“Calista,” he called out.
She turned. For just an instant, emotion flashed across her face—was it fear? Relief? Desperation? But then Argoth’s hand tightened on hers, and her expression smoothed into something blank and unreadable.
“Lorien.” Her voice was measured. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Can we talk? Privately?”
She averted her eyes. “I have nothing to talk about with you, I’m afraid.”
Lorien’s magic was starting to glow beneath his skin, his control slipping. “Calista. Just one moment. That’s all I ask.”
Calista glanced at Argoth, almost as if seeking permission. He studied her for a long beat, then released her hand with deliberate slowness.
“Just for a moment, then,” he said pleasantly. “No more. We have guests to attend to.”
She led Lorien to a balcony overlooking the gardens. The moment they were alone, he grabbed her arms and spun her around to face him.
“What are you doing here with that dangerous man?” He reached for her hand, lifting it—and the black diamond ring adorning it—up between them. “And wearingthis, no less?”
Her voice was cold as she pulled out of his grasp and clenched her hands into fists at her sides. “I’ve made a choice, Lorien. You need to respect that.”
“I can’t. I won’t.” He moved closer, lowering his voice. “Something’s wrong. You’re not acting like yourself. Are they threatening you? Using magic on you? Just tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing’s happening except that I’m choosing my own future.” Her voice was fierce, but I could hear the brittleness underneath. The fear edging in.
“What about our plans?”
“The ones you would have abandoned the second you got what you wanted from me, you mean?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know about your dealings with the Order. They’ve told me everything. All the compromises you’ve made, the counsel you took from them, the?—”
“Theylied. Can’t you see?Allof this—” he gestured to the glittering palace “—is a lie.”
She stared at him, her expression hard. Shaking her head with a bitter little laugh, she whispered, “How can you sound so certain, even now?”
“Because I know what to believe in.” He closed some of the distance between them. “You and I are the only truth in this mad world.”
For a moment, her mask cracked. Her eyes burned with emotion, her lips trembling. She opened her mouth as if to say something.
Lorien cupped her face in his hand.
Then Argoth appeared in the doorway.
“Time’s up, I’m afraid,” he said, speaking just as pleasantly as before. But there was unmistakable steel beneath the courtesy. He moved to Calista’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Lady Calista has other guests to greet.”
Calista’s face went blank again, the moment of vulnerability vanishing. She let Argoth guide her back toward the ballroom, glancing over her shoulder only long enough to mouth two final words.
Goodbye, Lorien.
I felt something shatter in Lorien’s chest—felt the pain of it echoing through the sudden darkness that settled over the vision, a torment that clenched my own heart and lungs and made it hard to breathe.
Magic surged violently through him, light exploding outward in waves. There was a call for guards. The balcony shook beneath the force of his power. The storm of his grief and rage tore through the gathered nobility like a physical wind—and it seemed to destabilize the vision itself, too, causing the images to shatter and scatter.
I blinked back to the present and nearly let out a scream.
A ghostly apparition of Lorien stood in front of my balcony doors, silently watching me.
