Page 38 of A Thread of Breath and Bone

I swallow thickly. “I planned on telling you tonight. I just found out.” I keep my eyes trained on the sugared confection before me as my mind spirals. I need to talk to Ryker. I need him to be here. I need to feel his warmth, feel his arms around me.

How am I supposed to get married in six weeks if Ryker doesn’t even know? Then it dawns on me. Of course. My father doesn’t make mistakes in his timing. He wasn’t waiting on me necessarily; he was waiting on Ryker.

Ryker will be attending sixteen Bonding ceremonies this year. It’s not hard to guess, mine will now be the first, and as for the other sixteen, well, he won’t be there.

Once the table is cleared, and we are excused. Kellan and I head up to the observatory at the top of the palace. It’s my favorite place to go when I need a distraction. I can see every planet in our system up here. The winding stone steps that take us up are cold beneath my slippers. My gold dress trails behind me, its tiny gems clinking while the material shimmers in the moonlight pouring through the windows lining the spiraling staircase.

“Raea,” Kellan breathes out as we reach the top.

I don’t respond. Instead, I push through the towering glass door. I don’t want to talk about it because I already know what he’s thinking.

The observatory is a large room complete with black marble flooring, plants of every kind, soft furnishings, ornate rugs, and large windows that open to our kingdom. At the center sits a telescope so large it needs its own platform to spin. The glass-domed roof overhead opens with the flick of a switch.

Kellan slides into the bench seat beside me as I use the console to find what I’m looking for. One of my favorite planets in Okenen is Azuris. The varying shades of blue and the small blips of neon lights that come from the lightning whales. It’s a planet of water and thousands of islands, with no main continent. People from Azuris are different, being more one with the water than they are comfortable being in a room full of people. They reside in small open-air huts on beaches, live off fruits and fish, and they harvest kelp and pearls to trade with other planets.

I lie back as the telescope swirls and tilts us until it finds the blue planet. The screen in front of us allows us to zoom in and look around. It’s late on this side of Azuris, so the planet is dark except for the blips of neon blue and green and white that look like little sparkles.

“I could watch them all night.” I sigh.

“Are we going to talk about it?” Kellan pushes.

“No. What’s the point?” I shrug and lean my head on his shoulder.

Kellan’s steady heartbeat and body heat steady my nerves as we sit in the quiet of the night. There’s nothing grand about this moment, but it feels like my life is rounding the corner and I’m at the beginning of a new path. How many more of these nights will I get with him? How many more times will it be Raea and Kellan before there is no us anymore?

Tears prick my eyes and slide down my cheeks, disappearing into his jacket.

“Don’t cry, RaeRae,” he whispers, the tension leaving his body. His hand comes up around my head, and he places a small kiss on my temple. I feel it.

My heart aches.

Kellan and I have been friends my whole life. We have inside jokes, know the sound of each other’s footsteps and laughs, and it’s always been him when life felt heavy. I’m not ready to let him go. It’s a torturous experience to want them both in my life in different ways when they both only want me one way—fully and truly theirs.

“Will you still come to the Ceremony?” I ask.

Of course he will. I know this. I just need him to say it.

“I’ll always be there, Raea.”

Chapter 15

Ryker

A long week has passed, and it’s only the beginning of this war. My mother has summoned the commandants of Terra, Faris, and Proto—land, sea, and space. The Regils already swarm the palace, awaiting decisions on troop deployments and planetary support.

I know my mother wishes I were king. She doesn’t know about my magic, or Raea’s, and right now, I’m not really sure how to tell her. She knows about our relationship, but telling her about us being fated mates, about our Fae and Elven bloodlines, the prophecy…

I can’t bring myself to tell her right now. She’s finally in a stable place, and I’m not sure where the landmines are.

It’s late when I crawl into bed, but I can’t sleep. Without my mother’s calming powers, I can’t ignore the burning in my chest. I hate being this far from Raea, even though I know she’s safe. At least with King Bastian’s ability to ward the palace, it means that as long as she is inside, nothing can get to her. I can only hope that Raea isn’t scared right now.

My mind swirls thinking about our people. How many of them know that the Veil has failed? How many planets will be evacuated? What will the darkness do? How are Raea and I going to stop it? There are so many questions and not enough answers. I know that the kingdoms will fall, it says so in the prophecy. Still, I can’t give up on our people when they need strength and unity. Bringing in a new government system would upheave everything we’ve worked for over the past five hundred years to bring peace and stability to the system.

But who am I to question the will of the gods?

Sleep evades me until I decide it’s pointless and get up. I need to study the four outer planets of our kingdom, the ones closest to the Veil. One of them is the biggest planet in our kingdom, Saedn, followed by Silas, Sedgesea, and Azuris.

As I walk the halls, all I can hear is the hushed footsteps of servants and guards. I slip into the control room where two of our officers are awake and watching the communications between quadrant movements and planets. Five of Ateria’s planets bordering the Veil are in the middle of evacuating. Something about Ateria still feels off. I can’t help but feel like we’re missing something big here. According to my hourly reports though, nothing is amiss.