When I finish, Kaelis stares at me and at the coins. Without instruction or word, he steps forward and rummages around in his pocket. Of course the man has only four dolns—those will absolutely be taken and not wished upon. But he leaves them anyway, stacking them as neatly as the rest.
My surprised eyes meet his. Kaelis gives a slight smile.
“What next?” he asks simply.
I pick up a coin and hold it between us. There was a time when this little scrap of copper would’ve meant the world to me. Now it feels so thin and flimsy.
Clutching it to my chest, I take a breath and close my eyes, searching for my wish. It was so simple the last time I did it…so easy. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I wished for it—money, vengeance, Arina’s well-being. But it feels as though the world has tilted. Everything’s different and…
Strength.One word pops into the forefront of my mind, and I make my wish. When I’m finished, I toss my coin into the pool.
“What did you wish for?” he asks as the coin sinks to the bottom. I glance at him. “Or is it bad luck to share?”
“I wished for the strength to finish things once and for all. To actually bring about a new world and not just talk or daydream of it.” I adjust my cloak around me somewhat uneasily. “The strength to protect those I love and not be swayed or shaken from the path I’ve chosen. To be better than I ever have been before. Kinder. More thoughtful.”
He assesses me, then finally nods and turns to the pool, selecting a copper coin rather than one of his dolns, no doubt knowing those can do more good staying dry. Kaelis takes a breath, and his eyes flutter closed. After a second, he tosses the coin into the pool.
“What did you wish for?” I repeat his question.
“For your world to be everything I imagine it to be.” He gives me a slight smile and looks at me as if everything stops and ends where I stand.
It’s going to happen so soon. Within hours, if Arina is miraculously up to inking her major. Before I know it, everything around me will be no more. It’ll be replaced with the same, but different.Hewill be the same, but different.
An aching feeling worse than any I’ve ever known tightens my chest. I am drawn to him, the gap between us shrinking to nothing. There’s barely enough light to see by. No lanterns in the windows. Only the moonlight above to cast him in a silvery outline.
I reach up, hand hovering just off his face without actually touching him. He leans into my palm, and my thumb traces his cheekbone. His palms find my waist, pulling me achingly close. His warmth radiating through every layer.
The kiss he initiates is so slow that I want it to go on forever, yet my grip on him and the movements of my mouth try to hurry it. Breathless, I pull away too quickly for either of our liking. The moon is awfully high in the sky.
“Come with me to the Stone Citadel, the ancient stronghold of the Worldkeepers,” I whisper.
“Clara…” My name is all he can say as it dawns on him what I’m offering.
“I’m to be initiated tomorrow. Come with me; I want you there for it.”
He’s stunned to stillness. “You…you would invite me to one of the most secret and sacred rites of the Worldkeepers?”
“Yes,” I say without a moment of doubt or hesitation.
“Then it would be my honor.” He means it, too.
“Good. We should go now, though. We’ll be ahead of the rest and find a place for you to hide.” I take his hand. “I didn’t get a chance to show you inking the vessel, but I can show you this.”
Together, we go off into the night.
Chapter 61
I guide him back through the tunnel in the bridge toward the academy. He’s curious at first, and even more so as we head deep into the foundations and then go deeper. It isn’t until we’ve descended far enough and walked long enough that it’s undeniable we’re past the academy that Kaelis finally speaks.
“You mean to tell me that, all this time, the passage was right under the academy…” he mutters to himself, fading off with a noise of disgust.
“Think of how many times you walked over it, or past it.” I glance over my shoulder. I hold a lantern that the Worldkeepers leave at the connection with the last stairwell. It was warm when I picked it up, probably freshly used when they came down here for preparations. I can barely see damp footprints ahead of us, and I just hope they’re gone now, so they don’t see me and Kaelis.
“And here I thought I knew everything about this place.” His eyes scan the walls. They’re rough, part natural, part man-made.
“To be fair, it was designed to be a secret.”
“The academy is my home—my ancestral home.” He shakes his head. “I’ve tried to learn everything about it, all its secrets.”
