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The light still consumed the room and the woman’s face shifted in it, the outline of her eyes blinking before she spoke again. “Many moons past, the divine had evenly divided magic among the fairy courts until the Seelie king of that era and his Attala created the first heart stone to capture magic and drain it from the other courts. As a punishment for their impertinence, and to help stall a war, the divine cursed his magic, so that his heart stone only pulled glamour.”
Someone shuffled near me. I thought it was Sai but couldn’t make out his form.
“We have blessed you and your brother with ancient magic so you can journey to replace the heart stones and redistribute the powers.” She smirked, and the look was almost mischievous. “Other things will come to pass as well but of that I cannot yet speak. You and your brother will both need your Atallas. You cannot achieve this task without them. Find them and seek the Map of Forgetting. It’s waiting for you, young one.”
The woman disappeared in a whoosh causing the candles over the table to flicker. Ice had begun to melt and created pools of water that dripped into people’s laps and trickled onto the tile floor. My mouth gaped, and I trembled as I stood. “I’m… I’m so very sorry.”
I handed the globe to Sai like it would explode.
“Oh, don’t be sorry.” Veena jumped up and grabbed my hands. “You’re the one we’ve prayed for!”
“W-what?”
She smiled, and dimples pressed into her cheeks. “Without the elemental siblings, our court might fall. Kali sent you here with a purpose to use you as a divine vessel.”
I couldn’t force my mouth to close or my manners to correct themselves. I’d made a fool of myself, and of Sai, in front of his entire family. Their dining room was destroyed, and I’d not even met all of them properly before revealing I was an elemental, a siren that trouble followed as steadily as a shadow. Plus, I trembled so much I could scarcely remain standing. Everyone stared at me with furrowed brows or wide eyes. Even Sai gaped and seemed unable to come up with words.
“Please excuse me,” I managed to say before bowing and yanking the fabric of my outfit up so I could run out of the chamber.
I jogged out the door and down a hall before stopping and leaning against a wall. I didn’t know where I was in the palace. We’d made so many turns, and I couldn’t remember them. More than that, I couldn’t even retreat to a private room. I’d return to Sai’s chamber if I could find it.
God, what had I gotten myself into?
CHAPTERSEVEN
SHAAN
Water from meltingice trickled onto my lap, dripping down the silk of the formal sherwani I’d kept on for dinner after dressing for the throne room to welcome Sai and his party back. I’d barely started to feel comfortable rejoining my family for official events. For months I’d remained scarce, too ashamed of my actions and how they reflected on our family and court to reinsert myself. Mother had requested my presence relentlessly, so I’d acquiesced to appease her. I didn’t deserve a place at this table any longer, but they refused to let me give it up.
The way Sai’s new wife had trembled as everyone stared at her sent a chill through me that snapped me out of my shock. In the last months I’d been the subject of endless speculation and gossip from those who noticed my absence after I’d spent my entire life with minimal notice. I was a prince, yes, but always the least interesting of my siblings. Most of the palace staff were so used to me slipping into the kitchen to cook, spending afternoons with the guards in the breakroom, or painting in various nooks and halls, they didn’t treat me with the same formality as the rest of my family. Then I’d trusted Lennox, lost our family’s damn heart stone, and put Sai and his team in danger to retrieve it. I’d lost every right to be here.
Candles flickered, shimmering over the ice that had crusted along the table and frozen banana leaves into stiff discs. Everyone around the table sat with hands hovering and mouths gaping. Orman nudged his cup, and it crackled as ice broke. Amyra turned to look at Mother who gave her a cunning smile. We all knew what this meant. Ice was fucking elemental magic—the magic we’d prayed and hoped for. Sai had married an elemental.
I turned to him, rummaging through my mind for something to say, but he stared at the door Lira had disappeared behind. Heartache seemed like a mask on him, his eyes reflecting the candles as if he’d absorb them. What a strange expression on Sai who’d always seemed so self-assured. He turned to look at me and crumpled his napkin between his hands.
I grabbed his arm. “May I go speak with Lira?”
He snapped out of his reverie. “Well…” He cleared his throat.
“I think I understand what she’s feeling currently to some extent.”
The concerned look returned to his eyes. Goddess, I was tired of him coddling me. I wanted life to go back to how it was before I’d fucked up, when everyone ignored me and left me to my own devices.
“Maybe so,” he said.
“I’ll find her.”
“Thank you, Shaan.”
I rose from the table, and it was a relief, for once, to leave without everyone focusing on me, frowns on their faces. Without knowing that Father would discuss his concerns the minute I’d stepped out of the door. I followed the twists and turns of the halls and nearly passed Lira before I noticed a glimmer of fabric. She stood in the wrong hall, her fists scrunched against her stomach, her head tipped back against the wall.
“Lira,” I called.
She snapped upright as I walked down the hall to meet her. “Shaan?”
As I met her, I bowed and pressed my hands together. “I hope you don’t mind. I asked my brother if I could come speak with you. I… I know a bit how it feels, to be the center of unwanted attention.”
“Oh. That’s kind of you.” Her voice was gentle, but her eyes went far off, and her lips pinched into the smallest frown. She probably wished it was Sai, not me here to speak with her but I thought he could use a minute first.
