“You haven’t heard about the curse?” Florian holds out his hand for me and I take it, taking steps with him. Koen sighs, letting his head fall back before scratching the back of his neck.He is hating this.
“No, brother. Enlighten me.”
“If you kill the Prophecy Queen, there is a curse that will mark you for life. The Realms are unsure of what the curse would be, all we know is that whoever takes the life of the Prophecy Queen will be cursed by the Gods.” Florian’s eyes falter from Koen to me.
I clear my throat, gripping Florian’s hand tighter as I almost slip again. “I used to tease him about it.”
“How cute.”Koen’s jaw clenches.
My eyes widen, glancing towards Koen as he cracks his neck. Slowly and deliberately. As if there is a tension inside him that won’t release. My lips part to take a silent breath before my teeth begin to chatter once more. “Are you sure the stone will protect me from the cold?”
“I promise.” Florian nods. “Keep the sack on you. Just the stone next to you will produce heat, but if you feel you need more, hold it. You won’t be able to travel without the pendant I wear or the Deskyiara blood. So don’t cut yourself.”
“I am not her,” I say, shaking my head.
“You are, and I’m going to prove it.” Florian sighs as we take our last steps to be front and center to the towering frozen waterfall. He lets go of my hand, and Koen starts walking in without even a glance my way.
Florian’s eyes follow his steps. “He must be in a mood.”
I cock my head to the side. “He is always in a mood.”
“I wondered how living in the dormitory with him was going?” Florian’s brow lifts with curiosity.
My lips part to speak, to say something negative about how life has been with him the past week, but I can’t lie. He rescued me, multiple times.Slept by my bed every night.He helped train me, even when he didn’t want to. He has been nothing but perfect. Kind. Gentle. Even after that one morning the darkness took over, he has been by my side every day and every night.
I pull my waves out of my face, letting the strands sit behind my ear. “It’s been okay. He hasn’t been awful. He has been by my side, guiding me through this.”
He instantly averts his gaze away from me, as if my response isn’t quite what he hoped for. A slight tension flickers across his features, making my fingers dig into my palms. With a slight shift of his shoulders, he clears his throat. “I’ll be back.”
He turns sharply and heads away from me into the frozen waterfall.
A deep sigh escapes my lips, watching him weave into the open cracks in the side of the frozen water, watching his body flicker in the ice as he walks and then vanishes. My eyes scan around, but no one is here besides us. No one followed, I remind myself. No one can travel through the Realms without the Light Stone.
My brows pull inward while my heart flutters widely in my chest. The pendant. Florian’s pendant is similar to the one Tilly had found.
I instantly shake my head, removing the thought of it being connected to this place.
It couldn’t be.
But as I rub my freezing arms, I hear a slight whisper in the breeze.“You are not supposed to be here.”
My eyes squint, trying to see through the slight smoke that hisses off of the frozen lake. A chill rushes through me, not from the cold, but the uncomfortable feeling that someone is watching me.
“Come, child.”The woman’s voice is soft as it carries in the wind, bouncing off of the mountains around us. “Walk towards me.”
I glance over my shoulder at the waterfall and close my eyes.I’ll be right back.I need to understand what this voice is, who this voice is, and why it is calling out to me. I need to understand everything.
With a long stride, I catch a deep breath, determined to walk over the frozen lake without falling. Each step I take, I count, focusing on the numbers playing in my mind and steadying my heart rate.
“Who is there?” I call out, my eyes darting in all directions, spinning around on my toes to look behind me. My arms stretch outward, controlling my balance as I now don’t have Koen or Florian here beside me. I’m all alone.
I wonder, did the voice wait to call out to me until they left?
My eyes burn, the freezing wind whipping at my face as a fog lifts around me. I lift my hand up, squinting as I see a dark figure—a shadow—gesturing me to follow. I should be smart and turn around, but I don’t. I need answers. This voice led me here to the Realm of Azure, and I plan to uncover why it did.
“Hello?” I hunch myself down, trying to see through the thick fog that feels as if the clouds above have fallen down on me. “Who are you?”
“Keep walking, child… all your questions can be answered if you keep walking.” The voice feels so close. If I just take a few more steps out towards her, I can unravel the truth.
