“Those are his letters to her after he left Erzos for good,” I told her. “Letters he felt he didn’t have the right to send to her.”
“Star-crossed lovers,” Grace sighed.
“What does that mean?”
“Shakespeare, my love,” she said. “Haven’t you ever heard of him?”
“Vaguely,” I answered. “From Old Earth?”
“Yes. My mother would read us his plays when we were younger. The language is old, almost alien now. But I remember the stories,” she said. “Romeo and Juliet. Ill-fated lovers. You know how the Kylorr havekyranas? Fated mates? Think of their opposites. A love never meant to be, even written in the stars, at the beginning of time. Thus star-crossed, not star-aligned.”
She looked triumphant, even though I didn’t dare breathe. Because if their fatehadactually been written by the gods and goddesses of Krynn, long before they’d been born…then did they have any hope of reuniting with one another in Alara? In the after realm?
“I…I can’t believe in that,” I told her. “I have to believe that they are meant to find one another again. Ihaveto.”
Grace frowned. She placed a comforting hand on my back. “Millie, it’s just a phrase. I’m being silly. It’s not like these thingsareactually written by the gods. At least, I don’t believe that.”
“I know,” I said quickly, standing from the bed, feeling jittery from her words. “Of course.”
Star-crossed. The word wouldn’t leave my head. I might be haunted by it until morning.
Grace mirrored my actions, straightening to her full height.
“Regardless,” she said, “from what I read…he loved her very much. A love like that, it deserves a happy ending. Don’t you think? I hope he finds it.”
My throat went tight. “Me too.”
“Maybe I am still a romantic after all.”
I mustered a small smile at the sentiment. “I hope so,” I replied. “I certainly am.”
Grace embraced me. Then she walked to the door, her hand resting on the curved, silver handle. “See you tomorrow?” she asked. Her last full day at RaanaDyaan.
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “Good night.”
She departed, leaving me alone to my own thoughts. My gaze strayed to the book Kythel had given me. Had that just been tonight? It felt like so long ago now, but the throbbing in my thumb told me otherwise.
I felt weighed down just thinking about searching through its pages tonight. What if I didn’t find what I was looking for? What if I never did?
Another time,I decided. Tonight I just wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep.
Before I did, I pulled my Halo orb from my pocket. I looked at my account.
5,470 credits.
The same as it’d been earlier. A strange sense of disappointment washed over me, as if I’d hoped—by some stroke of magic—the number would have gone up in the span of a few hours, when I’d done no work.
There was one thing I knew for certain.
I was running out of time.
CHAPTER14
KYTHEL
The high afternoon sun was warm on my wings.
Stellara Forest was beneath me, the deep purple leaves of the trees a blur. At night, the whole forest looked ethereal blue. An otherworldly place with its phantom whispers and tragic memories. It stretched wide toward the coast. I knew the South Road would cut straight through it, cleaving it in two like a blade. I wondered if it would bleed.
