Chapter 6 #2
“I don’t know.” He comes to a stop a branch ahead of me, near a clearing and points to the left.
My eyes linger on the spot. But nothing stands out, nothing calls to me.
Shouldn’t the place where my twin, my other half, died feel different?
Shouldn’t I be able to tell that she was here?
This is where Nova’s body and spirit went back to join the Goddess, and I can’t feel her. Had we grown that far apart?
Ahead, remnants of a stone archway are visible through the crumbled rock of a cliffside. I can just make out stairs that climb the cliff before they disappear directly into the rock face.
The human world portal.
My heart stops. I realize I’m standing halfway between the location where Nova died, leaving her legacy for me to carry on.
And halfway to my escape, away from this royal life that killed her and moved on like she never existed.
I’m literally standing between the two lives that I’m faced with.
Be the queen that Nova was destined to be—or run.
I clinch the skirt of my dress in my hands. My mind is screaming for me to race for the portal, the exit from this life I’m being caged into by a Goddess who doesn’t care.
“Are you okay?” Cillian’s voice rips through my thoughts, grounding me back to the moment. His eyes trail down to my clenched fists.
I immediately release the fabric and smooth the wrinkles. Once I would have done anything to have his eyes on me, but right now, he is seeing right through me, and nothing good can come from that.
“Why was she here?” My voice comes out husky.
Emotion oddly similar to concern flashes across his face before he looks back to the clearing. “I don’t know.”
I study the last area that my sister existed in her physical form before the element reclaimed her body. “And you said the Guardians didn’t get here in time. Why weren’t they with her?”
“She came alone.”
My eyes go wide. Nova was the rule follower. That was one of the issues we had. She wouldn’t even push back enough to find a moment to spend with me on my visits.
He hesitates, eyeing me. “I was hoping to figure out why she was here. That’s actually why I’m out here. Any ideas?”
A humorless laugh leaves my throat. “If anyone would know, it would be your family. I barely knew her.” My frustration builds. What in the worlds, in this elemental land, at this portal, could be important enough to have Nova stepping out of the rules.
Cillian begins to walk the clearing, as if looking for clues on the forest floor. “Barely knew her…” he mumbles under his breath, shaking his head, “but you’re just alike.”
The comparison shouldn’t hurt. It shouldn’t tear at my heart the way it does.
“Of course. We looked alike, so we were basically the same person, right?” I roll my eyes in disgust, not trying to hide it from him. “So glad you can see so much depth in people beyond their looks.”
The irony of it leaves my chest in a bitter laugh.
He’s the one Fae who I ever felt saw me as someone other than Nova’s sister. And now he’s telling me I am no different than her.
He’s wrong. Nova would never run. The thought of my twin leaving this life that she gave everything for, would be insane. It would be selfish. And anyway, she always wanted this, did everything to be who they wanted her to be.
So, why else would Nova be out here? A dozen reasons race through my mind, most ruled out immediately. These aren’t her elemental lands, and I doubt she got here by accident. Did she meet someone? Did someone bring her out here?
My brow furrows as the facts continue to bring me back to two things: Nova would never run, and she was attacked.
“You know what I meant, Lil—” Cillian cuts himself off, clearly irritated at my warning look.
“Fine, no nicknames. But obviously you’re different.
” He takes a step closer, running both hands through his already messy hair.
“I just meant that you’re apparently both stupid enough to come out into Terrania alone. ”
As if calling me stupid is better?
He closes his eyes, fingers still threaded through his brown locks, and pulls at the roots. The shirt stretching across his chest in response and I swallow at the tight fabric.
“Nothing can happen to you.” His lids open, ocean-blue eyes locking on mine with a new intensity. Goddess, he is gorgeous.
My heart rate kicks up. Does he finally realize I’m trying to leave? “Right, because all of you need me. I was disposable before, but now I matter.”
He lets out a frustrated growl. “You weren’t fucking disposable.”
“Could have fooled me,” I mumble, putting space between us as I seek out any signs of my twin. I still come up with nothing. I can’t tell that anyone was here before this moment, much less that there was a full attack and murder.
A loud crash fills the space behind us. Before I can turn to see what happened, Cillian is between me and the noise. From where I’m positioned behind him, I can see the straining muscles and rapid pulse in his neck.
I peek over his shoulder, looking for the enemy that he’s poised to defend against. A small dryrd is flying up over the trees.
A trail of scorched leaves floats down behind it to a heap of newly incinerated limbs on the ground.
