60. Vera
Vera
At first, there was nothing. I slept soundlessly, with Everett’s steady presence at my side the entire time.
But then, it changed.
I dreamed of shattering walls and trembling floors, fire cascading like molten lava from cracks in the walls, racing after me as I ran.
Images and voices jumbled together in my subconscious—kraken tentacles, siren tails, lightning, corpses with outstretched arms, voices of the three Fates ringing all around me.
It was one of those dreams where I knew I was dreaming, and I was simply trying to get to the end so I could wake up.
Then the air shifted, stretching thin as something disrupted the dream.
Everything slowed. The flames licking across the floor barely flickered forward, and the kraken tentacles swinging around me became so sluggish, it was like they were wading through molasses.
I spun to see a figure erupt from the shadows.
Everett stumbled, then caught my gaze with wide eyes. “Vera!” he called out. His voice was panicked and desperate, the way I remembered it sounding in the cells. He sprinted forward and threw his arms around me, fingers digging into my hair to pull me closer. I instantly relaxed against him.
But he wasn’t relaxing. His arms shook as they held me. “You need to wake up,” he urged. “Something’s wrong.”
“What are you talking about?” I looked around. “It’s just a dream.”
He shook his head vigorously. The scar on his eye gleamed brighter. “It’s really me, Songbird. I’m dreamwalking.”
“Wait.” I remembered the last time he appeared in my dream. “If you’re really here, then that dream with the river…” I trailed off, cheeks burning at the memory of the way I’d kissed him.
“Yes,” he said, breathless. “That was me. I shouldn’t have intruded,” he added quickly. “I didn’t mean to stay. I just—” His grip on me tightened. “You were hurting.”
I sucked in a breath, my chest constricting with his admission. But then the dream lurched. The molten fire behind us began creeping faster again, dripping from the walls in thick, glowing veins. The kraken’s tentacles twitched.
Everett jerked his head around, as if he could see something I couldn’t.
When he looked back at me, terror shone in his eyes.
“Listen, Vera, I just came from Arcadia’s dream, and I—I think we’re both in trouble.
” He stumbled over his words. “I saw something, and then he chased me. I tried to wake you up, but you’re not responding. I think someone—”
The stone beneath our feet split with a thunderous crack. The entire world quaked, and Everett’s form flickered. “Everett?” I tried to grab him, but my fingers went right through his body.
“You have to wake up!” he urged, voice distant and distorted. “Don’t trust—”
With a rush of wind, he disappeared. The dream picked up speed, and flames danced along the ground with renewed vigor, kraken tentacles swinging wildly at me. I couldn’t catch my breath. What just happened? Where had he gone?
I needed to wake up. I pinched my arm, but nothing happened. My heart raced faster and faster to the speed of the oncoming flames. Gritting my teeth, I balled my hands into fists and charged forward into the inferno.
My eyes shot open right as the blaze engulfed me. I gasped and clutched my chest, Everett’s name still burning in the back of my throat. I reached across the bed for him, but was met with cold, empty sheets.
He was gone.
Adrenaline coursed through me, so thick I could taste it.
I summoned light magic to illuminate the room and nearly choked on a scream.
Blood sprinkled his side of the bed, the sheets were ripped, and the book he’d been reading was thrown on the floor.
Looking farther down, I saw a piece of the bedpost was cracked down the middle.
My hand flew to my mouth. Who had done this? How long ago, and how had I slept through it? In my dream, he said he’d tried to wake me. My head spun, still foggy with sleep, but the taste of something else clung to the air. It felt like magic.
Someone had spelled me to stay asleep. Everett could’ve been gone for hours at this point. He could be—
I refused to let my mind go there. I leaped out of bed, throwing myself into action. Something had taken him, and I would tear apart this entire palace—this entire kingdom—until I found him.
I quickly changed clothes and pulled my leather jacket over my shoulders, searching the room for the bag I’d brought with me.
I hadn’t seen it since we got here. My gaze settled in the corner, where I’d thrown it that first night.
I grabbed the strap and yanked it over my shoulder, and it split down the middle.
“What the—” I cursed as the contents poured out. The old map Odessa and I had found, a change of clothes, a compass. But those weren’t what caught my eye.
