Page 128 of The Amber Sunburst

“Run along, dear,” she says, motioning to the entrance of a tunnel. Ophelia didn’t notice it appear—like it was there the whole time on the periphery of her vision but never in sight. But she does not feel surprised. She can only be devastated.

No, no, no.

“Aika?” Her voice cracks. Her face is so numb she hardly even feels her tears.

“She did have very pretty eyes.” The woman releases her own face to grab Ophelia’s chin, somehow standing directly in front of Ophelia without having moved at all. “So, it seems, do you.”

Ophelia doesn’t hesitate. She sprints.

There is a fate worse than death.

She’s seen it now. She knows that it’s there.

There is a fate worse than death.

Where Aika goes, Dora follows. So she can only imagine they met their end together.

There is a fate worse than death.

Her friends will never know. She cannot let them. They will not suffer like her sweet Aika and courageous Dora, they will never have to know that they even could.

There is a fate worse than death.

And her beautiful girls have met it.

There is a fate worse than death.

And part of Ophelia wishes she were there to meet it with them.

35

ALEXANDER

“Soooo…” Alexander starts as he and Eudoxia descend the stairs to the Library.

Eudoxia crosses her arms like she knows exactly what he’s going to say, but he doesn’t care. He can’t let Zeno sit in romantic purgatory anymore.

“It’s about my roommate. You might know him? They call him Zee,” he jokes.

“What about him?” she asks flippantly. He can respect the attempt at nonchalance, but he doesn’t believe it for a second.

“You do know I’m not blind, right? Neither am I deaf. Or stupid. You two are obsessed with each other. How you haven’t already hooked up is a complete mystery to me.”

Eudoxia stops in her tracks and turns to face Alexander, eyes full of fire. “I don’t love him,” she says.

And, whoa, that’s a confession if he’s ever heard one.

“I never said you did,” he says, continuing down the stairs. “I just don’t understand what’s stopping you. We don’t know if we’re going to make it out of here,” Alexander says as he taps in the tile combination. “Would you be okay dying with him believing you don’t feel the same?”

And, okay, it sort of feels like he’s projecting here because this is the exact conversation he needs to have with Kallias, but one problem at a time.

Eudoxia doesn’t react outwardly, but when he glances back, she seems contemplative. Hopefully that means… something.

They enter the Library to find Zeno chatting excitedly with Kallias, both of their backs to the door. Arete is sitting with her legs crossed right in the center of their table, and Alexander shoots finger guns at her when she notices him and Eudoxia.

“Alexander!” she yells, excitement tinged by something more frantic. “You need to come here.”

Zeno turns around and runs to them, then lifts Eudoxia and spins her through the air, smiling like crazy. “We’ve got a map!” he whoops, running in circles. Eudoxia is laughing and light, like she always is with Zeno.