“I assume he wants to tell me something but refuses to do it himself?”
“Yes.”
I sighed, glancing quickly at Vespera once more before gesturing for the man to continue.
“He warns you to leave this path. To turn back now while you still have the chance. That continuing this way is folly. That?—”
I didn’t wait to hear what other diatribes my father wanted to spit at me before reaching out with my stolen Air Magic and ripping the air from the lungs of the acolyte. I watched in fascination as his face turned a deep shade of crimson before purpling, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he suffocated. His hands grasped loosely at his neck as he slumped to his knees before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground with athump, his hands twitching uselessly.
Nothing would hinder my plans, not my brother, not Kaos’ last descendant, and certainly not my father’s pitiful acolytes. I would flatten Vespera tomorrow, take my place as the rightful ruler of Elyria, then I would take my battle to Fate.
After all, the cosmos were calling.
Chapter 76
Ellowyn
Ifrowned as I woke to my toes digging into the dry dirt of the Dreamscape.
Why am I here?
Fate was notably absent, and I hadn’t had a foray into the Dreamscape since Torin joined me at the Academy, so there was no reason for me to appear here.
“Hi, Ell,” Torin’s voice, so familiar and comforting now, rang out, and I turned to face him as the object of my affection emerged from the tree line.
“Torin?” I asked even as I flung myself into his open arms. Torin’s spicy scent enveloped me, both calming my heart and sending it into a frenzy. “Why are we here? We haven’t come here since Cellia.”
Torin grimaced as he turned his face away from me.
I frowned as he slowly lowered my body to the ground, my feet just brushing the dirt as he pulled his arms away. Hands carved through his dark-blond locks, leaving them standing on end. It was only then that I took in his appearance, his clothes. Normally at night, Torin dressed casually—loose tunic andpants, bare feet; an outfit that complemented my silk slip of a nightdress.
Tonight, however, the casualness was absent, replaced by a pressed white tunic and navy blue pants. His boots were pristine brown leather, and there was an air of superiority about him that I hadn’t seen in months.
“You’re no longer in Vespera,” I said flatly. It wasn’t a question, just a statement of fact. Torin winced before spinning back to face me, withdrawing his hands from his hair to reach for me. I let him touch me; his calloused palms running up and down my arms chased away some of the numbness that had set in with the realization. “Why did you leave?”
“I had to. There was . . . business I needed to attend to in Lishahl.”
“Business?”
He jerked a nod, his hands still running the length of my arms.
“Such important business that you couldn’t tell me you were leaving until now?” A haughty imperiousness coated my tongue at my caustic accusation, but I didn’t have the heart to care, even at Torin’s wince. “I told you that one of the hardest pieces to overcome, one of my biggest insecurities, is being used and abandoned—my parents did it, my husband did it, even you did for a time.”
Torin winced again, and I shrugged out of his grasp. He let me go but shook his head, either in denial of my accusation or because he didn’t want to hear my words.
“I shared intimate parts of me with you, Torin. Not just my body, but my mind. My hopes and fears. And, even knowing those parts, you still chose to leave like this.”
I stopped speaking as I felt my throat grow thick with emotion, tears welling in my eyes.
Godsdammit.
I dashed at the salty liquid as it leaked from my eyes.
“Ell, sweetheart, it’s not like that. I needed to get back to Lishahl. Things are happening at a rate that even I couldn’t predict or plan for, now I have to respond accordingly or everything that I’ve planned for will be null and void. Can you trust me, please?” he begged, taking my hand in his as he soothed the back of it with his thumbs.
I chewed my lip in thought.
“Come with me?”
