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I belong here.

Tremors, a crackle of violent hissing, and the music collapsed.

“No, Paris. No. You cannot leave me.”

Leave her? Leave her to go where?

The light dimmed, the petals and the corridor fading away.

Before long, the light became nothing more than a thin fog, the Carving Glade reforming around me. I sat on the grass, bodies around me in a circle, Declan crouched in front of me.

“What happened?” he asked.

I blinked up at him, struggling to keep myself anchored in reality. I wanted to hear more of the song again. To fill in the gaps, for the whole thing to come together, to see beyond the light.

Because I belong there.

“What…” I rasped, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Shit.”

“Thank goodness,” Caer said, her relief palpable.

Why did she sound so frightened of me leaving her?

“Where was that place?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer.

“You’re hiding something,” I said.

“Do not be foolish, precious one. I have no cause to hide anything from you.”

“Then tell me what that was about.”

No answer.

I belong there.

Declan said something, so did someone else. But I focused on the deity, suspicion rising.

“Your silence only makes it worse.”

A heavy sigh. “This is more trickery from Aidan. He is playing with your mind. You saw it yourself in your dream just now.”

“You saw that?”

“Yes. I heard the lie he is peddling. This strange vision is more of his games.”

“I thought he was supposed to be locked out,” I said, remembering she’d told me that.

“Never completely. And his power has been boosted by the use of Aidan’s Sorrow.”

“Oh. Great.”

I belong there.

That place is for me. But it is heartbroken.

My suspicions kept rising. “Calling this one of his games feels like an easy answer.”