

“I know,” I reply. “I watched you struggle to resist it, Emyr. I saw the sorrow in your eyes when you coiled your shadows around her body. I found the apology in your stare as you took her life. I don’t hold her death against you, and you shouldn’t either.”

That’s the simplest truth I can offer him.

While I hadn’t known Aria well, she was invaluable to Cara—which makes her special to me.

There is so much more to my sister’s life that I don’t know, but that I plan to uncover.

I thought I knew my sister, but perhaps the only thing I didn’t know were her secrets.

However, for right now, I need Emyr to not put any more shame on his shoulders than what’s already there.

“I can still hear her scream like I do all the other lives that I’ve been forced to take,” he croaks. “They echo in my mind, Maeva. It haunts me because regardless of whether I wanted to, I’m their executioner and judge. I’m the abomination—the demon—that listens to his master’s summons?—”

“Shhhhh,” I interrupt. I know how quickly the darkness can overwhelm the one that’s surrounded by such deep sorrow, and I refuse to allow the despair to swallow him. “I need you to listen to me, Prince Emyreus Alistair II. Can you do that?”

Emyr sits up straighter, nodding once.

“We all have torments that we endure, Emyr,” I begin.

“Yours are tainted with your regret for the atrocities you are forced to commit, while mine come in the form of a nightmare where the guilt over my family’s deaths suffocates me.

If we allow the melancholy to swallow us whole, the evil in this realm wins.

There’s kindness and goodness in you, as there is in every creation of Siorai.

We aren’t our mistakes, nor are we the demons that haunt us.

Don’t you see? The darkness only wins if we allow it the power to do so, and I know for a bloody fact that the High General of Zulgalros doesn’t cower. ”

Emyr sighs deeply. “But, what if?—”

“We can’t remain in the what ifs, Emyr,” I interrupt. “We can only take one step away from where darkness falls around us and find our way back into the light. ”

Emyr pulls me into a tight hug, a warmth spreading through me at the contact. “Perhaps we can find our way to the light together,” he whispers against my head.

“We will,” I say.

Emyr leans back. Our eyes connect, and I see a mirror of my soul in this beautiful man.

I swallow thickly, and my heart flutters as if there are thousands of tiny faeries zipping around within it.

His eyes glance down at my mouth, and he slowly leans in.

My breath hitches as he draws near. His mouth is just inches from mine, and I can see the rapid pulse in his neck.

I close my eyes, preparing to kiss him, even though every alarm bell in my head is warning me against such things.

However, his lips don’t meet mine as I anticipated. Instead, the feel of his warm lips meets my cheek with a gentle peck. His breath lingers along my skin for only a moment before he pulls away again.

He stands promptly. “Thank you,” he whispers.

He extends one of his large, calloused hands to me.

My brows furrow as I glance from his hand back to his handsome face.

Emyr laughs, and I swear it’s melodic enough to make any woman blush with its tender sound.

Picking up one of my hands in his own, he guides me carefully off the bed to stand in front of him.

“I believe I owe you a proper dance,” he says in a gravelly voice.

“We danced at the ball,” I laugh.

“No,” he whispers in that deep timbre. “You danced with the Crowned Prince and High General of Zulgalros… not Emyr.” He wraps his arms around me much tighter than he did earlier, causing heat to warm my ears.

“I want this to be considered our first true dance,” he continues as he sways.

“Besides, I want to erase that disgusting display of my father dancing with you from memory. Help me replace it with a better one.”

I lay my hands along his biceps, since I can’t possibly reach his neck with his looming height.

“Then help you, I shall,” I say with a smile.

His own smile deepens, revealing the most perfect set of dimples I’ve ever seen.

I’m afraid that I’ll pass out if I continue to look at him, so I instead lean my head against his chest, listening to his rhythmic heartbeat.

“We don’t have an orchestra in here,” I tease.

A deep rumble comes from his chest, then the softest hum fills the room.

Emyr hums one of the beautifully haunting melodies that I heard earlier this evening.

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a sweeter sound than his tenor voice as it echoes against the dome.

He could put an angelic choir of Briezians to shame with his beautiful voice.

I relax into his hold, and he plants the softest kiss atop my head before twirling me.

I smile and laugh, my spirit lightening.

This moment with him is perfect. I know it’s said that all good things must come to an end, but I wish with all of my heart that this one never does.

I hope this memory will never be tainted, despite what happens after this evening is over, and the song has finished its last crescendo.

Emyr beams at me, illuminating his features in a soft glow that I imagine he had as a boy, before his father altered their lives forever with his greed.

Yes, the powerful man before me is a weapon and force to be reckoned with, but he’s also a kind man that hums songs and dances in the night. He’s both darkness and light, as am I.

He holds our hands close to his chest. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he whispers.

“I see you through your darkness, Emyr,” I reply, breathless.

He draws me into a hug. It’s warm and inviting. It’s familiar and comfortable, as if I’m meant to be within his embrace.

“It’s because I found your light, my Rosey.”