“It’s working,” she heard Elyssa yell. Amira kept her eyes closed, focusing all her energy on picturing the door. Her back was covered in sweat. She felt the door pulling away, its outline disappearing as the spell keeping humans in fought against her. She held on, her whole body shaking from the effort, her muscles tensing up. She felt excruciating pain in her limbs.
“I can almost touch the handle,” Elyssa said, the underlying panic in her voice fuelling Amira’s determination.
The talisman trembled in their hands as if it was searching for a way to escape. Amira squeezed her hand tighter, the golden frame of the crystal piercing her skin.
Then Amira heard a door open and close. Her strength leaving her, Amira felt a sharp zap run through her body, and then the talisman turned ice cold.
Amira dared to open her eyes, her breathing laboured. Exhaustion edged deep into her bones. But when her eyes locked on Elyssa standing outside the cell, nothing else mattered. Elyssa ran forward, embracing her. Letting go of the talisman, Amira wrapped her arms around her.
“Careful there, we still need that,” she heard Farren say, catching the magical artefact. Amira didn’t care. She had feared Elyssa would stay trapped in that room forever, slowly dying while Amira watched.
“I thought I might lose you,” she whispered in Elyssa’s ear, loud enough so she could hear. She always lost the people she cared most about.
“Remember, I’m here to stay,” Elyssa replied before pulling back enough to stare into Amira’s teary eyes. “Saving looks remarkably good on you.”
Elyssa leaned forward, her eyes flickering to Amira’s lips then up again as if to ask for permission. Smiling, Amira brushed her lips against Elyssa’s.
She had meant it as a brief kiss to make sure Elyssa was truly safe, still with her, but when Elyssa parted her lips, capturing Amira’s bottom lip between hers, Amira lost all sense of their surroundings. She sighed as Elyssa’s hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer, her tongue dancing with her own. Amira clutched at her shoulders, needing to feel her, hold her. Elyssa deepened the kiss, tugging on her lip—
Someone cleared their throat loudly, forcing Amira and Elyssa apart. Amira traced her lip as she turned to see Eyden standing behind them, shifting on his feet.
“It’s time we get the hell out of here,” Eyden said.
He was right. Amira sheepishly smiled at Elyssa, who grinned back with no trace of regret or embarrassment.
Farren put the talisman around his neck, and they left as fast as possible. Turosian air had never tasted fresher than it did now. Taking a deep breath, Amira savoured the pureness of it. It was already dawn, and the temple was bathed in an orangey glow. Amira thought back on the first time she had been to the temple during Falea Night. Back then, she had felt so powerless, so scared. Now, she had found allies and their plan was on track.
Her freedom was finally within reach.
Chapter57
Lora
Lora had hardly slept. Judging by the bright sun streaming in through her curtains, it was already around noon, but she didn’t want to get out of bed. Too much had happened last night to let her mind rest and too much was still ahead of her. Her fate was still undecided even with their plan in motion—a plan that was less than bullet-proof.
Her hand found the crumpled piece of paper underneath her pillow. After Eyden had dropped her back in her bathroom, Lora had immediately opened the letter her family had left her. It gave her even more determination to keep fighting.
She hadn’t been able to tell her family about the blood contract in the letter she had sent them, but she had apologised for not being with them and hinted at the fact that she couldn’t leave. Just seeing her mum’s handwriting had made Lora tear up before she even read the first word. Her mother’s plea to come home made her heart ache and broke the dam completely, letting all her tears flow down her cheeks.
In her letter, her mum had told her to doanythingto come home. She’d begged her to come back. Lora wanted nothing more than to return home and hug her mum, her father, her brother, and Maja. She wanted both her mum and herself to survive this, tolive. Lora had to take the risk and try.
Shoving the letter back under her pillow, Lora turned on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her hand instinctively went to the crystal around her neck, the cold stone reminding her of her lost pendant. The heart-shaped pendant she’d lost in Rubien had been her reminder of home, but she realised now that it had also been a shackle—keeping half of her hidden, even from herself.
The necklace she wore now reminded her that she did belong here too. Not in this palace—neverin this palace—but in Liraen, as a half-fae, with Eyden by her side. Somehow, without her even realising it, Eyden and the friends she’d found here had made the fae world her second home.
Her mum wouldn’t understand. Everything was different now.Shewas different now. And for the first time, Lora didn’t see it as a bad thing. It was strangely freeing.
A knock made her scramble up on her bed. She hastily glanced at her pillow, making sure the letter was fully out of sight. Smoothing down her hair and dropping her necklace under her shirt, Lora threw back her blanket and got out of bed.
Expecting Layken, she pulled open her door and said, “Did you finally learn how to knock?”
Rhay frowned at her, a silver-blue strand of hair falling into his eye. Lora glanced over his shoulder and saw Layken a step behind him, squinting as if to sayI sure haven’t.Was Lora allowed to have visitors? Then again, Rhay always followed a different set of rules than anyone else.
“Can I come in?” Rhay said. His expression was unusually serious, yet he still smelled like a bar.
Stepping to the side, Lora let him in and closed the door behind them just as Layken said, “Make it quick, you’re not supposed to have guests.”
Lora didn’t deem it worth a reply. Whirling around, she locked eyes with Rhay. He had witnessed some of the fight between her and Karwyn. He knew about Eyden. Had he told Karwyn that Eyden had been at the palace before? Would he take Karwyn’s side after everything he had seen?
