I didn’t realize they were tethered to the rules of the tournament in this way. And that the only reason they were free to stop Madame Vera before was because she stole the wish. It wasn’t hers to make.
“What are you waiting for, girl?” Madame Vera hisses.
I look at Taron. A glazed look has spread over his face. I am overcome by a quiet wretchedness, a despairing realization – she’s got her fingers whorled around his mind.
“I should’ve listened to you,” I whisper, and my heart aches to see that annoying, satisfied smirk of his. It never comes.
I can’t do this. She’s a monster. What am I thinking? My breath seems to have solidified in my throat, in my bones, preventing them from moving. Then…
“Talia?”
My blood chills. That voice. So soft. So painfully familiar, it might as well be my own. I look around the temple, trying to locate where it’s coming from.
The Necroseals on Madame Vera’s fingers pulse faintly. She weaves her hand through the air beside her, fingers pinched as though pulling an invisible thread.
An impression starts to form. A white haze, taking on the shape of a person.
A girl with delicate features.
She’s slender with soft shoulders. Dainty wrists. The cloudy manifestation doesn’t show the colour of her eyes, but I’ve gazed upon them too many times in my life to not know they’re blue.
“E-Elara?” My voice is small. Broken. It must be her spirit. I’ve heard of Soulreapers calling forth spirits from the afterlife, allowing them to interact with the living.
“Talia, what’s going on?” The hazy Elara sounds faraway, like she’s submerged under water. “I don’t feel quite myself…”
An exultant hot tear trickles across my cheek. “Are you doing this to taunt me?” I sneer at Madame Vera.
“I’m only reminding you, dear, why you’re doing this.”
“Talia, I’m so cold…” Elara sounds hurt and confused. I can’t stand it.
I flee forward with my arms open, ready to embrace her spectral form. Madame Vera snaps her fingers and, with another pulse of her Necroseals, Elara vanishes. My arms wrap around a cloud of white mist, and then I’m embracing only myself.
She’s gone. Again.
It’s somehow worse, losing her a second time.
A devastating ache explodes in my chest, taking my breath away. I stand frozen, feeling not entirely connected to my body. The world feels cracked sideways. Time feels split open. I’m only watching from afar, consciousness drifting as I turn to face Madame Vera. She steps aside, and Taron, too, allowing me to approach the statue of Aether.
Suddenly, the light is too sharp and the colours too loud, and nothing matters. I don’t care about the Astrals, their voices a distant echo as they repeatedly urge me to reconsider.
“You must look beyond your personal grief,” I hear the monocled man, somewhere at the back of my head. “Think of the kingdom. The countless lives that have already been lost at the hands of this monstrous woman.”
There’s only one life that matters to me. I want my sister back.
I reach for the amulet around the statue’s neck. The crystal’s pulse intensifies when I touch it, taking the gold chain in my hands and hoisting it over Aether’s head.
You would never think this jewel, glittering with various shades of ginger, ochre and saffron, with specks of red scattered throughout, was once a star that fell from the sky. I lay the amulet flat on my palm, and the crystal nestled within flickers in response.
My jaw is clenched so hard it aches. Despite the roaring heat in my veins, I still have to physically force myself to place the amulet in Madame Vera’s outstretched hand. But I do it. Because Elara’s life hangs in the balance.
The Soulreaper’s greedy fingers close around the amulet, and the Astrals release a collective sigh of disappointment.
“There, you got what you wanted,” I say. “You got your wish, now give me back my sister.”
“Oh, just a moment, dear child. I’m a little preoccupied,” Madame Vera croons as she cradles the amulet.
When she attempts to brush me off with a wave of her hand, I stand my ground. She pushes me again, more firmly this time, and I watch her mutter to the amulet, as if asking it something. The star responds with a sound too soft to hear. The yellowish glow emanating from it brightens, and then it dims again.
