Page 76 of Tides of Shadows

I frowned.

“Seek what?”

“Power.” His look grew grave. “Power calls to power, Nerissa. Your mother once showed me. But not tonight. Enough excitement for one day.”

I was silent.

“How is Mother? And Alaric?”

“Alaric is unchanged,” he said quietly. “Your mother is herself, sometimes present, sometimes far away. I left my best men with them. They are safe. But it was she who sent me here.”

“Yes. I know,” I sighed. “Time runs out, the world’s end, as ever.”

My father smiled wryly.

“Exactly.” He rose and came to me and set his hand upon my shoulder.

“Go to sleep now. We’ll start tomorrow.”

I nodded, though I didn’t feel a shred of sleep. After he left, I sat by the fireplace for a long time, staring at the flames that danced like memories.

I did not know if I was ready. But I had no choice left.

Chapter

22

The following days passed in grayness and sorrow. Everyone was shaken by the Plague attacks. Mirabel had become a shadow of herself, and the sight of her tore at my heart. She had always been so full of life, now crushed beneath the weight of grief.

I walked through the arcades to meet my father. He was to show me old maps and scrolls. Temples, paths and traces of the past. The sunlight filtered through the columns, and for a fleeting moment, the world felt at peace.

From afar, I noticed a tall, familiar figure. Aidenar. He wasn’t alone. Beside him stood Jasmine. The same Jasmine I had seen at the ball, the same girl who had stumbled out of the bushes after him, fixing her gown and hair. My heart tightened so sharply I lost my breath. I tried to ignore the feeling. Aidenar was free to speak with whomever he pleased. However, my jealousy was a wild thing, untamed and stronger than reason.

I stopped midstep. Their silhouettes moved, but something in their posture felt wrong. Jasmine’s gestures were too sharp, too frantic, her stance too close, too tense.

And then.

Aidenar collapsed to his knees.

“Aiden!” I cried and ran toward him.

Jasmine fled, disappearing among the arches. I didn’t see her face, only the glint of steel in her hand and a streak of blood smeared across the marble. I dropped beside him. Blood spread across his shirt in a crimson bloom. He fell into my arms.

“Help!” I screamed, but my voice broke. “Help!”

“Nerissa…” he rasped. “Jasmine. She stabbed me. I couldn’t… move.”

“Hush,” I whispered, my voice trembling as I pressed my hand to the wound. “You’re safe now. Stay with me.”

His blood seeped through my fingers, hot and sticky. Every part of me screamed to stop it, to stop time itself. I heard guards shouting, running, but deep inside I feared it was already too late. I couldn’t heal his body. But perhaps I could slow the bleeding. Stop the life from escaping him.

I closed my eyes and reached for the water within me. A cold pulse shivered through my hands and flowed into him. Aidenar drew a ragged breath, his heartbeat slowed.

“I didn’t even get to have dinner with you,” he murmured, trying to smile. “You know, properly.”

“Don’t say such things,” I hissed, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Took me too long to see that I need you,” he whispered, his breath growing shallower. “Far too long. You’re so beautiful… I’ll miss your eyes. And that fierce scowl of yours.”