Chapter 17 #2
“Whichever brings me the most entertainment.” She grins.
I roll my eyes and focus on Dom. “You’re not going to change my mind.
” Although I hadn’t thought of Caius’ reaction and now I have a whole new reason for the nerves that tear through my stomach.
I had decided not to think about Caius, our time together last night, what had almost happened.
No, it was better to push him from my mind, just like it was best to push this feeling of betrayal deep down where I wouldn’t have to deal with it.
Dom sighs, and I can hear it. He knows he won’t get anywhere with me in this argument. “Are you at least packed?”
“Yes.” I push the word out.
“Wrap up as fast as you can. You’ll be cutting it close.”
I press my eyes closed, wishing I could block Dom out, too.
I know. I know it’s stupid. I know I shouldn’t meet with Rui.
I know I’m going to be cutting our escape plan close, and yet I can’t help it.
I don’t want his last memory of me to be me standing him up…
no, instead you want him to think that you slipped out in the night after your date with him, the condescending voice lashes me with words that I cannot counter. No matter what, I will wrong him.
“You’d better get going if you don’t want to be late for your date,” Cressida says in a singsong voice. I hate how much she’s enjoying this.
I pull myself up. Dom joins me, clasping me by the shoulders. “He’ll understand.” Dom grips my arms firmly. “When your crazy plan works, and you save The Below, they’ll all understand.”
I look up at him with a half-smile. He always was a better friend than a liar.
“Don’t be late!” Dom calls after me.
I wave a hand, not bothering to turn. I know what has to be done.
When I reach the commissary, Rui is outside waiting for me, a wide grin that stabs me in the gut stretched across his face.
I return his smile as sincerely as I can, pushing away all thoughts of what I will do later tonight.
There is only right now, and I will live in this moment of normalcy for as long as I can.
“We aren’t grabbing dinner?” I ask. Rui usually waits for our party inside, with dishes already selected for us to try.
Rui’s smile widens. He holds up a satchel. “We are, but not at the commissary. Come on.” He starts toward the eastern part of the canyon, and it isn’t long before we reach the familiar ancient bridge.
“The temple?” I ask.
Rui nods. “There’s plenty you haven’t seen.
” What lies between his words sends a surge of pain through my heart.
He thinks he has time to share it all with me.
Tonight was meant to be one of many. I push the thoughts deep into the corners of my mind.
There would be plenty of time to torture myself while walking the endless kilometers to the hatching grounds.
Would Caius torture me during those long days like he had on our trip to Tǎnkaski?
Damn it. Focus. I lock onto the image of Rui standing before me.
I am right here, right now, nothing more.
This time, when I cross the bridge, there’s no need to visualize, nor do I need a guide. I focus on being in this moment with Rui—our last—and it’s enough.
We pass quickly through the bustling lower level.
“It’s busier than the last time I was here,” I comment as we climb the spiraling staircase, the planks fading with our ascension.
“The scholars have new projects. They’re working on a solution to safely excavate the northern cavern and looking for ways to keep the sea dragons from wandering in again once we do.”
“Do they know how they got in in the first place?” I ask, hope rising in my chest. Perhaps this ancient place has all the answers we need. Maybe there is no need for us to leave at all.
Rui pauses on the step ahead of me. He glances around, but we’re alone. He steps close before speaking. “The wards are weaker than they once were.”
“Do you know why?” Hope.
Rui shakes his head.
“But with so much knowledge accumulated here, your scholars must have theories.” I still cling to that hope.
Rui shakes his head again, and I feel something crack in my heart. “I fear that there are no answers. Nothing like this has ever happened in our histories.”
I bite my lip, letting my gaze drop to the floor with the last shattered pieces of hope.
“Hey,” Rui gently lifts my chin. “We will figure something out. We always do. I don’t want you to worry about that. Not tonight anyway.” He takes my hand in his, guiding me nearly to the top level, but this time we step off onto the floor just below.
