There, on the other side of the viewport, was Dali.
She pressed her fingers to her lips. A blurry veil clouded her vision, but the serene mass of swirling blues and greens was still one of the most beautiful sights she’d ever seen.
Dali was the same, but nothing else was.
“I didn’t remember what it looked like,” Wells mumbled. His haunted eyes were glued to the viewport.
“You haven’t been back since…?”
Since your father died,she meant to say, but her throat swelled up.
“No. Not since we fled.” Wells’s cold voice made Kalie flinch, and she edged away from him. “By the time war broke out on Oppalli,even a day trip to the nearest planet was more than my mom and I could afford. I couldn’t just choose to visit Dali.”
Kalie opened her mouth, but what was there to say?‘I’m sorry’?Anything she said would be too inadequate. She closed her mouth and shifted her gaze to her clasped hands.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” he said, scowling. “People with money never do.”
She bristled. He’d lost as much as her, though, so she bit her tongue. If he needed to lash out to cope, she’d take it. It wasn’t worth arguing over.
As the aibot adjusted the controls, the ship plunged through the fluffy clouds and soared over the sprawling Dalian capital, Olympia. Bushy green trees and thick grass surrounded marble buildings, gold domes, and cobblestone streets. The sparkling River Halle ran through town square. Gondolas drifted down smaller streams flowing through the rest of the city.
A warm summer day with old friends flitted through her mind. In the hazy memory, the gondola swayed gently. Salty waves splashed against the sides as Ariah laughed and flicked water at her…
The transport banked west, and Kalie sniffed, pushing the memories down.
She’d seen the Eternal Palace hundreds of times, surrounded by steam rising from the waterfalls cascading down the Mountains of Calla. The sight had lost its magic before she’d learned to read. It had always been Aunt Calida’s palace, though. Never had she imagined it would be hers. Rays of sunlight glinted on its towering gold domes, marble walls, bronze pillars, and renowned stained glass windows. Trees covered the mountainside, usually as vibrant and full of life as the waterfalls weaving between them. Now they were barren and withered.
They soared over the Bridge of Destiny. The crystal bridge stretched between the mountains, connecting a pair of stone platforms. One was built into the upper levels of the palace. The platform’s twin rested below the towering church on the opposite mountain.
Azura’s Cathedral.
Kalie shivered. She’d be crowned there, someday soon.
The ship descended through the sparse treetops into a sprawling mountaintop garden, full of colorful flowers that could withstand the fall chill.
They landed in a patch of yellowing grass, on a hill below the palace’s entrance hall. Hydraulics hissed. Dying hedges surrounded the platform, another bad omen. Kalie held her head in her hands, swallowing the thickness in her throat.
“Each day, it’ll hurt a little less,” Wells murmured, not unkindly.
She raised her head. He was already descending the ramp.
At the base of the ramp stood a familiar figure. Kalie’s breath hitched. Clad in an ostentatious purple and gold tunic, he leaned on a bejeweled cane crafted from a pelaros’s horn. His smile deepened the creases on his wrinkled face.
Bolting down the landing ramp, she flung herself at Uncle Jerran.
He staggered back. His chuckle rumbled through her as he wrapped her in an embrace.
Kalie inhaled the scent of ink and parchment that had clung to him since she was a toddler curled up in his study. That familiar scent smelled like comfort and safety.
There were other scents that should’ve been here. Aunt Calida’s jasmine perfume, Lexie’s strawberry bath wash, the aroma of rose oil that clung to Ariah like a cloud.
Those phantom smells whisked her back to the last time she’d come home to Dali. Aunt Calida had raced down the cobbled path, her gown swishing around her feet, all traces of formality gone. With a broad smile lighting her face, she’d dragged Kalie into a hug. Rocking her back and forth, she’d whispered, “I love you, sunshine,” and “It’s so good to see you, sweetheart,” ignoring the courtiers whispering about their lack of decorum. Then Lexie was there, laughing and grabbing her leg, begging her to come and listen to her new story, and Ariah had swept their baby cousin up into her arms…
All gone.
Cold air rushed over Kalie, and she clutched Uncle Jerran’s purple tunic. “I’m so glad you weren’t there.”
“Azura was watching over me. I only wish she would’ve watched over all of us.”
