They wait.
Fate is a fragile thing, easily fractured by a single misstep.
What is bent may still pull.
What is broken does not always remain so.
The heavens will correct what was left undone.
Even if fate must be reshaped to do it.
Even at the cost of a god that has always obeyed, except once.
The divine are not safe from their own failings.
Before I could comprehend what that meant, I looked to Evelyn. She pointed at me before her ghost-like form exploded into a million shimmering particles.
“What does this mean?” Calva asked. “Is it talking about you?”
“Evelyn seems to think so. And I trust her. So… probably.”
“What did you do?” Vexlyn asked.
I shrugged before running my hands through my hair.
“I don’t know.” I stared at the book and a cold shiver ran down my spine. Was Elowyn my punishment or reward? “I need to go. Thank you for helping me.”
But my gaze fell to the book when the page turned by itself. Three words were scribbled on it.Vyrak. Gilyx. Kilryn.Vyrak were gone, I made sure of that. Maybe the three words didn't mean anything but I felt unease stir in my chest.
“You’ll tell us if you figure out what is happening?” Calva asked, taking my attention away.
“Yes.” I nodded and when I looked back to the book, the words were gone.
My star mist wrapped around me and when it disappeared, I was standing outside of my home. My heart was beating too fast. My mind was being pulled in a million directions trying to figure out why I was a target of the heavens.
I rested my forehead against the wooden door. Elowyn’s face flooded my mind.
I could still feel the ghost of her fingers against me, like her touch had branded itself into my soul. That frightened me. Now,I was waiting outside of the house trying to work up the courage to go in.
My hand trembled slightly, useless against the storm of want building beneath my skin. I could sense her through the walls, her energy, her quiet magic—like it was calling me. I had been coming home late and leaving early, so I had hardly seen Elowyn in the past three days. But every time I came home, I was drawn to her. My hands itched to touch her; my chest ached as I watched her.
She was my undoing, and I was standing at the edge of an abyss, pretending I could stop myself from falling.
I had put her in my bed this morning because she said she wasn’t feeling well, but I wanted to see her there. The memory made heat crawl up my neck. She had looked small there, fragile, wrapped in my sheets.
She had looked good in my bed. Too good. The kind of good that made my resolve splinter. My hands dragged through my hair.
“Stop being a coward,” I muttered, staring at the front door as if it was at fault.
The words came out rougher than I meant, like I was angry at myself for wanting her this much. My hand rested on the door handle for a moment before I pushed it open. For a heartbeat, I stood frozen, heart hammering, breath unsteady, knowing that once I stepped inside, I’d have to keep pretending I didn’t want her.
When I entered our home, I expected to see Elowyn curled up on the couch with a book, but the house was silent. She must still be in bed if she wasn’t feeling good. Shit, maybe I should have bought some soup in town.
I was just about to call out for her when I heard it—soft at first, almost like a sigh, but enough to freeze me where I stood. Everymuscle in my body tensed. No, that couldn’t be what I thought it was.
I took a step toward the bedroom. The door was slightly open, a faint light spilling through the crack, the only glow in the house besides the fire.
Another sound reached me, barely audible but intimate, vulnerable. My breath caught.