Darkness hides every facet of the room, and yet I let Rui guide me to the center of the abyss.
“Sit here and lie back,” he prompts, letting my hand slip from his as I slide to the floor.
“What—”
“Just trust me, you’ll see,” his voice comes from halfway across the room.
Trust me, my stomach clenches at the words, because I do and I have the sinking feeling he trusts me too, when he shouldn’t. I focus on the darkness spread out above me, focus on this moment, and push any thoughts of what is to come from my mind.
I hear the click of phase panels connecting, then the scene above me begins to shift.
Soft light flows through the panels above, passing through swirling works of glass—purples, blues, and indigo—blown out into whimsical swirls, teardrops and bulbs.
Scattered shards of glass catch the light, refracting it like starlight.
Three large globes dot the glass night sky, glowing lunar orbs set throughout a stardust-scattered road.
There are too many details, too many pieces working in tandem that create something that is so much more.
“What do you think?” I didn’t notice that Rui had come to lie beside me, so close that our fingertips brush.
I fight to break my gaze away from the display overhead.
I have the feeling I could inspect it for a lifetime and still find new details to unravel.
When I turn to answer, Rui’s gaze is locked on me, his eyes flashing with a heat that sends flames racing under my skin.
“It’s stunning,” I say, watching as his throat bobs and he nods his agreement, yet he keeps those molten orbs locked on me.
“It is,” he whispers.
I find myself just as torn when I rip my gaze away from his. The tension building between us is too much, and as much as I want to pretend that I’m only living in this moment, I can’t forget that before the next phase starts, I’ll be gone. I won’t hurt him more than I have to.
I follow the path of the stardust road, taking in the details of the orbs. Every aspect is perfection, from the cast of shadows to the scattered hues of color, and then something catches my eye.
“Is that…” I prop myself up on my elbows, inspecting a shimmering gold figure at the end of the stardust road.
Rui brushes his fingers gently over mine. “That is Aether, queen of the dragons, before they fell.”
My throat grows thick, choking off any words.
My reaction is silly, it’s a tiny gold sculpture in a sea of glass, and yet I get the distinct feeling that I know this dragon, she is the one who comes to me in my dreams most often; she is the one who calls to me from beyond the iron door with a voice louder than any other; she is the one who waits for me in the hatching grounds.
“Do you think there’s a new queen of the dragons?” I turn to Rui.
He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear before he answers. “I haven’t seen anything like the queen of lore…but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a queen waiting to be born.”
“Do you think the hatching grounds are real?” I ask, and I’m not sure what I want his answer to be. I almost want him to tell me that they were destroyed long ago. I want him to give me a reason to abandon my quest, to stay here, with these people, with him.
He nods slowly. “They are real.”
I roll my eyes at the non-answer. “Because they are in your legends?”
“Because I have seen them.”
My breath catches. He knows they’re real because he’s been there. Maybe I was right to come tonight, maybe— “Could you take me?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. The way his face falls makes me wish I could pull them back.
“I wish I could.” His words are soft, as if the tenor of his voice could ease the blow.
“Only those who have been tasked with protecting the road to Mí-ītarGǔ are permitted to look upon the hatching grounds.” Rui thumbs the sky stones of his bracelet, then his eyes light. “I can show you the next best thing.”
Rui springs to his feet, extending his hand out to me.
More than a little confused at his reaction, but curious, I take his hand and let him lead me out from under the ocean of glass up to the top floor.
Rui rotates the phase panels to light the room, then leads me to the back corner.
He mutters to himself, his eyes tracing the tapestries as we walk.
“The rise of RaeJīnzǐ…Here.” We stop in front of a panel that depicts a sprawling field, with silver threads woven into the scene that give the appearance of shimmering smoke rising from the ground.
Nestled between the shining threads are oval shapes crafted in every color, their surface covered in whirling designs that are eerily similar to the designs of the capitol of Bǎodela.
With hungry eyes, I drink in every detail I can.
