Chapter Twenty-Two
Elara staggered forwards, letting out a sharp breath.
‘You did it,’ Eli said behind her, clapping her on the back. ‘You genius woman, you fucking did it.’ He yanked her to him, hugging her tightly.
Merissa threaded her hands through Elara’s, holding on as Elara stared dumbfounded at the light that now shone on the city below.
‘I need to get to Helios now,’ Elara breathed.
‘Luckily for you, I have a shortcut,’ Eli replied.
Elara nearly tripped on his heels in her haste to follow him. She’d barely seen the top floor of his manor save for the bedroom she’d slept in, and her brows rose in surprise when a door was opened to yet another library, though this one had a large mirror hanging from the wall at the end of it.
‘A soverin?’ Elara gasped.
Eli inclined his head. ‘This is called a stellarin. It’s similar, but usually it allows me to travel to the heavens.’
He cut his thumb with the small knife pendant he wore and pressed it to a constellation engraved at the top of the frame. Their reflection shimmered, showing a kingdom suspended in clouds, glowing softly.
Elara could feel the magick within her keening, trying to escape, and she took a step closer. ‘Is this where I came from?’ she whispered, touching a finger delicately to the mirror.
‘Yes,’ Eli said gently. ‘And once Lorenzo is awake, and you destroy Ariete once and for all, you’ll be able to return.’
Eli pressed his thumb to the constellation again and said clearly, ‘Helios.’
The reflection shimmered again, this time displaying Idris’s lucirium.
With a delighted laugh, Merissa jumped through it, Leo following her.
Elara turned back to Eli.
‘I can’t come with you,’ he said, his voice the softest she had ever heard it. ‘I wish I could, but the Stars will be watching me, and Ariete is still here…’
Elara nodded, clenching and unclenching her hands.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘For everything, Eli. Without you, I could never have done this. It’s thanks to you he’s awake.’
Eli shook his head. ‘No, that was all you. I’m sorry, Elara. Whatever you did, whatever you had to pay…Well, it was worth it. You did it.’
Elara swallowed.
‘And as to what I said about us, about who we once were to each other…Elara, I would be honoured to serve you as my queen.’
Elara’s heart soared as she held out her hand.
‘To a new world,’ she whispered.
Eli smiled, grasping it. ‘To a new world,’ he replied. ‘Now go. I’m going to need to fabricate an illusion of utter horror now that the Sun is awake.’
He winked, putting his hands in his pockets as he waited for her to leave. She looked at him one final time before taking a deep breath and stepping fully through the mirror.
She felt the shift in magick and heat as she stepped into the Palace of Light. The smell of lemon and jasmine overpowered her, and she hadn’t realized quite how much she’d missed Helios, missed how it was saturated with things that reminded her of Enzo.
Merissa and Leo were waiting on the other side, both foolishly grinning, and she sprinted past them and out of the door.
‘Elara!’ Merissa spluttered.
She turned, halting.
‘You can’t go to him looking like this.’ Merissa swiped her hands over Elara as her glamour magick did its work, first vanishing the moon cut into her neck, then the shadows under her eyes, and sleeking her hair.
‘Thank you,’ Elara said, allowing herself the first real smile that she had in days before dashing down the corridor.
She barely took in her surroundings or the servants and workers that stood aghast, whispering and pointing at her, or those too distracted by the ascent of the sun—a foreign, mystical body to them—to its rightful place in the skies.
She veered left towards the throne room. Her eyes were scanning and searching for Enzo, only Enzo.
She arrived at the doors, her breathing nothing more than shallow gasps.
‘Enzo,’ she wheezed. ‘Is he in there?’
The guard at the doors nodded, alarm on his face as he realized who was speaking to him. She pushed the doors open, paying him no mind.
And stilled.
At the end of the throne room, she saw her Sun.
His hair was longer, falling in curls to his jaw, his face sharper, only his profile visible to her. Next to him was Isra, clutching his arm as tears slid down her face, advisors, guards and courtiers crowded around him.
Though, through it all, she could see that Enzo was agitated, looking for something as his head kept turning.
This wasn’t possible. Her mind wouldn’t let her believe it. That he was there before her.
She took another step. Her legs nearly buckled. She let out a soft exhalation.
Enzo’s head whipped around, his golden eyes locking with her silver ones.
And then Elara was running down the expanse of the throne room, her skirts streaming behind her. Enzo extricated himself from Isra’s hold.
The two were like streaks of light, two fallen stars streaming through the night sky towards each other.
The distance closed, Elara breathing raggedly. Three yards, two, one.
They collided, Enzo wrapping her in his arms, one hand in her hair as he squeezed her to him, a harsh breath escaping him.
She could smell him. And finally, Elara began to cry.
‘Hello, princess,’ Enzo murmured into her hair.
‘Hello, Lion,’ she whispered back before pulling away.
But as she finally locked eyes with him, his hands tenderly cupping her cheeks, she saw something shift within them. Horror.
‘Oh gods,’ he whispered, dropping his hands from her face. ‘It’s within you, isn’t it?’
Elara frowned, heart pounding.
‘What have you done with my Elara?!’ he demanded.
She shook her head. Went to reply, when she saw them. Shadows streaming from her hands, forming barbed points that dived for Enzo’s throat. She tried to call them back, tried to scream. The last thing she saw were Enzo’s eyes, filled with fear, as she fell into darkness.