“It is the pulse of a million souls, and it can be a place of peace. But it is not your realm, so you must always be careful how long the connection lasts.”
“How was I able to open the doorway?”
“You were right that the Aetheric practitioner…broke something inside you. I have repaired it…for now, and that repair…allowed you to do this.” Her signs were slow and halting, as if she wasn’t entirely certain of the truth—or was holding something back.
“Why do you keep saying you’re sorry, and why do you look guilty?”
“Because it was my job to protect you. Not the other way.”
“You have to tell me all of it, Luna. I know you’re hiding things.” I knew I had no grounds to make demands on her—not after all she’d done for me—but maybe saving her life this one time evened the score a bit. But I was too tired to fight that battle now.
A pause, then a nod. “Soon. But I can say no more of this today.” Her gaze flicked to my chest. “Is there pain?”
I shook my head, put my hand on the flat of my chest. I could feel my heart beating, still quick and hard. And beside it, a new kind of warmth, like a small, fragile ember had lodged there. “It’s warm. But it doesn’t hurt.”
“You may still feel pain as you did before, but hopefully less.” That didn’t seem to comfort her. “The practitioner will surely have felt this. He will try to find you.”
I nodded. “I know, unless we stop him first. Who imprisoned the Aetheric god?”
“A Guardian.”
“Did you free him?”
She shook her head. “The battle continues.”
“How long has he been imprisoned, Luna?”
She paused, as if weighing the price of the truth, then nodded. “For a decade.”
A decade of imprisonment. What hope did the rest of us have when even a god was powerless against his enemies?
“Time is different for gods; a decade is short as a heartbeat. We will see him freed.” There was determination in her eyes now. “I must go and see to things. Make preparations.”
“For his return?”
“For everything that comes next.”
With that, she disappeared.
I sat on the floor, clothing soaked through, until I was sure my legs would hold me. I scooted over to the bed and used the wooden stair to help myself rise. I walked slowly to the window, pushed back the heavy curtain to open it, and closed my eyes in the cooling breeze. And when I opened them again, I saw them: a dozen Anima on the palace grounds, their glow soft and pale in the darkness. I hadn’t seen Anima other than Luna anywherenear the palace. But now they hovered like fireflies, undoubtedly drawn by the abundance of Aether.
“All is well,” I said quietly. “You can go home.”
I waited until the last glow faded away, then closed the window again.
Twenty-three
Wren broke her fast in my room. She picked suspiciously at the food offered by the Lys’Careths but clearly enjoyed everything she sampled. I was ravenous after last night’s Aetheric maneuverings, and I ate everything she’d left behind while I told her about the prince’s uncle, Luna’s visit, and what we’d done.
Sitting in the chair across from me, one leg crossed over the other, she stared at me for a long, quiet time. “So it wasn’t coincidence that Luna found us all those years ago. She’d been looking for us.”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
“It was pretty random that an Anima communicated with us just to point out a rabbit.”
“It was a deer.”
“It was a rabbit.”
