Chapter Thirteen #2
‘You’re awake,’ Eli said calmly but firmly.
‘I found you here. When I felt you in my dreams no longer, I went to check on you. Only Merissa was in your bed. You sleepwalked, Elara, as you were dreaming. I found you moments ago and, as I tried to wake you, I heard you screaming for me. I tried to reach you, but I couldn’t enter the Dreamlands where you were. ’
‘I was…I was being buried alive,’ she cried. ‘I saw so…so many terrible things.’
Eli hooked his arm through hers. ‘We need to get you warm,’ he said, ‘and then you can tell me just what the fuck happened in there.’
Eli helped her walk back to the manor, though she was numb to her surroundings, still trapped in the horrors of the bog. They finally reached his home, and he propelled her through the door to his office, where a fire roared. She sank on to the divan. ‘Stay here,’ he ordered.
He returned moments later, Merissa in tow. She took one look at Elara and gasped, running over to her. ‘What in the heavens happened?’
‘That’s what I’m trying to ascertain,’ Eli said tightly. ‘Please take her for a bath, Merissa. Get her clean and warm, then send her back here.’
Elara barely heard his orders, staring at the fire, reminding herself of her tether to reality.
Hands gently took her, and she let them.
They were in the bathing chamber, then Elara was in a scalding bath, being scrubbed clean of mud.
She saw it caked on her bare feet, in her hair.
Then she was in clean nightclothes, her hair wet and brushed out, and then back in Eli’s office, a mug of hot cocoa in hand.
‘Drink,’ Eli said, and Elara did, still in a daze. ‘The chocolate will calm your nerves.’
He waited as she took a few deep gulps before cocking his head.
‘Now, what in the skies happened in there?’ he demanded.
‘I could ask you the same,’ she retorted, still trying to regain control of her breathing. She set the mug down and passed her hands over her face. ‘You forced me to free fall. Between the nightmares you conjured and you chasing me within that dream, I had no choice. Do you know how dangerous—’
‘I was hunting you down after you found that last fucking door,’ he snapped. ‘You had no business opening it. You shouldn’t have been able to open it. As for the nightmares, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
Elara didn’t dare close her eyes as she tried to sift through her thoughts, turning the snakestone over and over in her pocket.
‘The nightmares, Eli. In the manor. I saw them through this.’ She produced the snakestone.
‘There was a monster. I know you were testing me but, Stars, don’t you think you went a little far? ’
‘I conjured no monsters, Elara,’ he said. ‘Nor was I doing anything to harm you when you pleaded for me to stop. Trust me on that.’
‘Trust?’ Elara laughed incredulously, trying to push down the fear creeping up her throat—the hands in her mouth, the wet dirt in her nostrils.
‘You want to speak of trust? You know what I saw. Why is it that you seem to know my whole story, and yet you have only gifted me with a few chapters? Just what were you to me? I saw us in that dream. You meant something to me.’
‘I was your messenger,’ he replied, not even deigning to look at her. ‘The one being helping you and your Sun keep your trysts.’
Elara’s eyes widened.
‘I delivered your letters to one another. Watched you fall in love. The Moon was my closest friend. My queen.’ He finally locked eyes with her, though his were filled with disdain. ‘But you…you are nothing like her.’
Elara reeled as though she’d been slapped. She didn’t know why she craved the god’s approval, but what he had just said stung.
‘And thank the gods I’m not like her,’ she hissed back, hackles rising. ‘Or perhaps I’d still be shackled in the sky. Were you ever going to tell me about the Dark?’
Eli stilled, and Elara sat up straighter. He slowly, so slowly, set his cigarette down. She noticed with trepidation that it was now fear she could see in his eyes. A god. A heartless god. Frightened. ‘Just what exactly do you know about the Dark?’
‘Nothing!’ she exclaimed. ‘Only what you and the Moon discussed in one of the dreams I walked through—how it kept Enzo and I apart. But the Dark is just an element, is it not? Like the Light?’
Eli did not speak for a long time, the fire crackling in the grate the only sound filling the room. Finally, he wet his lips, and Elara sat forwards.
‘It’s better you push all thoughts of the Dark aside, Elara. Do not think of it. Do not ask questions. And for the love of Stars, if it knocks, don’t let it in.’
‘How is that supposed to help me?’ she asked scornfully. ‘I’m about sick of your riddles, and Torra’s, and Celine’s.’
‘Elara,’ he said, and his tone was pleading now. ‘For your own good and safety, let it go. I promise you, the reason I say it is to keep you alive. Concentrate on waking Enzo, and leave it be.’
‘But—’
‘Please?’ he whispered.
Elara made a frustrated sound. If no one would speak plainly, if her whole previous life was to be hidden behind smoke and screens, then she would find the answers she sought herself. She changed tack, needing at least to know the real reason why Eli was here, helping her.
‘That woman with the butterfly wings…’
‘Enough,’ he said quietly.
She continued on. ‘She’s tied to this, isn’t she? To us?’
‘I said enough,’ he snarled, standing suddenly. Elara had almost forgotten just how intimidating the Star could be, but she did not shrink, did not make room for him.
She smoothed her hair, raising her chin. Then she did the unthinkable.
Sometimes it’s harder to speak the truth aloud.
She sent the thought and, like a leaf in the wind, guided it to Eli blindly. She could not mindspeak—that she knew. But perhaps the channel between them was still open.
His eyes flew to her in shock.
Don’t—
Someone dear to me once said that to share helps to shed a burden. So share. You clearly wanted to help me for a reason. For a deeper reason than just seeing Enzo and me back on our thrones, it seems.
Eli curled his lip but slowly sat back down.
I don’t trust you enough yet to tell you.
Ah yes, because I’m ‘nothing like’ the Moon you knew? You know what I am. More flawed. More emotional. Deadlier, because I possess that humanity. Which means I will stop at absolutely nothing to help the ones I love. Even if that means helping you. So tell me—who is she?
There was a long pause. Then a sigh, audible, broke the silence of the room.
Fine, Eli said in her head. That woman is one of you. A Celeste. Of Air.
Elara let the puzzle pieces fall into place.
I see. You lost her.
Eli’s face was a mask of composure as he replied tightly, Yes.
There were once six of you: three to rule above and three below.
I have tried to find the answers to where the others are.
I found you, and consequently Lorenzo, by luck.
But one thing I’m sure of is that you are all drawn to one another, as surely as the tide is to the shore.
And so you wish to help me wake Enzo so the two of us can help you find her?
Another pause, Eli’s face betraying the faintest flicker.
Yes.
Elara left it at that. She had a feeling that she was already balancing on a precipice with Eli. Something in her softened slightly towards the Star before her. She was taken aback; that much was certain. A Star who had…feelings. It was near impossible.
Stars did not have hearts; she had known it from an early age—the stories about how a Star became a Star and the price they paid were known throughout the lands.
They sold their hearts and so were granted immortality at the dawn of time.
Stars did not feel the same kind of emotions a human did, the same love and pain.
And yet here Eli was, dreaming about a woman whom he looked at the way Elara looked at Enzo.
She forced herself to take a sip of her cooling cocoa, just for something to do, as she searched desperately for something, anything, to say.
I’ll help you, Eli. I swear it. If you can truly help me wake Enzo, I will help you find her. Along with the other Celestes. Just answer me this, and we will be done with it.
Eli fixed his cold, dark gaze on Elara. Go on.
Do you look for her in every room?
Eli flinched, and it was enough. It was all Elara needed to know. She nodded, flicking her hair behind her shoulders.
Then tomorrow, let’s bring Ariete to his knees.