The dome-like ceiling was lined with glass. Vines of ivy wrapped around columns, reaching for the light. In the center stood a massive tree. Its low-hanging branches were ladenwith lilac-colored flowers which cascaded down in a waterfall of color. It occupied much of the open space, turning the city into an urban oasis. Vendors’ carts lined the outer walls, where people waited for lunch. The rich aroma of spices intertwined with the fragrance of flowers,, making my mouth water.
Even if this wonder was perpetuated by magic, I was not sure I had ever witnessed such natural beauty.
“Woah,” Jasper said, looking at our surroundings in wonder.
Sloane snapped her fingers in his face, bringing his attention back to her. “We’re not here to ogle the architecture and design.”
“Yes, well, that all turned to shit, so I’m going to take in the sights for a minute, seeing as it’ll probably be the only time,” he snapped back.
“It really is beautiful,” Rowena murmured with wide eyes.
“It is?—”
But the words died in my throats as I glimpsed a shock of auburn amongst a sea of bland colors in the crowd below, causing my heart to teeter precariously on the edge of stopping.
That hair, I would know it anywhere. I thought of it every waking moment, longing to run my fingers through it once more and let the scent of mint consume me.
Calia.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Iwhispered her name, unable to look away as she moved through the crowd below. Though I could hardly see her face, undeniable recognition surged through me like a violent ocean current. Calia was stitched into the fabric of who I was.
I would know her anywhere—in any moment, at any time, in any life.
My body moved of its accord, running down the stairs drawn to the red flame without a second thought toward logic.
It had not mattered that I had seen the damage inflicted to her body as it landed on the cobblestone driveway, heard her choked, gurgled attempts to breathe as I leaped after her and landed by her side, nor the way the moon’s light caused her skin to flake and burn as it shone down from the sky. Those images lived with me daily but were not with me now as I fought my way toward her.
Sloane, Jasper, and Rowena called my name, but their voices were muffled and distant, just as the rest of the world had become, as I hit the ground floor and pushed through the throng of people. I did not care about their sounds of protest, or theworried looks cast my way. All I could focus on was her, on that facet of impossibility burrowing under my skin with each step.
No matter how hard I fought to reach her, our distance grew. Even as attention fell on me, and the crowd began to scatter so I could pass, the gap increased to impossible lengths with each step I took.
No, no, no, no.
My panic manifested, climbing to insurmountable heights with each passing moment. My chest grew leaden, fear dragging me down even through my desperation. What if it was nothing more than another delusion? A way for my guilty conscience to drive me to utter madness from which there was no return?
“Calia!” I called her name to no avail, feeling my voice swallowed up by the ever-growing void of blurred colors and faces as though it were nothing more than a whisper. “Calia!”
And then time stopped. The world's chaos drew to a stuttering halt, silencing the noise and allowing a moment of clarity as the figure glared over their shoulder and focused a pair of bright green eyes on me.
Everything dimmed, casting the world in a muted glow where nothing else existed outside of this moment. The sun shone through the enchanted ceiling to highlight a smattering of light freckles across her slightly upturned nose and full cheeks. Her lips parted, stealing the very breath from my lungs as our gazes connected for one second.
I stepped forward, feeling the faintest trace of her thoughts as I reached out with my powers. Once, I had heard her so clearly. I could have traced her across Kallistos if I wished. If it was truly her…
But then she was gone, and I found myself standing amongst a sea of concerned faces staring at a man who had lost everything.
Jasper and Rowena were the first to reach me, pulling me around to face him. “Rion?—”
“Did you see her?” I asked, turning back over my shoulder to stare in the direction she had disappeared. “It was her—it was Calia. Did you see?”
Another shock of red hair caught my attention, but my elation quickly turned sour as I noticed a man staring at me curiously. The sense of déjà vu hit me as I fought through my memories to find his familiar, aged face.
The vision was muddled, but it was there. Shimmering in the recesses of my mind. I tugged at the familiarity until it became clear—the air rushing from my lungs the moment it did.
He looked different out in the open, but it was the same man who had been watching Calia’s funeral from a distance. He stood with his back to the wall, unbothered by the commotion in the atrium. Unnerving green eyes met mine, yet I could not understand what they held.
I searched for a connection to his mind, something to allow me into his thoughts, but I was met with an adamant defense unlike any I had encountered. I probed further, reaching out like ivy vines searching for purchase until they found the slightest opening.
