One hand pressed to my aching chest, I lean down to inspect each petal and leaf before checking the dried roots and flowersI left hanging upside down. The watering system I’ve set up appears to be working properly. I could ask my mother or sister to see to my plants, but considering neither of them has ever once stepped foot in this flat, I’m confident that not a single one would still be alive. The intricate system is the only way I make Solevara feel at least slightly like a home away from home.
Typically, I’m only here once a year for a few days during the festival. This visit is different. I’ll be stuck here for weeks, until our birthdate and the new king’s coronation. My twin sister, Nova, will be the new queen. I’ve been summoned to attend. Not that anyone outside of my mother will care whether I’m here or not. And even her desire for my presence is purely for appearances.
I rub my nagging chest and turn to the whistling kettle. Pouring the hot liquid over my mixture, I watch the steam swirl into the air and take a deep breath of the sweet floral scent. My mother’s lack of interest in me doesn’t bother me as much anymore, but Nova’s indifference still hurts.
The Fae are always fascinated to see the almost identical twins. Our eyes are all that separates us. Otherwise, we’re a perfect match with our brown wavy hair, heart-shaped faces, and button noses. Nova has a little more curve to her compared to my hard edges, but it’s barely noticeable when we’re dressed up, which she always is. They don’t realize that my twin and I are basically strangers.
Squeezing those eyes closed, I shake away the thought of my estranged sister. I have enough to deal with being here. I don’t need to torture myself. I’m here—as required. I’ll put on a few pretty dresses, show up, and then I’ll go back to the Homestead the moment they say they don’t need me anymore. Forget everyone here until the next time I’m required. Just like they forget about me.
Bringing the tea to my lips, I slowly blow before taking a long sip of the concoction, welcoming the heat that radiates from my gut through my body.
My small room lights up from a flash of the storm outside. Gripping the warm mug in both hands, I make my way to the back window and look up the hill to the vine-covered limestone castle. Fae fire shines in a high window through the dark storm, calling to me like a beacon. As the waterfall beneath it overflows from the torrential downpour, another arc of lightning reaches down from the sky. The destructive power strikes dangerously close to the slate tiles and copper-tipped ridges that adorn the castle’s roof.
Unexpectedly, the air is violently ripped from my lungs. A wave of pain seizes me. I collapse to my knees. My tea and pieces of my mug splatter across the floor as I use both hands to hold myself up.
An audible gasp escapes when my bond with Nova is wrenched to the front of my chest. The sensation ripples through me, like someone just rearranged my insides while attempting to break through my breastbone from the inside out. The wind rushes from my chest as the strings that connect me to my twin are pulled taut, ready to snap.
The bond has become almost undetectable over the last few years with how distant we have become, but this… I’ve never felt anything like this between us.
I claw at my chest like there’s a physical connection reaching from my body towards Nova. A physical tether that I can gain purchase over to lessen this pressure pulling from me. A broken sob leaves my throat. Each muscle in my body shakes and locks into place.
The edges of my vision begin to fade to black right before tension inevitably snaps one of the strings. I’m yanked back intoreality with a bloodcurdling scream that I barely register as my own.
My mouth hangs open in a silent wail. The only breaths I’m able to pull in are short gasps as each string to Nova is slowly and painfully fractured apart. With a single, frail connection left to my twin, a stabbing sensation shoots through my back.
My body finally gives out.If this is death, at least the pain will stop.
I blinkawake as a hand strokes my cheek. The room has darkened around me and sky-blue eyes—Nova’s eyes—stare down at me.Identical in every way other than those eyes.My lavender irises are the only way to tell us apart.
“Oh Nissa…” The whisper comes through a choked sob.
The voice has me scanning the rest of the face. My eyebrows come together when I see the tears slide over fine age lines.
“Mother,” I croak through my tight vocal cords. The worst of the pain has receded, but phantom pains still radiate through my empty chest. Taking shallow breaths, I lay my hands over my heart.I don’t feel the bond, at all.
“I’m here,” my mother murmurs.
I glance around my flat, my confused mind grappling to understand. I swallow thickly as I put the pieces together. Whatever just happened, I survived it… but Nova didn’t.
My mother helps lift me off the floor and prop me against the wall edging my narrow bed. Numbness branches through me, easing the impact when she collapses down on the mattress beside me and studies my face, unaware of the pain she just caused to shoot through me. I can see the uncertainty as she tries to form her next words, but I don’t need her to tell me.
“It’s Nova,” I offer to ease her discomfort at having to break the news.
She withers into my lap, her tears turning my sage dress dark green where they fall. “Oh, Nissa… My Nova! My Nova is gone,” she wails into the fabric.
I stroke her hair and take slow, deep breaths, adjusting to the hole now dug into my chest. Nova and I have grown apart, but we always had that bond intertwining us on a biological level. If I’m honest, that was theonlyconnection we had left.
The more hysterical my mother grows, the more uncomfortable I become. She hasn’t been this physically affectionate towards me since I was sent away to the Homestead when I was a child. Nova is—was—the favored daughter.The Daughter of Gaia.In fact, this is the first time I have been asked to stay longer than a few days for Beltane. And it wasn’t from a true desire to have me here.
“What will I do without her?” Her words are muffled.
The pain is still taking its toll on my body. It makes it hard to form a response, so I just close my eyes and rub comforting circles on her back as she sobs. I no longer hear the storm raging outside the thin walls.
“What happened?” I finally ask, my head leaned back against the wall.
Her crying slows, and after a moment I feel her sit up. I open my eyes, and she’s smoothing her twisted bun back to her typical perfection.
“I don’t know…” Tears still fill her eyes. She shakes her head and gulps back a sob. “The Guardians came after the storm slowed. They didn’t have details when they told me. Only that she was…” She squeezes her eyes shut and buries her face in her hands.
