The wind ripped through the trees and a single blue-black leaf tore free. As soon as it kissed the surface, the water came alive.
Strained whispers echoed from the ripples. A female voice.
And a male one that, even laced with fear, made the feathers lining her wings stand at attention.
A firm, powerful voice that she would recognize anywhere, in any time.
Tristan.
She knelt at the edge of the churning, boiling pool and as she peered into the water, the blurry vision upon its surface crystallized with life-like clarity.
She couldn’t tell where he was; the background looked like some kind of church.
What shecouldmake out was that the female with him was stunning.
Honey-blond hair fell to her waist in a thick braid, and her indigo eyes showcased an almost divine confidence.
But it was the two white wings at the female’s back that had Cassandra sitting back on her heels in stunned silence.
Ione.
Cassandra felt two intense emotions at the exact same time.
The first was profound relief.
Tristan wasalive.
And the second was gut-wrenching envy.
He was with his first love. The woman he’d Turned purposefully rather than by accident.
A female who radiated such grace and power that she looked like Adelphinae herself reborn.
How had Ione found him?
Had she?—
Cassandra’s relief curdled in her chest as Ione launched herself at Tristan, wrapping her arms around his neck and snaring his lips.
Cassandra’s chest hollowed out and her breathing went shallow.
She barked out a choked sob. “Tristan?”
At the sound of her voice, the vision dissolved and the pool went still.
“No,” she cried. “No, no, no. Bring it back.”
She scrambled to her feet and leaned out over the edge, begging the pool to return the vision to her. As soul-crushing as it was to see Tristan kissing someone else—not just someone, butIone—Cassandra needed to see what happened next.
She leaned out farther, shouting Tristan’s name into the still pool.
Then the sand beneath her feet crumbled and she crashed into the water.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Ithink she’s waking up,” a deep male voice said.
“Yeah, thanks. I can see that,” an annoyed female voice answered, closer by.
