Page 109

Idril

I jolt awake, gasping for air like I’ve been underwater.

My lungs ache. My hands are shaking. Sweat gathers on my palms and forehead, and drips down my spine.

For a long minute, I can’t remember where I am. Nothing around me looks familiar. Reality feels flimsy. Only the dream feels real.

I close my eyes and⁠—

Wings and fire and my mother’s silent scream somehow echoing in the air. Fire burning endlessly, decimating entire towns, cities, countries. Unstoppable destruction that burns bright in it’s greed.

My eyes snap open. I look around frantically. The scene in front of me is different, but the memory remains, horrifying in its clarity. Fates, I can still feel the shadow my mother’s wings cast over everything. Beautiful and terrible in equal measure.

Why would I dream of something like that?

My hands fly to my chest, resting over my racing heart. I force myself to slow down and really look at my surroundings so I can figure out where I am.

The towel, the book, the chair digging into my spine⁠—

That’s right. Outside. I’m outside. My shoulders sag in relief. I must have fallen asleep⁠—

Gods, no! I fell asleep!

I was supposed to be keeping watch!

Anything could have happened. Anything could have slipped past me while I slept! Panic claws at my insides, a keening whine of fear pierces through the air.

Is Caelan here? Is my father back from his meeting?

I press my lips into a tight line, straining to listen to the sounds around me. There’s something…

Something woke me from that nightmare.

Taking deep breaths, I pick through my emotions one by one. My heartbeat begins to slow. My breathing evens out. Once I stop panicking, I pick up on something out of place.

My heart continues to beat, thudding against my rib cage. That’s not what’s wrong, though. It’s the second set of beats. A separate rhythm that doesn’t belong to me, thrumming steadily under my own.

Or maybe… beside it?

No. I frown, concentrating harder.

It’s second heartbeat, that much is clear. But its not separate from mine. It’s…merging with it, folding into my own.

It’s slower. Stronger. It shouldn’t be there, but it is. It continues to help slow my own heartbeat, like an anchor in a storm.

It’s…solid. Warm. Calm.

Caelan.

I shoot up from the chair so fast that my legs get caught, twisting in my blanket. I nearly fall. Panicking, I catch myself on the balcony railing, shake myself free of the fabric, and bolt straight for the doors to my room.

Caelan’s here. I can feel him near me. What’s even more outrageous—I know somehow, impossibly, that he can feel me too.

He came back. He came back for me.

I slap both hands over my mouth to smother the half-laugh, half-sob bubbling up my throat. It’s no use, though. A sound of pure joy tumbles past my lips. It’s a strange sound. One I’ve never made before.

Slowly, I lift my hands and gently place them against my bedroom door. One by one, my fingers meet the wood before my palms follow pressing flat against the cool grain.