When he reached the grand staircase, his heart jumped ever high with every step he took.Retrieving his Account meant seeing Ulla, but he hadn’t been able to shake off Lyanthis’s logic.
In the southern wing, he paused.He hadn’t seen which room Ulla had been given, so the only recourse was to check each one.He got halfway down the hall, his sharp knocks echoing like funeral bells, before he remembered she wouldn’t hear him.
Loss slid through him, like grime washed from a window, leaving a clarity thathurt.
A door opened, and Minato peered out.
“She’s not here,” he said.
Hope flickered in Bastion like an ember.“Do you know where she is?”
A frown creased the Yvri’s face.“If anyone would know, it would be you.”
“The bond–” Bastion swallowed, anticipating judgment “–is still.”
Minato rolled his eyes.The gesture was at once juvenile and arrogant.
“It’s a string to be strummed,” he explained.“It doesn’t have to always be her that calls.”
The words stung, but they were a balm as well.
“How?”Bastion asked.
Minato’s mouth pressed into a firm line, and he sighed.He reached a hand out and stabbed a finger at Bastion’s heart.The motion held less vehemence than when they’d spoken at Moonwatch.
“Your hearts are one,” Minato whispered.“Simply ask yours where she is, and hers will answer.”
A nervous tremor went through Bastion.Ever since he’d left Ulla in the twilight, he’d been afraid to speak to her, yet he couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again.He closed his eyes.In his mind, he said her name.
Ulla.
“It’s not there,” Minato said, startling him.He pointed at his own temple, then gently touched Bastion’s sternum with his fingertips.“It’shere.”
Bastion grit his teeth and nodded.He closed his eyes again and focused on his heart.How being with her was both peaceful and thrilling.How his soul resonated at the thought of her, as if recognizing a piece of himself he didn’t know was missing.
Bastion gasped.“She’s angry.But not with me.”He opened his eyes.Minato wore a derisive expression.“Well, not entirely with me.”
“But you know where to go?”the Yvri asked.
“I do.Thank you.”
He followed his heart to the Rainbow, the delicate white bridge that connected the palace and university.The waterfall roared by as he crossed, a thunderous curtain deafening all sound but the echo of Lyanthis’s words.
Sever the bond.Set her free.
They felt like a death sentence–and he was walking to the gallows.
Bastion wound through the university’s halls and down wide stairwells, packed with students on their way to the noon meal.Boys, every one.A few Yvri and Acari stood out from the group, with their curved horns or red hair, respectively.Some of the older ones glanced his way.
His feet led him to the front entrance, where a sleepy guard nodded him onto the road that led to the city proper.It sloped downward, tall grass waving in the wind to either side.Every stem felt like a spectator in a gauntlet.They hissed in Lyanthis’s voice.
You’re notenough.
At the first bend, he paused.A current against his heart drew him off the path.Beyond a few scrubby bushes, he found a forgotten trail.It curved into the hillside, leaving the sight of watchful windows until it rose again.As the vegetation thinned, the roar of the waterfall grew.Beneath the Rainbow, at the cornerstone of the university, the path disappeared over porous rock.The acrid smell of sulfur hit Bastion.
Hot springs.
The winter air only made the steam rising from them more opaque, more tangible, as if it meant to hide Ulla from him.His heart thrummed, and Bastion stepped closer.
