“I wish you were real,” she whispered. “There were so many things I should have done for you.”
Elly blinked, as if processing Corin’s words and the truth of her existence. Her chin slowly raised as she stared at the sky. A bird’s whistle cracked through the dawn. In the pale blues, there were still glimmers of white dots for her to reach.
“We could try again,” said Elly. “Maybe we can start by watching the stars together.”
Corin raised her head at the constellations. The stars were difficult to spot in the morning light, yet she waited patiently, watching her sister’s fingers trace each one.
CHAPTER 34
ALMOST 100 YEARS AGO
AMELIA WOKE UP to her body tossed to the ground, the strike of skin and bone against a tree trunk. It took her a moment to realize she hadn’t shattered like glass, then another moment to realize who had thrown her to the dirt.
Shadows cut sharp across Ezran’s face in the harsh contrast of moonlight. “Wake up, you useless girl.”
She flinched at the sudden shift in his demeanor. His voice had a tired rasp, and bags hung below his red eyes, as if he had been crying. But it wasn’t shock she felt from Ezran behaving this way. She was surprised he let his mask slip at all.
Amelia scanned the woods frantically, mind already set on running. Yet between every tree was another one, an endless tunnel of foliage that nestled them in hidden corners. A familiar snap of branches jolted a memory of searching for Malicine. She’d found the demon, and they’d explored a new world together. Then Malicine sent her back to reality, and somehow, that felt even worse than hell.
“We’re several miles away from your castle,” Ezran said. “Whichmeans I could kill you this instant and dispose of your body here, and nobody would ever know. Luckily for you, I won’t.”
She would have been eaten alive by wild animals if Ezran hadn’t rescued her. He always played the part well, being her hero, yet never truly showing his cards. Until now. “Why do you want to kill me?”
“Because you ruined everything.”
“Whywon’tyou kill me, then?”
“Because I made a promise.”
Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach as he retold what she’d missed. She discovered Ezran was from Lilith’s past, left behind when she chose the life of a royal in Gyldan. When Amelia heard that her godmothers had witnessed their affair, her heart split in half. She pictured the couple’s faces shrouded in shadows, brushed lips, whispered messages. A part of Lilith that she never knew. A secret she hadn’t been trusted to keep.
Or maybe Lilith was going to tell her, if Amelia had listened. There had been a night the queen approached her door and asked to talk, only to be met with silence as Amelia chose sleep over confrontation. If she hadn’t run away, perhaps she could have changed things. Maybe then, Lilith wouldn’t be imprisoned by the godmothers.
“We were supposed to run away together,” Ezran said. “But she urged me to go, while she’d stay. I shouldn’t have listened.”
He shook his head, as if it didn’t make sense why Lilith chose to stay behind. Meanwhile, Amelia could picture the queen walking alone, facing her own fate. That was what queens did. She chose to do things, then face the consequences of those things. Amelia couldn’t decide on anything, nor did she have the strength to deal with the repercussions.
“Before I left, she made me promise to protect her treasure,”he said. “That’s the only reason why I haven’t killed you. Show me where it is.”
Amelia furrowed her brows, straining for an answer in the murky depths of her mind. They had never talked about treasures before. Was this another secret Lilith didn’t tell her? “I don’t know what you mean.”
Ezran looked close to killing her, but redirected his anger to the tree beside him. She jumped as his fist cracked against the trunk, splinters wedged in his knuckles.
“You truly are useless,” he hissed. “If only you’d stayed where you came from.”
But that was what Amelia had tried to do. She never wanted to return to reality. Malicine forced her, even though her existence only made things worse for others. Lilith and Ezran had followed her and gotten caught. She had put Lilith in danger. If she was forced to be here, she couldn’t bear to live in a world without the person who’d brought light into it.
“We need to get Lilith out of the castle,” she urged. “I’m afraid of what my father may do to her—”
“You think I haven’t already planned that?” Ezran snapped. “She is mine, not yours.”
His words stung, laced with hatred but also truth. Since the history of time, there had always been a king and his queen, a prince and his princess, Ezran and his Lilith. Amelia merely stood at the fringe of stories, present by technicality of her blood, never truly residing in anyone’s heart.
Yet Lilith had done so much for her. Even if Amelia could never be part of the queen’s past, she could at least salvage something for the future.
“I’ll help her escape with you,” she said. “You can have a betterlife together, just like you wanted. I want that for her, too.”
Ezran brushed the splinters from his knuckles as he paced around, stewing in thought. A rough palm rubbed his face, as if it could wash away the tired lines and weariness. The clouds fully shrouded the moon in darkness when an idea struck him.