His little black body and the iridescent blue lining his wings shimmer in the sun as he flees his destruction.
An unexpected giggle bubbles out of me at the harmlessness of our attacker.
Cillian looks back over his shoulder at me as his coiled body slowly releases.
I quickly cover my mouth and stifle another laugh at his serious expression.
He watches me for a second before his serious features are broken by a ghost of a smile.
He clears his throat as he steps away, the serious look back. “We should get back. This area isn’t safe.”
“Clearly. See you at the castle tomorrow.” My shoulders are hunched as I continue to look for any signs of anyone else here recently.
I know if I don’t use the portal now, then it will be much harder once they move me into the castle.
But I can’t leave without figuring out why Nova was here.
We may not have been close, but she was still my twin.
My other half. If she was running, something devastating must have happened.
And she didn’t feel like she could reach out to me.
Or if someone lured her out here, then I need to figure out who.
We may have failed each other for years, but I won’t let her down now.
“I’ll take you back. I want to make sure you make it safely.” His footsteps follow behind me.
“I don’t need you to ensure my safety. Thanks, though,” I respond, dismissing him as I trek through the brush.
“You kind of do. But beyond that, I can see how exhausted you are.” He hesitates before adding, “Unless you have no plans to return…” His words fall off as he gives me a pointed look before looking to the portal.
Annoyance washes over me. He’s proof of how difficult escape will be if I go back. But I have 5 weeks until the coronation.That should be plenty of time to figure out what happened to Nova and figure out a way out. Then I’m gone.
I hate that he can still read me. But the twin-bond breaking has left my energy depleted, barely able to get here. Especially with how many times I had to change root systems.
Every element has their own form of travel-—rootwalking, mistwalking, smokewalking, and breezewalking.
It’s the only magic Gaia grants the fae before they hit their majority.
In the past, Earth Fae could travel anywhere in one pass.
But as the trees and plants have died off, rootwalking is interrupted every time we hit a dead or dying root.
Breezewalking has also become unreliable, whenever Gaia decides to stop the breeze midair.
Water and fire are the only elementals that aren’t having issues, since they can pull water and natural electricity from the air whenever they wish. At least for now.
I’d hoped to glean enough energy from the lands to shift into the roots, but the little remaining power here isn’t enough. I could rootwalk back to the city, but the thought of that long trek has my bones feeling weighed down with how often I would need to remateralize.
“It doesn’t make you weak to accept help, Nissa.”
As much as I don’t like him using nicknames, my true name feels like a slap in the face. It makes the fact that we’re essentially strangers all the more real, and I hate myself for not liking it.
When I don’t respond, I hear him slowly approaching me from behind, like I’m some wounded animal. I’m not. He long ago lost the ability to hurt me.
He eliminates the little space between us, and I can feel his heat behind me for a moment. The wind catches in my chest as he gingerly places his hand on my hip. Slowly he slides his fingers across my stomach, pulling me back into his chest. I try to breathe past how natural his touch feels.
“Just what every female wants to hear—how tired she looks.” I laugh weakly as my magic reacts to him holding me. We haven’t touched since that night in the garden, and I instantly feel stronger in his arms. But that’s not all I feel. His touch is like a brand on my skin even through my dress.
“Have you ever mistwalked?” His breath brushes across my ear. His voice is low and full of something I can’t place.
“No.” It comes out more breathy than I intended. I swallow at the sensations that are firing though my body.
“Your body will warm before you feel a tingling sensation. Then we’ll begin to move. If you get dizzy, just close your eyes.”
I exhale the wind I’ve been holding, welcoming any explanation for the magic suddenly swirling through my body.
Warmth fills me, and the air I expelled is quickly pulled back into my lungs as he starts circling his thumb on my stomach.
My muscles contract involuntarily. I’m suddenly overcome with a new level of heat. I shudder as the tingling starts.
His chest vibrates as he laughs at my reaction, his breath teasing the shell of my pointed ear.
My limbs begin to feel as if they’re light as air.
I squeeze my eyes shut at the overstimulation.
I cross my arms over my midsection, gripping his arm that sits across my stomach and his hand on my upper arm for support.
Moments later my feet hit the ground again. His hold on me tightens, making sure I don’t fall forward as I reacclimate. I slowly open my eyes to the front of my flat. Jerking out of his hold, I can finally breathe again, even though my head remains in the clouds from the mistwalking.
When I face him, he is already starting to disappear into water vapor. “Bye, Lila. See you at the castle.”
I realize when I close the door that I never told Cillian where I live.