Chapter 1
Impatience twisted in my stomach, and I craned my neck as I closely observed the narrow street ahead of me.
“Where is she?” I mumbled to myself, and another piece of dry willow sailed to the ground. If Rewi didn’t show up soon, my poor basket would suffer beyond repair.
I looked up at the sun rising higher and knew I couldn’t afford to wait any longer.
Rewi had always struggled with being on time, but today, my best friend hit a new low.
Maybe she’d forgotten about me after all.
She’d never done so before, but I wouldn’t put it past her. Sometimes, her head was in the clouds.
“Oh, by the gods!” I winced in pain and looked down at my finger. The latest piece of willow wood I’d fiddled with had broken my skin, leaving a small wound. I carefully removed the splinter and used the inside of my dress sleeve to clean up the blood.
That settled it. I’d waited long enough for Rewi so we could go to the market together, and for that reason, I walked alone toward the town center of Credenta, my hometown.
My mood was declining rapidly, even though I enjoyed the peace of an early morning on a normal day, but nothing could change how much it annoyed me that I’d been stood up by my best friend.
“Nayana! Wait for me!”
A wave of relief washed over me. Rewi hadn’t forgotten about me, she was just very late.
Since I wasn’t one to hold grudges, I turned around and witnessed my best friend running down the cobblestone street as if Noelk—the warden godling of the gates to the underworld—was chasing her.
She was out of breath from catching up when she finally stopped in front of me.
“Rewi. Please don’t die. I’d rather have you late than dead.” I grinned at her and, as usual, pulled lightly at her thick, black braid falling over her back. Her dark brown eyes stared at me—half amused, half annoyed—and she scowled.
“Stop pulling my hair. What are you, five?”
I laughed, knowing that if I ever stopped with this small ritual, my friend would grow anxious and ask herself if something was wrong with me.
I’d known Rewani, or Rewi as I called her, for most of my life, and we’d been best friends from day one.
People were always fascinated by how different our appearance was, as if looks determined the depth of a friendship.
Everyone always compared us and said we were like night and day.
My hair was light blonde and tumbled in loose waves over my shoulders, almost down to my hips.
Since I wasn’t particularly talented at styling my curls, I wore them open most of the time.
I had blue eyes, which slightly changed their shade when I was agitated, and a fair complexion I inherited from my mother.
She also contributed to my small build and well-proportioned figure.
Rewi, on the other hand, was tall, dark, and lean.
She was so incredibly beautiful, and the only reason I wasn’t jealous was because we were friends.
“I’m sorry I’m late!”
“You’ll be forgiven if you tell me why.”
“I forgot the time at the Stag’s Antler last night, and today I’ve overslept.”
“You’ve been at the Antler in the middle of the week? How did your father allow that?”
“Who says he did?”
“If Maros wasn’t so into you, you’d be in so much trouble. Say, have you finally given in to his advances?”
“Ugh. I’d never. He’s twice my age, and owning a tavern isn’t a redeeming enough quality.”
We walked while we gossiped, and I enjoyed the last warm rays of summer sunshine on my skin. Soon, fall would take over, and although I hated the heat, nothing was wrong with moderate warmth.
“Seems like the heatwave is finally over.”
“Fortunately, yes. It was unbearable this season. Everyone agreed it was the hottest summer they’d ever experienced.”
“I liked it. Better than cold winters.”
I playfully rolled my eyes at her. There were only a few things we disagreed on, and the perfect weather was one of them. In the end, it was stupid, and we both knew it.
Rewi gazed at me sideways, and I sent her a questioning look. “What now?”
“Nothing. I must say, I was surprised to get your message yesterday. Why did your mother send you to the market today instead of going by herself?”
“Honestly? I have no idea,” I said. “Oh, but guess what? She warned me again about wasting money just as I was leaving the house.”
“You’re not serious. It’s been three months since you bought that piece of candy.”
“Yes, and she won’t allow me to forget.”
“It’s not like your family can’t afford it.”
“Well, no. My mother is scared that I’ll gain too much weight and ruin my prospects, as she puts it.”
“Your parents are so weird.”
