24. Rae
RAE
Voices swirled around me as I stood off to the side of the dais, Pax guarding me like the watchdog he’d apparently always been. Hours had passed, and what qualified as night had fallen in these heavens. Yet I could see that the lands below us hadn’t changed.
The Luminary territory, at the center of everything, was still in full daylight.
What they called the House of Firelight was pitch-black, except for the flames keeping it alight.
Another area of land was lit by glittering stars and nothing else.
One more was a sort of twilight, where I could see a crescent moon bathing the lands in an icy silver.
And a final one glowed red and had a shiver going down my spine.
“Does the light never change?” I asked before I could stop myself. I didn’t want to talk to Pax, but I also wanted answers—ones I couldn’t get alone.
He shifted, gazing over the side of the floating mountain to the lands below. While you could make out the differing lights, you couldn’t identify anything else. It was as though everything was covered in a haze.
“The Luminaries control the light. The rest of us have to live with what they are willing to give,” Pax explained.
I jolted, the horror of that setting in. The Luminaries, a people I was apparently a part of, hoarded the resource for themselves.
A new voice cut in. “He’s not telling you the whole story.”
I looked up to see Calloway leaning against a stone bench.
Pax rolled his eyes. “By all means.”
Calloway scowled at him, then his expression gentled as he turned back to me. “The light powers Luminary magic. We have an affinity for it, and it has an affinity for us. Like magnets, we’re drawn to each other. It’s the natural order of things.”
“Yet you could share that gift with us,” Pax muttered.
Calloway straightened. “Would you do the same in return? For people who tried to kill you? Who would still like to wipe you from Lumaria altogether?”
“We’re in a truce,” Pax gritted out.
“For now,” Calloway mumbled.
My head swam. Great. I’d been ripped from the human world and dropped into a magical battle to the death based on centuries of hate. Awesome.
A wave of dizziness swept through me, and I stumbled slightly.
I’d only taken a single drunken step when strong arms caught me, and the scent of juniper and mountain air swirled around me. “What’s wrong? Are you sick? Hurt?” Kian asked, worry filling his tone.
He’d moved so fast I hadn’t even seen him. He was merely…there. A good twenty feet from where he’d been standing on the dais.
“I…uh…” I couldn’t get words out, not with his long, thick fingers curled around my arms.
“Or did you simply trip on nothing at all?” Rhys grumbled. “She seems to do that quite a bit. Along with dropping things in her possession.” The gripe couldn’t fully disguise the worry currently carving grooves into his brow.
I sent an annoyed look in his direction. “At least I didn’t use my best friend to stalk someone for a decade and a half.”
Calloway snorted at that. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
“Rae,” Kian said softly. “What’s wrong? You nearly collapsed, and I can feel your body trembling. Your blood is slow, too.”
“She needs to eat,” Pax cut in. “Probably hasn’t consumed anything since breakfast, a good day ago.”
As if realizing he was right, my stomach made a loud gurgling sound. Awesome.
Kian looked down at my midsection as though a monster might break free. “Oh. Right.”
“I will get her something,” Rhys ground out. “You two, make sure she stays alive.”
Lyra appeared then. “I think it’s best if everyone stays here for the night. Tensions are still a little high.” She sent me a soft smile. “We have bunkrooms where you can rest and bathing chambers to get cleaned up. I’ll get you some fresh clothes.”
“Thank you,” I croaked.
Kian still hadn’t let go of me, but the buzz of the contact—those tiny pinpricks beneath my skin—was faint now. It had been replaced by a bone-deep weariness. The fatigue infected everything down to my very soul.
“Come on, Butterfly. Let’s get you fed so you can get some rest,” Kian said quietly.
Calloway was instantly charging forward. “You can’t let them share a chamber with her. They could feed from her. Take advantage.”
Rhys had started to walk away, but he was back in an instant, placing himself between Calloway and me. “Or I could feed from you. How about that, witch?”
Lightning flashed amid the clouds, and thunder rolled as Lyra swirled a hand through the air. “Cease,” she commanded. “You know there is no violence in this house. It is a holy place of peace.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Calloway grumbled.
“Her fated will never harm her, and Pax of Firelight has sworn a blood oath to protect her. If he breaks that, his life will cease to be,” Lyra went on.
Calloway’s jaw worked back and forth before his gaze cut to me. “I wouldn’t let yourself sleep if I were you.”
I swallowed hard, my mouth going dry.
“Come on,” Kian said gently.
Lyra watched the Luminary Prince stalk off. “I’ll show you the way.”
A muscle along Rhys’s jaw fluttered wildly. “Try not to let anyone kidnap her.”
How warm and fuzzy.
It was like he was mad that he wanted me alive. Wouldn’t it be better for him if I were dead?
Even if part of him wanted it, maybe the bond wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t have it in me to ask. Instead, I let Kian and Lyra lead me down open-air hallways and through a beautiful garden until we reached another white marble building. This one had actual walls.
“Right through here.” Lyra motioned to an open door. “The bathing chamber is to the right. I’ll return with clothing.”
But they wouldn’t be my clothes. They would likely be something foreign, like one of the dresses I’d seen the Luminaries wearing. I could count on two hands the number of times I’d worn a dress. Just another way I didn’t belong.
I tugged my arm free from Kian’s grip, hating myself for missing his heat and energy the moment we separated. The room had bunks carved into the marble walls, and the blankets and pillows were the same pale colors that made up the clouds and the Fates’ hair. It was clearly their aesthetic.
Tiptoeing farther into the space, I peeked into the bathroom and gasped.
It was massive, with multiple sinks and a shower that could fit ten.
But it was the marble tub in an alcove to the right that had me in awe.
It was ginormous and surrounded by windows that looked out into the night sky.
I couldn’t help easing toward it and running my fingers along the edge.
“Want a soak?” Kian asked.
I didn’t turn. “I probably shouldn’t.”
“Butterfly,” he said softly.
The nickname hurt, but I still forced myself to look at him.
Kian moved slowly to some sort of panel in the wall. “Rose, jasmine, or lavender?”
“Lavender,” I whispered.
He tapped a few buttons, and water fell from the ceiling, instantly filling the space with a floral scent. “It will turn off when it’s full.”
“I, um….”
Kian moved into my space, not touching me but so close that I could feel his heat. “No one will come through that door while I’m breathing, Butterfly.”
My pulse thrummed in my neck. “Do you breathe? Does your heart beat?”
One corner of his mouth kicked up as he reached out to take my hand. He pressed it to his chest, and I gasped. “It’s so fast. Like hummingbird wings.”
Kian’s violet eyes burned brighter. “My blood sings because you are near.”