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Someone did this to us the first time. Someone is trying to keep us apart. Someone may even be using her as bait to get to me since they failed to kill me on the battlefield.
Regardless of any danger, this time, I will choose to believe her. I will find her. I will findthem.
And I will end this.
ChapterEighteen
ALIA
Istand in a sky blue dress in the main living area of my stepmother’s quarters. Sunlight blazes across the wall of mirrors to my right. Giddiness and nerves fight for equal space in my belly. Tomorrow night at this time, I’ll be with Kirran in the ballroom. Our love won’t have to hide in the shadows anymore. And if this plan of Vallda’s works, I may actually have a family to celebrate the engagement with as well.
“Sit here, Alia.” Vallda’s chipper voice pulls my attention to her. She motions to one of the dining chairs.
I oblige, poking my fingernail into the curving branch that makes up the chair’s arm. “And you’re sure this will work?”
She winces and pulls out a chair to sit on my other side. “We’ve never tried it before, but in theory.”
A nervous chuckle escapes me as I tuck my hair behind my ears. “Okay.”
“Are you ready?” Vallda’s friend, Sovanna, steps around the table. Her black hair glimmers in the daylight. I’ve seen her in passing before. Her severe gold eyes soften as she peers down at me, and I offer a weak smile back.
“I think so,” I whisper.
Sovanna pulls a chair around in front of me, sits, and leans forward. She holds her hands on either side of my head without touching me. Her stare makes my mind spin. I grip the arms of the chair.
“Alia, do you give me permission to enter your memories?”
My mouth turns dry, but I manage a nod.
Her cool palms settle against my head. A wave of chills mingles with tingling heat inside me. My eyes close on their own. The darkness churns like storm clouds, wrapping around me.
Then, in a rush, my mind clears.
I stand, a little girl, barefoot and dressed in green and blue. In a field of vivid wildflowers behind our old home in Palla. Massive trees dot the landscape, and Devikka plays nearby with two dolls. Aromas fill the air. Sunlight baking the dirt. The blossoms around us. The salty tang of the Sallica Sea, just beyond the rolling hill.
Beside me, Vallda touches the nearest tree and closes her eyes. A second passes.
Then a chill branches through the ground and up my legs. All the grass in a wide arc turns brown, and a chasm of rot surges up the tree trunk. Vallda’s delighted gasp engulfs my ears. Overhead, the branches shrivel, and the white flowers wrinkle, turning gray as they die. Falling to the grass around us.
Something erupts in my chest.
“Stop!” The scream rips from me. I stumble as I lunge toward my stepsister. “You’re killing it!”
We collide, tumbling to the base of the tree. Vallda shoves me off and jumps to her feet. I stay on the ground, my fingers digging into the grass amid the dead flowers. Something pulses deep within me, wrenching and twisting until I can’t hold my breath any longer.
The exhale slips out. With it, every dead petal surrounding me bursts back to life. Pure, blazing white. The flowers shoot straight up into the air.
And then they descend as a tornado upon my stepsister.
Vallda’s panicked screams make the hair on my arms rise. She throws herself backward. Rolling, choking. Flowers fill her mouth, cover her nose. Cleave to her skin.
“No!” I lurch upright, grabbing at the swirling flowers, trying in vain to hurl them away. “No, stop! Stop!” Tears consume my vision. Through the haze, Vallda still thrashes on the ground. Cries out for help even as I scream for the flowers to leave her alone.
The flowers don’t listen. Like they’ve taken on a life of their own to protect their tree, they continue to swarm her. I scramble backward and press both palms to the rough bark.
“Please,stop!” My throat aches like it’s bleeding. “Someonehelp!”
“Be still!” Papa’s command thunders across the field. Movement pitches toward us. He slams both hands to the tree trunk. “Peace. All is well.”
