“You didn’t think I would?” he asks.
“I . . . I wasn’t sure.”
Now I’m starting to remember the unease I’ve been feeling: Aric missing our tutoring session together, the way he smiled and laughed so freely with Morgan, then him telling me he doesn’t need my help anymore.
Around me, the ballroom darkens, half of the candles blowing out. The dance floor is empty now apart from the two of us, but Aric doesn’t seem to realize. He keeps dancing, his hands sure and steady as he guides me, but the air is colder now, and something feels wrong.
“Do you actually want this?” I find myself asking.
“Want what, Brains?”
I bite my lip as he twirls me, then catch my breath as he reels me back in. Finally, I find my voice. “This. Us. Me.”
“You think I don’t?” he asks. He’s not looking at me, and the rapidly dimming candlelight causes shadows to cut across his face.
“I... I don’t know.” Self-doubt starts to creep into my mind, reminding me of Morgan, of how beautiful and confident and powerful she is, of how natural she looks beside Aric, a true match for him. And I’m just... me. Poppy. A shy dream witch who’s only just now starting to find her voice in this world. “I don’t know if it makes sense. You and me.”
The words slip out before I can stop them. But Aric keeps dancing.
“Maybe it doesn’t,” he says. “Maybe we’ve been fooling ourselves all along.” He twirls me yet again, but this time when he pulls me back in, I notice that I can see the candlelightthroughhim, like he’s slowly turning into mist, evaporating before my eyes.
I look down to where his fingers rest along the dip of my waist, noting that I can see my dress through him. His hand in mine feels less tangible with every step we take across the dance floor.
“Maybe this was never meant to be,” he says.
He stops dancing, and I realize now that there’s no more music. The ballroom has descended even deeper into darkness. A strange mist has started to gather around us, clinging to our ankles, cold despite how warm I was in Aric’s arms just a moment ago.
His hazel eyes meet mine. “Maybe we should stop pretending.”
From the mist, Morgan materializes, her red hair hanging long and loose around her shoulders, her lips painted crimson to match. “Aric,” she says, and even her voice is beautiful.
Aric turns away from me, and as he takes a step in her direction, I open my mouth to beg him not to go, to try to tell him how much I care about him, how badly I want this to work out, even if it might not make sense right now. But no sound comes out. Again, I’m voiceless, trapped in silence no matter how hard I try to speak.
Morgan offers Aric her hand, and he takes it. They look perfect together. Much more perfect than I look beside Aric.
I try again to plead for him not to go, but I’m unable to utter a word. And Aric doesn’t even look back before leading Morgan into the mist, disappearing with her and leaving me in the ballroom all alone.
“POPPY. POPPY!”
I jerk awake, my chest heaving, hair stuck to my cheeks. The curtains are still drawn around my bed. It’s dark, and without my glasses, I can’t immediately tell who’s sitting on the mattress next to me.
“Poppy,” she says again, and I’m awake enough now to place her voice.
Alina.
I reach for the glasses on my nightstand and put them on, only then realizing that my cheeks are slick with tears.
“I think you were having a nightmare,” Alina says. Her cool hand finds mine, and she squeezes softly. “Are you okay? You’re crying.”
I nod quickly, intending to tell her that everything’s fine. But when I open my mouth to lie, only a sob comes out. I quickly smother it with my hand, trying not to wake Maeve and Lyra.
“Oh, Pops.” Alina pulls me in, hugging me to her chest. Her frost magic makes her skin cold, but I’m overheated from the nightmare, and the cool touch feels soothing as she cradles me against her.
“It... It was a dream about Aric,” I whisper through the tears.
“What about him?” She strokes a hand down my hair, the rhythm gentle and soothing.
“We were at the ball. Then he said that m-maybe we were never meant to be.” Tears pool in my eyes again. “And then he left with Morgan, and I was all alone.” My shoulders startto shake, and Alina tightens her hold on me, letting me cry and get my tears all over the shoulder of her satin nightgown.
