It has been only two days since he’d departed from Finnian, and the stones in his chest had crumbled into a numbness. Like a disease, it spread down his limbs, taking everything in him to raise his arm and reach forward.
He extended his forefinger and the invisible barrier encasing the city flared, a solid, glass-like, glowing blue wall. Rippling rings bounced across it from his touch.
It felt like acid had coated the back of his throat as he curled his fingers into a fist. Discomfort knotted in his stomach, and his breath went light. The reality of what they’d done crashed down on him and he backed away on shaking legs.
He was not welcome.
The absenceof Finnian haunted his thoughts. What was he doing? Was he okay? Now that he loathed Cassian, would he find another lover?
He could not shake loose the image of Finnian laying with another.
Finnian hated him now. He had no reason to wait.
The ache in Cassian’s chest was like a scalpel, wedged deep beneath the skin.
Trembling from the thought, he sought solitude in the Serpentine Forest. Dropping in the mangled depths of its belly, he threw his arms over his head and cried out. The furious, gut-wrenching roar shook the cypress trees. The Achlys dispersed like field mice. He collapsed to his knees and wailed until he could no longer.
The Land fell to silence in mourning.
A century and a half.
A century and a half he would have to walk with this pain.
The newsof Naia’s escape came to him through Mavros.
“My lord,” he said, his brow pinched with concern, as it had been several weeks since Cassian had fallen back into the Land after Finnian had sent him away. “It won’t be long now.”
His words brought no reprieve to the strangling ball caught inside Cassian’s lungs.
As if Mavros could sense this, he added, “The sooner your plan begins, the sooner you will be reunited with the young god.”
It was a flicker of hope lit in the strangling abyss, one Cassian fixated all his energy into keeping alight.
However, weeks and months spanned in the Mortal Land without Naia being found.
“Perhaps she is being cloaked by the young god,” Nathaira suggested.
Cassian paced the space of the bridge overlooking the River of Souls, jaws pulsing. “Impossible. When I looked through the Fate of the obsessively reincarnating soul, he was murdered by Marina on Nohealani Island, in an inn. If they can’t locate her, it means she is being cloaked by the island’s protector—her father.”
Nathaira rested back on the railing of the bridge, her calm demeanor only further irritating Cassian’s nerves. “You know that you cannot interfere in this, no matter how much you wish for your plan to speed ahead. If that is the soul’s Fate, we must be patient.”
Cassian spun around and glared across the distance of his Land, a fire bristling in his blood as he set his sights on the jagged mountaintops behind the Serpentine Forest.
“Tell Mavros to clear my schedule for the hour.” His demand came out in a harsh tone. “I have an old friend I must pay a visit to.”
Nathaira lifted off the railing and appeared at his side. “Lord Cassian, I plead you to come down from your anger before you go see him.”
She’d always had a soft spot for Vale. He was her High God, and she glorified him. From the day he was escorted into the Land, she’d taken it upon herself to keep him company.Cassian had found Nathaira on numerous occasions outside of her cottage alongside Vale, who taught her the ways of nature. It was how her meadow came to be.
Cassian cut his eyes onto her, a warning. “Save your wisdom for another time, Nathaira.” He placed his fist inside his pocket. “Nothing will keep me from seeing mine and Finnian’s plan through. Not even my dearest friend. He’s concealing her on his island, and until Naia is found, I cannot move forward. For all we know, my interference is all the soul’s Fate has been waiting on.”
He heard the words leaving his mouth, the threat and severity in his tone. As if he would burst into Vale’s confinement, resorting to violence first before a conversation. He couldn’t blame Nathaira for her assumptions. Lately, he’d been anything but his usual level-headed self.
Nathaira’s stare burned the side of his cheek, her tranquil features rigid with disapproval. “Listen to yourself. Vale is protecting his daughter. All I am saying is do not leave here furious and say or do something to youroldest friendthat you will later regret.”
Cassian pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
There was a voice of reason that existed within him who’d heard her, agreed with her, even. But that voice of reason dwindled more and more as the days passed, forced to walk alone on the road he and Finnian had carved together.
