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“You really are elemental.”
She cocked her head. “Did you not believe it?”
“No, it’s just, I’ve lived with this magic alone for so long. I knew of the prophecy, of course, and the elemental siblings. I guess I shoved that away because I didn’t have a sister.”
“Well, you do now.”
I smiled at her. There was something so reassuring in that. I had a sister; I wasn’t alone anymore.
Lira’s eyes doubled. “Oh my god, Lennox.”
“What?”
“You’re my brother. We need you to open the box.”
“The box?”
She stood, and I joined her as she paced across the rug. “No, we don’t need just you, we need both of our Atallas too.” She froze and looked at me.
“Our Atallas?” I asked.
“I had some sort of ghost, goddess thing give me a prophecy?” Her words came out like a question. “She said I needed my brother and both of our Atallas. My Atalla is Sai.” She paused for a gentle smile. Ah, so there was something between them all along. I couldn’t fault her for leading me to believe otherwise before the gala. She hadn’t known me, and I’d betrayed people as well. I gave my head a shake and resolved to let it go. A sister wasn’t worth tossing away over the webs we’d both woven for self-defense in the past. Lira stopped her restless movements. “That must mean your Atalla is…”
“Shaan.” I breathed his name.
Oh God. That made so much sense. It was like I couldn’t function without the man. I loved him like my heart would combust into flames if I didn’t. How could we be Atallas though? He loathed the sight of me.
“I have to alert a guard,” Lira said. “We need to open the box.”
“Lira, wait.” She paused. “I need you to come home with me.”
“Home?”
“To the Seelie lands. My father—our father—is about to take military action against the Prasanna in the pursuit to get you back.”
“Oh.” She whispered the word, her posture bending with the release of it. Her eyebrows pulled together, but she gave a decisive nod. “Let me ask a guard to alert Sai’s family and we’ll discuss it.”
She slipped out of the room as I lowered onto the sofa again. I didn’t know what she meant about a box. But there were two things that sat in my mind taking up too much space to reflect on anything else. First, Lira had rejoiced in the news that we were siblings. That landed warm in my chest, not like the fires that often wished to burst out of me, but like finding a patch of sun amid the coldest part of winter.
Second, she believed Shaan was my Atalla.
I swallowed and wasn’t sure what to do with that knowledge or even how to feel about it. Lira returned and sat beside me again. She studied me like a painting she’d passed a hundred times but had never truly considered before.
“So, you and Sai?” I asked.
A blush crept over her cheeks. “Yes… I thought, for a while, that I hated him for what he’d done, but I realize now that I didn’t see everything clearly.”
How lucky for Sai to receive forgiveness over whatever he’d done. Something about this detail made sense, though. I’d always had a hard time imagining Sai as evil. Shaan respected him too much for that. The entire scene he’d created in our ballroom was fake. Perhaps he created his reputation out of shadows and theatrics. Damn, I had to admit I admired him if it was all a show. I knew only too well how much politics was based on one’s ability to create the right persona, and if Sai’s aim was to place fear in Seelie hearts, he’d done so flawlessly.
“He didn’t force you to marry him then? It’s a love match?”
Lira laughed. “That’s complicated. He didn’t force me to do anything, though. I chose to marry Sai.” She gave another bashful smile that she tried to suppress but the sparkles in her eyes gave her away.
The door opened and the man himself walked in alongside the Maharani. Lira jumped from her seat and stepped over to Sai. He tucked an arm around her waist then glared at me. Lira noticed and nudged him. He kissed the top of her head and turned his attention away. The weight of his disdain didn’t shift, however. That was deserved, but for the first time in my life, I imagined a different story. One where I’d returned with Shaan as his lover, where his family accepted me, where Sai was a man I looked up to, and possibly a friend. The sting of what all I’d almost had then thrown away rushed through me.
The Maharani walked alongside a guard who carried a small, wooden box in their hands. It wasn’t notable or much to look at, but the guard placed it on the ivory table in the center of the room gently, holding their hands against it to make sure it was stable before taking a step back, bowing, and leaving.
At the guard’s exit, Shaan stepped in and pulled the door closed with a decisive thunk.
