I realize I’m blocking the door. “Right. Sorry.” I move out of his way.
Cygnus pauses at the threshold. “You sure you’re all right?”
I’m aware of him absorbing my appearance: my mussed hair, my flushed cheeks. My ears burn as I realize he can probably still smell Finn on me and the whole truth of what we’ve done.
It’s not judgment that flares in his eyes. Not anger, either. It’s something else, something softer and more pained.
I don’t want to think about any of this. I need to get out of here.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
I hurry away before he can ask more. On my way past the staging area, I run right into Daisy.
“Lyria!” she exclaims, wrapping me in a huge hug. “You’re still here!”
Daisy’s familiar smiling face momentarily calms my racing heart. I tell her all that happened, about Finn’s proposal and briefly about what we shared afterward. Daisy goes from intrigued to shocked to flummoxed.
“And you said yes?”
“I didn’t…Well, I guess I didn’t really say anything either way.”
“What?”
“It all happened really fast.…We were both so emotional.…I just didn’t feel like I could give him an answer.”
“But you’regoingto say yes?”
“I…”
For some bizarre reason, Cygnus’s face pops into my mind. I shove it down as fast as I can.
“I’m not sure,” I say weakly.
Daisy blinks at me. Her eyes drop to my hand, her lips tightening into a thin line. “Well, can I at least see the ring?”
I offer her my hand. “He said it belonged to one of his great-great-great-grandmothers or something.”
I feel the other weight of this token from Finn, the many strings that it represents. This ring would mean a life inside the daydream. A life with Finn, but a half life, at best.
When Daisy looks at the ring, she gasps. “Lyria!” Her gaze shoots up to me. “This is the Rashielle diamond!”
“What?”
“This ring belonged toQueen Elora, Lyria. As in the wife ofVerdin the Vanquisher. It’s been passed down to queens of Verdinae ever since.”
I glance down at the ring. “Really?”
“I think?”
“This is priceless.” She clutches her chest. “Lyria, this ring is worth more than my whole life! Do you have any idea how much you could sell it for? Or—forget that—it belongs in a museum! In anartgallery!”
Something she said snags my attention. “Did you sayRashielle? Like the Goddess?”
“Yes,exactlythe same.” She giggles. “This is one of three jewels in the sister set. They were worn by Verdin’s wife and his daughters. Supposedly spoils of the war.”
“What set? How do you know this?”
“The sister set,” she repeats, huffing. “The most famous jewels in the Midlands? There’s three of them—the biggest jewels in the world. They’re named after the Elven Goddesses: Elowyn, Rashielle, and Nocturn.”
