“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mumbled, looking away.
He shook his head in amusement. “If that’s how you want to act, I can play along.”
She scowled at his knowing expression. “I’m under doctor’s orders to get some sleep—something that you’re interrupting.”
“Fine, be that way,” Jordan said, grinning. “I’ll see you in the morning. And don’t worry, this can be another one of our little secrets.”
“I have nothing to hide,” she told him, and then with a smirk she added, “unlike you.”
“Me?”
She nodded slyly. “I have eyes, you know. I’ve seen how you look at Dix sometimes. I should be the one asking you what’s going on.”
His startled expression was all the confirmation she needed.
“I knew it!” she cried, sitting up excitedly. “How long have you liked her?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Alex.”
“Aw, come on, Jordan,” she begged. “You know I won’t tell her anything.”
He ran his hands through his hair and dropped down onto the edge of her bed.
“Look, it’s not like anything will ever come of it,” he said wearily. “She’s… well, you know who she is.”
A princess. That was problematic. But still, not impossible.
“You’re not exactly a beggar on the street, Jordan,” Alex pointed out. “As much as you wish it wasn’t the case, you do come from a high-society family. And even if you didn’t, Dix is hardly the kind of girl who’d place conditions on her heart. You know that.”
He looked at her. “It’s complicated, Alex.”
“Yeah, well, so is life,” she said bluntly.
He rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t you have a bedtime schedule to keep?”
“But we haven’t finished talking,” she said with a Skyla-like pout.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said, standing up and re-tucking her blankets. “You tell me about Kaiden, and I’ll tell you about Dix. Fair’s fair.”
She frowned at him. “There’s nothing to say about Kaiden.”
“Then this conversation’s over until there is something to say,” he said as he headed to the door. “I doubt we’ll have to wait long, judging by the starry-eyed expression on your face whenever his name is mentioned. Sweet dreams, Alex.”
She remained scowling at the door long after it closed behind him.
“Stupid, arrogant, thinks-he’s-always-right best friend,” Alex muttered to herself. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Yeah. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, her thoughts reiterated, as she drifted off to sleep.
? 1D;
Twenty
Something woke Alex in the middle of the night. At first she wondered if D.C. was still having her recurring nightmares, but there was no noise to indicate any distress. In fact, when Alex lifted her head, she could easily see Dix was sleeping peacefully in her bed. So, what had woken Alex from her deep slumber?
When a shadow moved across her field of vision, Alex’s heart skipped a beat. She sat up, squinting into the darkness. The shadow moved again and Alex froze.
“Easy, little human. It’s just me.”
Her eyes widened when she recognised the voice and saw its owner step into the moonlight.
“Zain? What are you doing here?” she asked, gaping at the huge Meyarin. “And how did you get past the bio-sensor on the door?”
“Forgive the intrusion, young mortal, but Prince Roka needs to speak with you urgently,” Zain said, only answering part of her question. “He’s sent me to escort you to Meya.”
Alex stared at the intimidating guard who seemed much too large for her dorm room. “Uh, sure.” Then her brain replayed his words and she clarified, “Wait, do you mean right now?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Alex. Right now.”
She wasn’t thrilled about sacrificing her much-needed sleep—Fletcher would kill her if he found out—but she grudgingly dragged her tired body from her bed.
“Just give me a second to change,” she said, grabbing a fresh outfit from her wardrobe and retreating to the bathroom. She quickly peeled off the tattered gown and replaced it with a pair of jeans, T-shirt and a light jacket.
“Okay, I’m good to go,” she said, re-entering the room. “Just let me wake Dix.”
Alex walked over to her roommate’s bed but before she could reach out for D.C., Zain laid a hand on her arm.
“Prince Roka has requested you come alone.”
Alex frowned at him. “But—”
“I believe he’s already told you why,” Zain interrupted pointedly.
“It’s Dix,” she argued. “She’s a princess! Whatever Roka wants to say to me, she can hear. It’s practically her job to keep secrets!”
“Even so,” Zain said, “I have my orders. Sorry, little human.”
“Stop calling me that,” she grumbled.
Zain laughed quietly as he used his hand on her arm to guide her to the window.
She looked at him in confusion and pointed to the other side of the room. “Um, the door’s that way. We kind of need to use it to get to the Library.”
“To the Library, yes,” Zain agreed. “But not to Meya. Hold on, little human.”
“I told you not to call me—”
Alex clamped her mouth down on a scream when the ground took off from underneath them. Only Zain’s firm grasp around her elbow kept her from being propelled back into the transparent barrier of the Valispath as it flew them through the wall of her dorm building and up into the night sky.
“No way!” she gasped, as the scenery blurred past them at an alarming speed. When she’d travelled by the Eternal Path in Meya, it hadn’t moved anywhere near as fast. They sailed over treetops and rivers, skirted around and above glowing villages and larger towns, and cut straight through the middle of a mountain. And all within seconds.
“This is insane,” she whispered, taking in their journey with wide eyes.
The Valispath seemed to increase in speed until the scenery blurred into unidentifiable shadows. After a minute of what seemed like faster-than-light travel, their transport began to slow, and Alex saw they were soaring through an ethereal—and familiar—forest.
“We’ve just entered the Silverwood,” Zain said.
When the trees turned golden—and their radiance was breathtaking even at night—Alex knew they were almost at the city. The Valispath continued to slow to the speed she’d experienced during her first time in Meya—still ridiculously fast, but much less heart-stoppingly terrifying.
When they breached the Golden Cliffs, Alex was again mesmerised by the sight before her.
Meya was a place of dreams during the day, but that was nothing compared to what it was like at night, when moonbeams bounced off the Myrox in diamond-like streams around the entire city. The palace was surrounded by wisps of moving colour that flowed across the valley, to the point where the waterfalls glowed with a pearlescent sheen. Its beauty and majesty were beyond anything Alex could have ever imagined.
“Am I dreaming?” she whispered.