There is a shadowed structure rising from the background of the picture, but the artists hadn’t deemed it important enough to give detail, just a dark backdrop for the hatching grounds.
Overhead, a night sky is stitched into the fabric.
Half of the sky is spattered with debris, while the other half is clear…
that must be the end of the stardust road.
I try to memorize every thread. Rui couldn’t take me, but he may have just given me a map.
“Here.”
I turn to find Rui standing at the wooden half-shelf behind me. Laid out on the surface is a piece of paper that takes up the entire width and half the length of the shelf.
“This is the last piece ever made that mentions the hatching grounds.” A wide smile stretches across his face as he watches me.
I move closer to inspect the piece. It’s gorgeous, somewhere between a map and a work of art.
Thick forests take up the left side of the map, the pine needles drawn with meticulous detail, each line captured with a fine brush stroke.
A winding river leads into a city of glass, backed by mountains that scrape the sky, jagged and dangerous.
On the other side of the mountain lies a city carved from light, nestled below the field from the tapestry, eggs captured with swirling designs ranging from roots to waves, to clouds, span into the distance, where a dark outline stretches out of sight to end the map.
The piece is even more detailed than the tapestry.
Everywhere I look, a hidden image reveals itself: wolves and fish, stars and moons.
It’s as if the artist found a way to capture the entire world on a single piece of paper.
I pry my gaze from the map to find Rui inspecting me, a soft smile on his lips. “I wish I could take you.”
I pull my lip between my teeth, mulling over my words carefully. I want to ask him to come with us. If he knew the danger that faces his people, that faces all of us, that The Below would fall, he would understand. He had to.
“Have you ever thought of bonding a dragon?” I choose my words carefully, testing his response. I’m surprised by what I see. A clash of emotions plays out in his eyes.
“All children do, I guess.” He rubs the back of his neck.
There is something he isn’t saying, and so I push him a little further. “And what about now?”
“The riders can never rise again. It was too much power for humanity to wield. They were tyrants, oppressors. We exist to ensure that never happens again.” His fingertips drift to the carvings on his sky stone bracelet.
“But what if there is a greater threat—”
“There is no greater threat.” He pushes out a long breath, and when he speaks again, his voice is controlled.
“There is so much you don’t know yet. But I will teach you all of our histories.
” His gaze shifts to sweep across the room.
“Anything you want to know. I will share it with you if you stay.” A sheepish smile graces his lips, plunging a dagger of guilt deep into my belly.
Why did he have to say those words? It’s as if he knows, he knows that I’m going to leave and that when I do, it will put us on opposite sides…
I shake my head. He doesn’t know. It’s my own guilt painting the picture in my mind, and yet it doesn’t feel any less real.
Horns blare in the distance. Cold realization washes over me. I’m out of time.
“Those are the eastern tunnels.” Rui looks at me like it pains him to leave. “I have to go.” He takes my hand in his and brushes a soft kiss on the back of my knuckles. “Think about what I said?”
My throat grows too thick for words, and so I nod.
Even that small act feels like a betrayal.
His grip tightens around my hand. I can feel it.
How he doesn’t want to let go—horns blare again, three sharp blasts.
Rui sighs and releases me, moving swiftly to the door.
“I’m sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow for the first meal,” he calls over his shoulder, and then he’s gone.
I press the back of my hand to my lips, imagining what it might have felt like to have his lips on mine. “No, you won’t,” I mumble, pressing my eyes closed. I let a single tear fall, and then the moment is gone.
I turn to leave. I don’t have much time to get to the western entrance, but the map catches in the corner of my eye.
“Shit,” I mutter. Turning, I place my hands on either side of the map, pushing my fingertips into the soft grains of the wood.
“I shouldn’t do this,” I say, even as I begin to fold the priceless artifact.
“I’m going straight to Oinarriajī.” And yet I tuck the paper into my pocket and rush from the temple with my head bowed and my steps quick, hoping no one will stop me.