Dozens of pieces of paper, all different shapes and sizes, floated to the ground. I blinked in confusion. Those definitely hadn’t been there before. My name stared back up at me from the one on top, and I instantly recognized the handwriting.
I froze. Everett.
Leaning over, I picked the first one up and unfolded it.
Songbird,
I think Milo is getting tired of my constant requests to send these messages. The others aren’t very good at hiding their pity, but I don’t care. If there’s even a chance you’re reading these wherever you are, then I have to keep trying.
Please come home to me.
I couldn’t breathe. My shaking fingers reached for another, eyes burning as I scanned the contents.
Songbird,
Nox and Devora set a date for the wedding: next summer.
I think they planned it so far out because they hope you’ll be back by then.
Empress Clarissa is trying to convince them to do it at the capital, but Nox refuses.
He says that’s far too pretentious for him.
Plus, Clarissa and Thorne’s baby won’t even be a year old at that point.
Devora didn’t want her trying to throw a wedding on top of taking care of a newborn.
I can’t remember if I told you in my last note, but baby Aris is a girl.
Clarissa claims she could tell, but Rose did a spell to make sure.
Mother and baby are healthy. Nox has already proclaimed himself an uncle, and Leo hates that.
I know you didn’t get the chance to really meet them, but I think you’d like Rose and Leo.
She reminds me of you a little—you’re both twice as stubborn and fierce as the rest of us.
I’m rambling at this point, and Milo is glaring at me to finish. He doesn’t understand why I keep doing this. They all think you’re either ignoring me or his messages aren’t reaching you. Either way…I hope you get this one. We miss you, Vera.
Please come home to me.
A tear dripped from the tip of my nose and splattered onto the letter.
I couldn’t even count how many messages there were.
I grabbed more, craving to see what I’d missed.
Some messages were longer, him pouring his thoughts or the events of his week on the paper in careful, deliberate handwriting.
Others were rushed and scrawled, as if he had been anxious to get the words down.
But they were all for me.
Songbird,
Give me anything. Any word, any sign that you’re alive. I spend every night comforting the kids who have endured so much, and yet, I can’t even get my own nightmares to stop. They were always quieter with you.
Please come home to me.
Songbird,
I don’t have any nice words for you right now. Today, I’m just angry. You left me. After everything we went through together, you left me, and I’m allowed to be angry. You were the one person I needed to stay, and you couldn’t do it.
I want to hate you for it, but it’s like I can hate everything except you.
You’re in every breath I take, every stream of sunlight I see, every moment of warmth on my skin.
I hear you in the laughter ringing down the halls and in the bird’s song outside my window.
I know in my bones I’d sooner rip the heart from my chest than hate you.
Please come home to me.
Songbird,
I’ve been thinking about that beach I never got to take you to. The water is perfect this time of year.
Please come home to me.
I buried my head in my hands, several letters still clutched in my grip. He never gave up. A year of waiting, a year of hoping, and he never stopped trying to reach me.
I thought he would’ve moved on. That was what I wanted—for all of them to realize they were better off without me.
What did I add to their lives, besides a burden?
But this…this was a man who saw me as more than that.
This was a reminder that there were people in my world who didn’t want to use me—they simply wanted me.
A sister, a daughter, a friend, a lover.
Sides of myself I’d pushed away for longer than I could remember.
I wanted to bring her back. I wanted to find her again.
But first, I had to find him.
I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and straightened my shoulders. Whoever took him from me was going to feel the wrath of the Lightbringer they so desperately wanted me to be.
As I whirled toward the door, a body burst into the space in front of me. I was so startled, I barely stopped myself from squealing.
It was the maid, Sloane. She smirked at me, and my eyes widened as she ripped off the white apron around her waist and tugged at the collar of her dress.
“I’ve been wanting to take this off for days,” she muttered. Beneath her uniform was a cropped shirt, leather pants, and combat boots.
I stared at her. “You’re not a maid, are you?”
“Nothing gets past you.” She removed the strap keeping her hair in a bun and let the brown locks flow around her face. “Well, come on. Do you want to save your boy, or not?”