She had no idea how correct she was. To say both my mother and father were obsessed with the fear I wouldn’t be able to marry advantageously was an understatement, and I did my best to avoid the topic altogether.
Rewi must have noticed how my mood darkened because she grabbed my arm and discreetly pointed at some of the people we passed.
“Look, they’ve started building booths for the festival. ”
We’d just reached the edge of the town center, and I diverted my gaze over to where Rewi had pointed at.
A few days from now, our sleepy town would sink into a week-long celebration with merchants and performers from all over Iolesia.
Credenta never missed an opportunity to celebrate, and so we were known as the town with the highest number of celebrations per winter in the entire country.
I once heard that in days gone by, this upcoming end-of-summer festival had been dedicated to some now-forgotten minor godling responsible for the turning of the seasons.
And yet, as much as I’d dug into the books to find out more, I wasn’t able to find any further information.
Sadly, this wasn’t unusual at all. I’d always found it fascinating how there were no written recordings from two hundred winters ago and older and how people didn’t know much about the past. It was as if Ivreia had no older history, and I couldn’t understand why.
“Ouch.” I suddenly winced as Rewi’s elbow connected with my ribs.
“Nayana, are you with me? I’m talking to you.” My best friend flashed a smile, fully aware of my occasional tendency to zone out.
“Sorry. It’s so weird no one knows anything about this festival’s origins, which got me thinking about the history that’s missing.”
“My theory is that someone destroyed all the old things to hide something significant.”
I rolled my eyes at Rewi and scoffed. While I was drawn to finding out hard facts, she often lost herself in conspiracy theories about mystical worlds, faraway supremacists, and magical beings.
“You can roll your eyes all you want, but I met a traveling merchant a few days ago who saw something really curious.”
I tried to appear serious, intending to enjoy the tale Rewi was about to spin—one that the merchant had probably made up when he was drunk.
“He was on his way to Kalcas, and about half a day into his travels, he saw the air shimmering by the side of the road. He didn’t think too much of it, but as he was passing by, the fabric of reality suddenly tore open for a handful of seconds, and he spotted weird vegetation behind it, with trees and plants he’d never seen before.
It looked like another world. That’s how he described it.
” Rewi’s eyes glistened with excitement.
“I’m pretty sure your merchant was drunk. Or he wanted to impress you to get under your skirts.”
“Naya!”
My face fell when I saw Rewi blushing furiously. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Well, apart from being open-minded to the mysteries of our world, he was also handsome and skilled with his hands and tongue too. Not like our village boys.” She grinned, and I fell silent.
Rewi had a lot of experience with men—good for her—and often enjoyed meeting travelers for casual sex.
That was another difference between her and me.
Sure, I’d had some stolen kisses and a few clumsy secret encounters filled with hurried touches, but never anything as remarkable as my friend often described.
Secretly, I wondered if she was exaggerating. But what did I know?
Luck was on my side—I was spared from having to answer when we arrived at the market area, and I had to concentrate on my shopping list. I didn’t know why, but a little voice in my head told me that today was the wrong day to upset my mother.
“Don’t look, Naya. Bryon just turned around. He’s looking at you.”
My eyebrow raised all by itself. Bryon was back? Why hadn’t I heard anything about his return?
I couldn’t help but feel giddy at the news, and I sneaked a glance over at Bryon, who was helping to set up a booth for the upcoming festival.
I’d always had a crush on him, and I’d spent quite some time during my teen winters pining for him.
Nothing had ever happened between us, especially since I hadn’t been the only one of our peers who’d liked him, and my younger self had been very shy.
It’d all ended a few winters ago when he’d left Credenta to serve in the Ivreian army.
And I’d missed that Bryon was back home.
Discreetly ogling him, I had to admit he’d changed.
He looked different, more masculine. His dark blond hair was cropped shorter than I remembered, and the beard growing along his jaw was new.
After some deliberation, I decided it suited him.
His kind eyes were soft and brown like chocolate, and his once thin body had transformed into a muscular one.
“Nobody told me Bryon was back. When did he return?” I turned to Rewi, realizing we’d come to a stop.
“Oh, he was injured in the line of duty and retired with honors. His mother told my father he received a medal of bravery from the royal family.”